About Us
We are the 4th battalion of the Old Guard. We were a part of the My Lai brigade in Vietnam who became Jungle Warriors under the Southern Cross. First published in April of 2006, Buffgrunt.com was built in honor of the C 4/3 dead. Many have assisted in the collection and distribution of information about causality lists. The Coffelt database team was critical to my final confirmation of not only C 4/3, but eventually the rest of the battalion killiod in action as well. In all cases, as I matched names with dates and company, the most determining document was the S/2 S/3 daily staff journal or duty officers log, DA form 1594. ADVA Vietnam historian, Les Hines and D 4/3 veteran Bruce Flaherty, collected, archived and distributed thousands (over 16,000) pages of documents from the National Archives. These documents are at the core of both the Taps and Sitrep portions of buffgrunt.com.Major contributors to this website include:
- Bruce Flaherty of Delta 4/3, who collected, archived and distributed copies of over 16,000 pages of documents. Excerpts from 11,000 pages of these documents will be used in the Sitreps section. As a result of the S/2 S/3 daily staff journals, the quality and quantity of information available at Buffgrunt regarding all the causality producing events experienced by 4/3 in its 46 months in the country is extraordinary.
- Claudia Pereira (AKA, 'Hopper') - webmaster; website construction, re-construction and repair
- Jim Alexander (AKA, 'Tex') - a veteran of Charlie Company 4/3 11th LIB 1970, now owner/operator of a goat ranch in Texas; wrote and submitted short stories for Buffgrunt, and has a real nice website with a Vietnam photo section that is entertaining
- Les Hines, historian for the American Division Veterans Association, who provided support for the project
- Loved Ones, who have written from their hearts about those lost to them, whose names are now on 'The Wall'
- Military related websites on the net, and many other contributors
- Peter Dempsey, who resides in Malta and has touched up photos, submitted poems and short stories
- Richard Coffelt
- Rich Raitano (AKA, 'Doc Richr') - Doc Rich, A Combat medic who served with the 4/3 11th Light Infantry Brigade, has contributed so many things to the Buffgrunt.com website that it seems only natural I dedicate an entire section to his art, his music, his poetry and his humanity. I personally hold combat medics in the highest regard. It is a mystery to me how anyone can show up in combat without a weapon. I have met DocRich in civilian life and find him to be passionate, intelligent and above all, kind. He has created some wonderful music and image slide shows on his Myspace website, wrote and submitted poems and short stories for the Buffgrunt website
- Ron Chura
- Don Smith (AKA, 'Snuffy') - the map man, spends hundreds of hours going over grid coordinates
- Steven Newton - a 4/3 Veteran, talented artist and writer; has a related website here
- Terrac Skiens, son of the owner of Buffgrunt.com
- The Grimm family
- Tom Skiens (AKA, 'Foxtrot'), owner and primary developer of Buffgrunt.com, including the 46 months of Sitreps and other information found on this site
Credits for images go to Joe Fornelli for his sculpture 'Dressed to Kill', in the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum.
Dressed to Kill by Joseph C. Fornelli is of teak and brass 50-caliber shell castings done in 1965. "Any warrior has something happen when he puts on his battle clothes - you
feel that it gives you a kind of magical power, makes you invisible or gives you strength inside. So something takes over that as a rational person you know is ridiculous. But
if you thought that way in combat you'd be dead. You're so vulnerable ... you know, there is a certain strange high, and excitement about somebody shooting at you and you at
them. It's hard to breathe and pushes on your shoulders. This heavy air, the heat, the humidity of Vietnam, is something you don't know. It's the kind of air you can feel
touching your body and pushing at you."
Buster is the given name of the six months old American Bulldog pictured above. Buster has been designated as the official mascot of the buffgrunt.com website and issued the call sign of, 'Buffster'. This handsome clumsy child is the sidekick of the Buffgrunt site manager, Claudia Pereira.