My First Night In Country
        We  arrived in Saigon at approx. 11 pm on a Sunday night.  We were terrified, but unable to admit it to anyone.  I remember being mustered together, "All Navy line up here" said the SP (shore patrol) .  He then led us out to a beat up gray bus, and what a bus it was, steel mesh screen covered the windows and the markings were in a flat black color.  That struck me as being strange, as all the Navy vehicles I had ever seen were emblazoned with large white letters on their sides. The SP put us on the bus and our journey began, out of the airport and into the dark smelly streets of Saigon.  We saw very few people on the road and each turn seemed to bring a new assault of pungent odors to our noses.  Finally the bus came to a rapid halt in front of a large hotel, The Saigon Hilton? not hardly.  There was a 5 or 6 foot wall of sand bags around the perimeter topped off with both barbed and razor wire. An armed guard stood behind another pile of sand bags right at the very narrow entrance through the wire, I recognized his M-16 and decided that they looked menacing enough but I had heard allot of stories about them jamming.  We were ushered inside and lined up to be given room assignments, that was a joke, there were no rooms just floors with wide open areas full of cots.  Those of us that were non-rated, E-3 and below, were told to go change and report back for duty assignments.  I went to the second floor, found my cot and changed into dungarees.  I then went down to the MAA shack  (Master at Arms). I was given the 4am till 8am bunker watch, told to get some sleep and let the fire watch know my bunk assignment so he could wake me at 3:15.  I did as I was told and went to bed, to lie there and wonder what was in store for me at 4 am.  I soon found out, after being called by the fire watch I reported to the MAA shack where they promptly asked M-14 or M-16?  I said M-14. Then they asked 38 or 45, I thought they were asking my chest size so I replied 38!  They then handed me an M-14 rifle, a 38 caliber pistol and extra rounds for each.  I was told to follow the MAA and he escorted me out the gate and around the building into an alley where there was a large dark object which turned out to be a sand bagged bunker.  I was told to climb up on top and allow no one to come within more than 20 feet of the bunker, if they did, shoot them.  OK I thought, this is a good thing, sure it is.  The MAA left and I was alone, scared shitless, and hearing every noise in the city, even some that I now know were not even there.   I must have locked and loaded that M-14 200 times in that 4 hour period.  I heard more Honda scooters than Honda made that year, and they all seemed to be headed right for me.  Actually I saw no one till my relief came out at 8am. That was one of my most terrifying nights in country, but I knew no better at the time, I thought the whole North Vietnamese Army was going to march into that alley that night and I'm surprised I went back inside with dry underwear.

No More Boats, Thank You!!!

    One day my crew went to town for the day, the LCVP (another Navy acronym for Landing Craft, Vehicle and Personnel) from the ship took us. We were on the USS Garrett County at the time, anchored in the Me Tho river.  As I was saying as we arrived in town the Coxswain told us to radio the ship when we were ready to return and he would come get us. Well after a few rounds at the local house of Ill Repute, we were ready to tackle anything and a ride home was just a minor thing.  We got to the docks and started to radio the ship when we noticed three Boston Whalers about 18 feet long and they all had twin outboard engines on them.  Just because it said US Army on the side of them shouldn't sway us from borrowing one to go joy riding and then back to the ship.  It seemed like the Army didn't care who used them either, because the keys were in the ignitions and the fuel tanks were full.  Who were we to turn down this gift horse, not a chance. So off we went down river, the Seawolves in a boat, no weapons and one short range vhf radio.  We were crusin now!!!  Spit, Sputter one engine died, won't restart, Spit, Spit, Sputter, engine number two goes away.  While we drift we try repeatedly to start the engines but to no avail.  As we drift closer to shore we hear rustling sounds from the bushes and we sober up fast.  Now we are in deep kimshe, (crap), we stay quiet and drift closer till the boat bumps the shoreline.  We are now so scared that I swear the whole boat was shaking with us.  A rustling in the bushes, it's close!! Oh my god we are goners, then the water buffalo stuck his head out and stared at us.  We laughed and told each other we knew it all the time, none of us wanted to ruin it for each other though.  I happened to look down at the fuel tanks and realized that we forgot to open the vents and the engines died from fuel starvation, I opened the vents and primed the lines and both engines jumped back to life.    Back up river we went, called the ship on the radio, that we forgot we had, and took the Army boat back, let them have it we wanted no more boat trips thank you we'll stick to helicopters, it's safer.