September 4 - 10, 1967

94 days, 4 Sept. ’67, Monday

Last night Gladys got a few automatic weapons round. They got excited and called us out of the tent, mounted us on jeeps and the track, opened the gate and almost sent us out after the VC, but the gun-ships came out at that time and put on a fire show of rockets, mini-guns, and machine guns. They took care of it by themselves, and we went to bed.

My turn to go to Cu Chi today. We took three jeeps and the track. Five guys went in to stay, and several of the new guys had to get some of their personal stuff. I went to finance.

We had our problems, though. On unloading the .50 caliber, a round discharged just outside the gate. The MPs hauled the track and everybody on it in to headquarters, tried to give the gunner, Sanchez, an article 15 and threatened to impound the track. They wondered why we had the gun loaded in the first place. I’m beginning to think he people in base camp are forgetting there’s a war on. At least we know the thing fires.

And I found out why I got overpaid last month, and consequently got no pay this month. For some reason they paid me twice for June. They took it out of this month’s plus still sending my $100 home. Next month I still owe them $76.42, that plus my $100 again will leave me with nothing next month also.

I also found out my camera is rusted and corroded beyond repair. What now? My third camera in as many months? This could get expensive.

They got the track fixed (broke a tooth off the drive sprocket when they got stuck) and went back to Bao Trai. Election’s over, no guard tonight – sleep!

95 days, 5 Sept ’67, Tuesday

All the new guys got assigned to the sections today. Some seem all right, but a couple remind me of the morons I was with in basic. Hope I never have to depend on them the new platoon Serge seems pretty good (he’s been here 6 mos.) No new scout leader yet.

Culver, Felciano, Garcia, Brand, are gone now. It’s still crowded with only 4 gone (6, incl. Wallace & Harris) and 16 new people.

Most of these idiots have brought their foot lockers out here already, and there’s not even enough room for them to sleep. They got their lockers outside now, and they’re about as waterproof as a screen door.

One fool (a moron) has a picture of his girl. Wallet size is natural, but this is a 12”x12” oil portrait in a big wooden frame – wants to know where he should hang it. I told him to take it back to Cu Chi before it gets wet and her makeup runs (besides, she’s a “pig”). He’s the guy that wanted to know where we put our weapons at night (“We hang them out on the fence to let them dry”). We were waiting at the chopper pad today and one ship appeared and came in to land “Is that our chopper?” “Yeah, we’re going to put 50 people on one ship.”

Yep, we broke the new guys in today – good. We had to go to the pad in the ¾ and 3 jeeps, plus some men on the S-2’s 2 ½ ton – there are so many of us now, and they made us give the track back to brigade today; for good, I guess.

First of all we went to the swamps, which is bad enough – if you’re going to learn to hump, the swamps are the best place; if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Secondly, as we came in to the L2, we received fire momentarily, but the “Dragon Ships” with mini-guns, rockets, and m-60s put a quick end to that. That’s good training – hot L2 seeing their first (my first) mini-gun fire up close.

Later on one of the new people almost tripped over a VC hiding under the water in the bushes. A quick recovery with his M-16 left the VC dead – not bad for our fist day out. (We got two others later)

We were in waist-deep water for 3 hours, with trees and bushes making excellent hiding places. We kept getting tangled up in fishing nets that were stretched across the swamps. Pretty deep, huh? It was like walking through a flooded forest.

We came back to a cold dinner – mice after 3 hours in the swamps, getting shot at. Cold beans, cold mashed potatoes, cold gravy, and cold pork slices. Only one thing was even warm –the iced tea.

There’s a poker game in the tent tonight (payday). Damn it! I’m pretty tired tonight after humping the ’60 in the swamp, my shoulder is swollen, and they’re playing cards till 4:30 a.m.

One good thought for today: it’s 15 till 9 o’clock p.m. On the 5^th. That means that it’s 15 till 9 o’clock on the morning of the 5^th back in the world. The kiddies are going to school now at this moment – school starts today. Realize that, if the good Lord’s wiling and the VC cooperate, I’ll be home in time for graduation in June. I remember I used to really dread the up-coming school year; imagine how I feel about this one. But also imagine how much more I’ll enjoy that June vacation. I say it every year . . . Can’t wait till school’s out,

Bob

*@!!?&#*

97 days, 7 Sept. ’67, Thursday

They never leave us alone! Now, thanks to the new sergeant, we have to get up at six-thirty every day. We have a police call formation, weapons inspection, have to have “white wall” haircuts, shined shoes (after tromping through rice paddies all day) can’t wear shower shoes outside the platoon area (the tent & latrine). In other words, for club or dinner, we have to put on boots. We have to have all name tags, patches, rank insignia, etc. on our uniforms, bunks aligned, shoes polished and displayed uniformly under our bunks.

The Sarge marches out to operations, in step and actually yells at someone if he’s out of step, etc. it all boils down to this: here we are in a hot war zone, risking our lives, supposedly for our country, the true mission of a soldier. We’re supposed to be men who know what we’re doing and work hard at it. We’ve got the strain of living with violence, actually, 24 hours a day for 12 months. We’re supposed to be all this, you’d think they’d leave us alone while we have free time. Instead, they’re treating us like basic trainees. It’s not enough that we’re fighting a war, and we come in tired and wet – no, they can’t leave us alone to do our job.

Today a colonel “inspected” the tent and told the Sarge the floor wasn’t level. We spent all morning tearing up the floor. It took us two days to build, leveling off the ground and rebuilding the whole thing. All because some damn colonel said it wasn’t lever. Well, I hope he likes it now. We had to move everything out to do it. Now they talk about putting double bunks in the tent. There’s hardly enough room to stand up, and they talk about double bunks. Can you imagine how hot it can get near the roof of a tent? Been in your attic lately?

