7 Randy Gilstrap

Randy was my squad leader when I was on my first track - don't really remember if he was still my squad leader when I was transferred or not. Randy was from Georgia and had gone through Shake 'N' Bake school. We used to have to walk out from our perimeter at night and set up 'night ambushes' alongside well-traveled trails. On my first ambush, Randy took a couple of us newer guys out, and, because we were new, he said he'd walk point. I was quite surprised when he set off one of our own trip flares that we had set up as part of our defense outside of our track circle. I thought for sure that he'd have no chance of spotting any of the enemies'. Also, when he was walking in the artillery rounds to our position (for support if we needed it), I was sure he was going to get us all blown up! But he didn't, and afterwards I learned what a great guy he was, and a lot smarter than I first thought.