FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF VIETNAM
Sunday, March 9,1969
As
our plane was approaching the time we were to land in Bien Hoa, after a
pleasant R and R in transit in Hawaii, I
looked out of
the window (It was dark
and the stewardesses were ugly) and saw lights of villages,
towns, and small cities,
and I thought; "How dumb!
Don't they know that there's a war going on and the last
thing you should do is show the enemy a light which gives away your
position?" Then I
remembered that those dumb
civilians live here and since they're not involved in the war I guess they can get away with
it. And then we landed.
Bien-Hoa, Monday, March l0th:
How strange!
The stairway lights were turned
off as we got off the plane to give
snipers a little tougher time of it, but everything else was well lit. How can you
fight a war with all the lights in the world on? Bien-Hoa looked just like any other airport
except that a soldier with a rifle (M-16)
stood nearby in
case any fanatics tried to shoot us or something. We went over to a huge
open sided shed or something and
waited for our baggage, during which time I called Fix and woke him (l:3~am).
We then grabbed our duffel bags, some guys had
suitcases, and boarded air-conditioned buses for
transport to the 90th Replacement
Station at Lon-binh.
I
picked a window seat and sat down and as the bus filled up some
of the old timers remarked, "That's right you new guys,
sit by the windows and help
protect our bodies with yours!".
After which I immediately wanted
an aisle seat but was
already trapped where I
was. We proceeded down the very
narrow road with little shacks
on both sides of the street with
our lights on and only two MP jeeps for protection. Wow! I expected to
be blasted any minute and
that window got larger and
larger as the road got narrower. I
wanted to put my AWOL bag up in front
of the window to help stop any
bullets (it was full of books) but decided that the others would laugh and you
know that with German pride you'd rather be dead than laughed at! And with the windows covered with
wire screen (to keep the hand
grenades out) I figured that
any bullet shot at me would be
deflected anyway so I just sat there and tried to look experienced!
Lon-binh:
We drove up and unloaded at the
processing center amid a well-lit place, which I again couldn't understand,
but since it was dark I guessed
that we were in the middle of a fortress or something, so I didn't
sound the alarm. But when daylight
came I found out that we were right in the middle of nothing, surrounded
by bunkers.
It was 3:00am and the filling out of
papers, changing our greenbacks to
"funny money" and an orientation took us to chow time so we didn't
get anymore sleep. We did
get bunks issued but no linen - then I went to chow. Aagugh! Poison! The eggs were terrible, the bacon raw and probably from a water
buffalo, the rest was equally bad so I ate the grapefruit and quit. After chow we had a formation for details
and I got barracks clean
up. We cooled it in half an hour and
bugged out. It was then that I
realized that the Army doesn't change, just the weather.
I
went over to the
snack bar and bought some iced
kool-aid for 15 cents to beat the heat, but more because I didn't
have anything better to do. I wandered around the PX once or twice but
didn't need anything so I wandered back out. It was nice
in the PX because it was air-cooled. I then went back to my bunk and decided to shower before Fix came because
it had been a while since the Holiday Inn in Hawaii. I went up to the shower and there
were two mama-sans in
one so I went
to the other and started to shower.
I just got good and lathered up
when the water ran out. Man was I
mad. There I sat with an ass full of
soapsuds and no water. Ow! I
calmly wiped the soap off while repeating the Army rosary and got
dressed.
As
I went outside I met Sgt. Pixley1
wearing his cool red beret and
starched, tailored fatigues.
Good-looking stud! We went and had
another Kool-aid on the rocks and plotted against the Army until he had
to go
back to his unit. It
was sure good
seeing him so healthy - it encouraged me. I went back to my bunk and
lay down until the 12:3~
pm formation, skipping chow. I
got put on head count at the mess hall and was off duty until 4:45 pm so I went
back and stripped down to my
shorts and lay there and sweated.
4:45 came and I went to the
mess hall amid
a windstorm that carried the ashes from the burning crap, dust, etc.
into the place and all
over the food.
It almost ruined my appetite but I ignored it. The meal was cremated chicken, potatoes,
veg., bread (French) and Jell-O or cake. After the breakfast disaster I took
Jell-O. I was merrily tearing at the
crisp? chicken and eating the Jell-O
when I picked up my bread and was about to eat it when I noticed a sesame seed
in the crust. On closer inspection it
fell out and crawled away so I
don't think it was
a seed. I finished what it
hadn't eaten although I did
so with my eyes shut to avoid any more surprises.
I
then went over to the door and
counted as the guys came to eat. The
time went fast because I was watching the cockroaches play among the food
trays. After chow I went and found out that
I was going to the 25th Infantry Division at Cu-Chi. Curses!