I only have two photos of me in Vietnam. This one and my "graduation" photo included elsewhere. Taken in the old "Packrat" tent on Pleiku airbase, this must date to late summer 1966 as the fatigues I'm wearing were bought new in Saigon and are starting to look faded. Looks like a night time "bull session" going on with someone in the lower bunk (probably after a warm Falstaff's beer at "Irving's Inn"). 1966
I enlisted in the Air Force in 1963 and completed training at Keesler AFB, Mississippi as a Ground Radio Equipment Repairman. Keesler was the center of Air Force studies on close air support in those days. I became acquainted with the concepts of close air support and of "combat control." In those days the focus was preparing to fight in Germany's Fulda Gap area. My first "line" assignment was to Lakeside AFS near Kalispell, Montana in early 1964.
The airbase at Pleiku was attacked in late 1965 and boredom prompted me to ask the squadron CO if there was a chance I could get a Vietnam assignment. The CO had seen me jogging up the mountain to the radar station while everyone else rode the bus, so he knew I was crazy anyway. In a couple of days I started a series of bubonic plague shots and sent my belongings home. I arrived in Fort Hamilton for M-16 qualification the end of February 1966. My "love to hate it" affair with the M-16 started right there. On my pass through the "Vietnam village" I managed to hit a woman holding a baby three times. That is how many rounds that rifle fired on full auto before it jammed. Having simulated killing an innocent person and winding up with a useless rifle was not an auspicious beginning. I arrived in Saigon on a hot, steamy night in early March of 1966 still wearing my winter blues from Montana.
I spent a few weeks learning something about the particular equipment we would be using and then, tiring of the "Saigon scene," requested a field assignment. A few days later I arrived at the door of a ramshackle tent on Pleiku airbase. A round paper medallion on the door proudly proclaimed that this was the home of 505 TCMS Detachment 3 "Project Pack-Rat." A grizzled old veteran, SMSgt Ford was the NCOIC and heart and soul of the outfit. It was from him, and the airmen who shared the assignment, that I learned the true meaning and cost of "duty and honor." We never had more than 8 men at Det. 3. If there were 8, 2 were generally generator mechanics charged with keeping the generators in the field serviced. It was this force, officially attached to MACV Advisory Team 21, that built and maintained the 13 advisory team radio facilities for the Air Request Net, provided backup operators for the province FACs when requested, and did any other communications related jobs that II DASC needed done.
During the next twelve months I criss-crossed II Corps on assignment. I spent time in Qui Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Dalat, Bao Loc, Phan Thiet, Ban Me Thuot, Gia Nghia, and Pleiku. One trip during this period brought our involvement in Vietnam into sharp focus. I was travelling down the coast to Phan Thiet aboard the "Wallaby," the Australian mail plane, with a few other passengers. One was a black Special Forces sergeant with a small Montangard girl in his lap clinging fearfully to his neck. The odor from her was overpowering and the crew taking pity on us dropped the rear ramp a bit to improve air circulation in the cabin. I asked the sergeant what he was doing. He informed me that the girl had a birth defect in her bladder which caused constant leakage and this made her inelligible for marriage. He (a medic) was taking her to Saigon where corrective surgery could be done. This was her first plane ride and she was terrified. I got off at the stop in Phan Thiet and never saw either again but the image of that great tough Green Beret handling that frightened girl so tenderly has never left my mind. At the time it caused reflection on my part in the drama we were engaged in. I realized that I was playing a very useful role in II Corps and decided to extend my stay another six months.
I had opportunity to get to know many Vietnamese people during my stay in their country. I was befriended by the family of one ARVN "Di Hue" (Captain). I rented a house downtown and spent "Tet" 1967 in it partying. I made the mental note at the time that "this would be a great time for the VC to attack as we were all totally unprepared." As I ended my final six months tour I had to decide whether to stay with the Air Force or return to civilian status. I told the Air Force I had had enough and got a DEROS date in October 1967. In retrospect, it was a good decision. I most likely would have been downtown in my rented house, unarmed, during Tet 1968 if I had stayed.
I have included a selection of the photos made during my trips around II Corps and to Saigon. I hope these convey a sense of the scene at the time, the months between March, 1966 and October, 1967.
