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"The Ballad of the Green Berets"-Mumber One 40 Years Ago This Month
3/6/06 | SELF

Posted on 03/06/2006 7:08:59 AM PST by Nextrush

"Fighting soldiers from the sky...Fearless men who jump and die...Men who mean just what they say...The brave men of the Green Berets..."

The first verse of the most popular song in America during March 1966. "The Ballad of the Green Berets" was number one on the Billboard charts for three weeks and the Cashbox chart for four weeks. "Ballad of the Green Berets" tied for number one song of 1966 with "Monday,Monday" by The Mamas and Papas on the Cashbox chart.

It was sung by a Green Beret, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. Sadler made numerous TV and other appearances all over the country to sing the song.

The reservoir of love for America's brave heroes was alive and well in 1966. Other songs have come in recent years with the war we fight today, but this one seems to hold up well in the struggle of today.

I remember the song well because my older sister bought the 45rpm record of "The Ballad of Green Berets" complete with Sadler in uniform on the cover. I played it a lot as I grew up and have it on CD now.

Something good to remember here in March 2006, 40 years later.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 1966; americanheroes; freedom; heroes; music; usarmy; veterans; vietnamwar
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To: Nextrush

I remember it.

40 years ago... My, time does fly.


21 posted on 03/06/2006 7:28:22 AM PST by planekT (<- http://www.wadejacoby.com/pedro/ ->)
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly

http://www.barrysadler.com/biography.htm


22 posted on 03/06/2006 7:38:58 AM PST by Ingtar (Understanding is a three-edged sword : your side, my side, and the truth in between ." -- Kosh)
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To: Ingtar

Did you visit this page before posting?


23 posted on 03/06/2006 7:48:39 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Nextrush
I listened to that song a number of times while in the front leaning rest position out at Camp MacKall.
24 posted on 03/06/2006 7:50:52 AM PST by PeteB570 (Guns, what real men want for Christmas)
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To: Ingtar

Nearly every link on that page is dead.

BTW, I went to Airborne school with his son in 1986.


25 posted on 03/06/2006 7:51:46 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly

He died several years ago.


26 posted on 03/06/2006 7:52:06 AM PST by MrLee
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To: SJSAMPLE

In 1988 he was shot in the head in a robbery attempt and suffered brain damage.He was living in Guatermala. Died of heart failure in November of 1989 in Tennessee.


27 posted on 03/06/2006 7:55:00 AM PST by MrLee
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To: Nextrush

Silver wiiings, upon their chessst...

No disrespect to our gallant Green Berets, this is just the scene that comes to my feeble mind...

Please don't break into my house and videotape me sleeping.

Thank you.

28 posted on 03/06/2006 7:58:46 AM PST by SquirrelKing (Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy, it is a Chucktatorship.)
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To: kallisti

I got more records after I quit.


29 posted on 03/06/2006 8:03:29 AM PST by sticker
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To: SquirrelKing

What kind of unit song sings about "jumping and dying?" In the Marines we actually get past the insertion method before we run the risk of dying. Paratroopers, they jump out of perfectly good planes - Shoosh!


30 posted on 03/06/2006 8:06:34 AM PST by tigtog
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To: Nextrush

As an army brat, I heard this song way too many times. Thanks for the good memories.


31 posted on 03/06/2006 8:13:23 AM PST by ßuddaßudd (7 days - 7 ways Guero » with a floating, shifting, ever changing persona....)
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To: SJSAMPLE

I read the biography at the bottom of the page, I didn't try the links.


32 posted on 03/06/2006 8:16:37 AM PST by Ingtar (Understanding is a three-edged sword : your side, my side, and the truth in between ." -- Kosh)
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To: Nextrush
Mumber one is the loneliest mumber that you'll ever do...
33 posted on 03/06/2006 8:16:55 AM PST by MrEdd (I would have gotten away with it too - if it weren't for those meddling kids and their stupid dog.)
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To: tigtog

It's an Airborne!!! thing, you wouldn't understand.


34 posted on 03/06/2006 8:25:26 AM PST by SJSAMPLE
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To: Nextrush

"Fighting soldiers from the sky...Fearless men who jump and die...Men who mean just what they say...The brave men of the Green Berets..."

The Green Berets have saved our country from many a catastrophe. God Bless them...