The real ironic pat of this whole rotten day was a party thrown for CRIP by Major General (**). Meaning in “appreciation for the outstanding job being done for Hau Nghia Province” (How Nee-a) and because we “have the best record of any unit of this type in Vietnam, with 56 body count in a month and a half.” He gave a real flattering speech about CRIP. Then we had refreshments and entertainment. There were VN colonels and generals and V-s colonels and generals there, plus many civilian officials, and all of the S-2 and Recon platoon.

It would have been wonderful, except for the fact that we had just left a completely torn-up floor and were hot, sweaty, and mad at the world. How ironic! One minute they treat us like trainees, then the next they say we’re the best soldiers in VN (after the party, we had to go back and finish the thing).

Cito says it’s all because of all the officer that come through Bao Trai (the intelligence center for Hau Nghia Province) some of which have heard of CRIP, and come to see how we live. so, to impress some colonel or higher, who has been behind his desk for so long he’s forgotten what it’s like to be in the field, fighting and maybe even forgot there’s a war on, we have to live like garrison troops, even thought we have “the best record of any unit of this type in Vietnam”. I say again – “why can’t they leave us alone when they have nothing to do with us?”

To top it off (yes, there’s more!) we have a CMMI (Command military Maintenance Inspection) Sunday. This means all the jeeps, radios, weapons, etc. Have to be spit shined like they just came from the factory. What can they want from equipment that is being used in combat? They’ll probably raise the Devil because there are several bullet holes in the jeeps.

Yep, everyone is pretty perturbed with the whole affair (and at times with each other). The morale has gone from “excellent” to “zero”. I don’t even remember if I’ve missed a day in my letters. (If I have the past 3 days have been pretty much the same – we haven’t gone out much – once in 5 days - but things are so bad here, we wish we would).

At first we like leaving Cu Chi and coming to Bao Trai, even thought we got shot at. We were left alone in our spare time, unlike in Cu Chi, and that made it worth the bullets (in a way). Now this is as bad as Cu Chi, with the added unpleasantness of unfriendly Viet Cong. I guess I’d rather be in Cu Chi now. They harass you as much, but it’s safer.

98 days, 8 Sept. ’67, Friday

(at least the time goes by fast – it seems like Wednesday!)

Some new rules: everyone must wear a hat and during the day our weapons have to be on the bed ready for any officer who wants to inspect them.

We spent the whole day working on jeeps for the CMMI. We managed to get away for a while when we took the jeeps into town and had a bunch of kids wash them. I came out all right – I’m painting the numbers, etc., on the bumpers.

All I’ve got to say about the whole deal is, they’d better leave us alone and let us have some spare time after the @#%*&!! CMMI when we start going out again. I’d hate to be out and come back only to be put to work again.

One thing that really puts me out is these dopes called NCOs running around inspecting weapons every day. The platoon sergeant has been over here six months (although I find that hard to believe). He should know that you don’t have to tell the troops in Vietnam to clean their weapons and especially you don’t have to inspect them to see that it was done.

I was trying to get a letter to my parents written today, but they caught me (sound like I committed a crime) and said if I wasn’t doing anything I should clean my equipment or something “just to look busy in case an officer comes in.” What could an officer possibly have against a GI writing a letter home in his spare time?

Funny, we’ve never had that much trouble from officers before these new NCOs got here – I wonder . . .  if it’s just in their mind. Before, as long as we came to attention when they came in, no matter what we were doing, everything was all right.

“Clean your equipment!”

“Take a flying leap!”

We haven’t had a moment’s peace since they got here, but then, there’s the CMMI, and all. We haven’t been out but once since they all got here. Like I say, it had better stop when this is all over, but I’m terribly afraid it won’t. Sergeant Mahoy seems like that type of person – “don’t let ‘em rest, they might get lazy”. Let’s see if he still feels that way after a few days with Charlie (I keep forgetting - he’s been here six months. I think he forgets, too).

I hope it gets back to the way it was – as long as we did our job in the field, when we came in, our time was our own to sleep, rite, got to the club – anything. We missed the movie tonight, working on the jeeps. Now you hardly have time to read your mail before someone comes; and puts you on a stupid “look-busy” job.

It’s like a sudden change form night to day. Why, why, why……?

“Why” is a very crooked letter, Bob

PS. I feel like speaking my mind to a colonel. I think I’ll write Chappy.

More of the same,

99 days, 9 Sept. ’67, Saturday

I spent the whole day painting numbers – between rainstorms – it rained every hour. I’ve been assigned as a driver for a jeep. It’s a brand new one, so the maintenance shouldn’t be too bad, but I still have the machine gun – one’s going to have to go.

Be glad when the inspection’s over. I haven’t even read half my mail from the past few days, let alone write any; except this. Hope they don’t bother us when we start operations again. There’s mutiny in the air.

100 days! 10 Sept. ’67
Sunday – also 8 months in Army: double anniversary day! One third of the way.

We had the inspection – I guess our work must’ve been worth it; instead of digs we got complements (even liked the new floor – he should, he didn’t have to build it). Somehow, the success of it didn’t make up for all the trouble it’s been to us.

Did I tell you they called off a scheduled day of test firing all weapons (106 included) to have an inspection? I guess having a spotless valve cover and freshly painted bumpers are more important than knowing if your gun is going to fire when you need it. All 4 machine guns have jammed at one time or another. So now we still haven’t tested the 106s in a year or either one of the .50 caliber, or the faulty M-16s. But our shoes are shined, and our beds are aligned, so who needs weapons anyway?

Oh misery, they just called us out to the jeeps – we’re going somewhere – work like slaves all day, now we’re going out at night. Taking jeeps, though might not have to walk.