35 posted on 03/06/2006 8:25:45 AM PST by Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin
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To: Nextrush
DFU SONG: The Green Beret (18 men kick 1300 butts)
DOUG FROM UPLAND - Song Parodies | 1-2002 | Lyrics, Doug from Upland

Posted on 01/07/2002 5:54:17 PM PST by doug from upland

MIDI - THE GREEN BERET

They're known as Tiger 03…they are fierce as they can be
They're the best…what can we say…those brave men in a Green Beret

Thirteen hundred they would chase…there's no look of fear on their face
Lord, give me strength, each one would pray…those brave young men in a Green Beret

The word "can't" they do not know…orders come, they're set to go
Eighteen strong, they won the day…those brave men in a Green Beret

Lightly armed and on the move…purposeful, with something to prove
Some 50 tanks were blown away…those brave young men in a Green Beret

The next battle they prepare…our spirit's with them over there
They defend the USA…those brave men in a Green Beret

God bless each one who risks it all…thanks to them, enemies will fall
They're eighteen strong, they won the day…those brave men in a Green Beret
=======================================================================

1,300 enemy men killed by handful of Green Berets
LondonTelegraph ^ | 1/8/02

Posted on 01/07/2002 4:36:14 PM PST by NativeNewYorker

AN American special forces team was credited yesterday with the deaths of 1,300 Taliban and al-Qa'eda fighters and the destruction of more than 50 tanks and other pieces of heavy weaponry.

The so-called A-team, codenamed Tiger 03, which directed American bombers to enemy positions, helped to unseat the Taliban and made a huge contribution to the war, its commander said.

The first details of the covert operations of the A-teams, each composed of up to 18 lightly armed infantrymen and air controllers, were released after the Pentagon allowed reporters to spend three days with different units operating within Afghanistan.

"We killed a lot of people here," "Kevin", the senior non-commissioned officer in Tiger 03, told USA Today.

Tiger 03 was one of at least a dozen Green Beret teams inserted by helicopter from Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan after Oct 20.

The first task for Kevin and his colleagues, none of whose full names can be used under US army reporting restrictions, was to establish links with local commanders of the Northern Alliance, which at the time was hemmed in by Taliban and al-Qa'eda forces.

Although some of the unit's members were fluent in Arabic, none spoke Dari, the predominant local language, so after making contact with local military chiefs, they communicated largely in sign language until trusted interpreters could be recruited.

The alliance was doubtful about the capabilities of the unexpected visitors and, at first, would not take the A-team up to the front lines.

"We weren't really wanted," said Kevin. "We had to prove ourselves and they weren't really happy to see us until the first bombs hit."

Among the most important pieces of equipment carried by the special forces units were laser-designating devices, used to help bombers to destroy ground targets.

Tiger 03 used its targeting expertise for the first time on Oct 28, on a Taliban defensive position near the deserted town of Zard Kammar in the north-east of Afghanistan.

A B-52 bomber following an infra-red designation beam dropped a full load of 2,000lb bombs in a direct hit on the Taliban bunkers.

"It lifted the whole top of the hill two feet in the air," Kevin said. "Mark", an engineering specialist with the unit, said: "People were lining up and clapping when we got back to the [base].

"They were slapping us on the back. It seemed like the more accurate the bombing, the better they fed us."

Tiger 03 spent weeks touring front-line positions, bringing in a rain of destruction from the air on the Taliban and al-Qa'eda and winning the admiration of their new allies. They developed tactics as they went, Kevin said.

The team's targeters noticed that often when bombs were striking Taliban targets, nearby comrades would come out of their bunkers to watch, so the American special forces co-ordinated attacks to start a minute or two later on emplacements close to their original targets.

"A good controller can sequence planes and munitions to accomplish what you want," said Kevin.

"You bomb one side of a hill and push them in one direction, then bomb the next hill over and push guys the other way. Then, when they're all bunched up, you bring in more planes and drop right on them. Eventually they learn, but then you start doing something else."

Tiger 03 had had occasional direct contact with its enemies, but tried to stay remote from the ground fighting, according to "JJ", the team's intelligence specialist.

"Our mission is not necessarily to outfight the enemy," he said. "We would rather out-think them."

Col John Mulholland, commanding officer of the A-teams, said they had exerted "a greater impact on the outcome of this war than anyone".

"John", another member of the team, said: "This area was full of Pakistanis and Arabs and Chechens and al-Qa'eda, and we knew they would fight to the death. There are bandits and diseases and brutal weather, so we were prepared to lose our lives."

Kevin added: "None of us expected to survive, but it went just about as perfectly as you could hope."

36 posted on 03/06/2006 9:04:23 AM PST by doug from upland (A dead body means a chance for Democrats to have another funeral-op)
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To: cll

"Oh...they used to wake us up to that tune at the Airborne (Parachutist) Course at Fort Benning in the 80's."

At other times it was "Blood on the risers"



37 posted on 03/06/2006 9:04:59 AM PST by ansel12
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To: Mrs. Darla Ruth Schwerin
The Green Berets have saved our country from many a catastrophe. God Bless them...

Thank you for that thought. It is greatly appreciated.

38 posted on 03/06/2006 9:55:23 AM PST by MACVSOG68
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To: ansel12
At other times it was "Blood on the risers"

LOL! And don't forget "Beautiful Streamer".

39 posted on 03/06/2006 9:56:56 AM PST by MACVSOG68
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To: Nextrush

The only #1 song ever to result from a John Wayne movie.


40 posted on 03/06/2006 9:58:10 AM PST by COEXERJ145 (Pat Buchanan lost a family member in the holocaust. The man fell out of a guard tower.)
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