Vietnam

• Was the war a 'good' war?
• Was the war fought properly?
• Could the war have been won?
• ...and on and on.........

This is not the place for that discussion. I will have a place on this page for that discussion

This is simply a memory of a place and what happened there to myself and people I remember.

I was, like most in Vietnam, drafted. In other words, I DIDN'T want to go.

I was in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as a drill instructor (yes, I was).

In late December 1967, 500-600 of 'us' (shorttimers) received our orders to go to Vietnam. I had about 9 months to go IN THE ARMY. Some had as little as 6 months.

My orders read: Plieku (in the Central Highlands), but by the time I reached Vietnam, those orders had been changed to Tay Ninh.

Made no difference to me, I didn't know anything about either.

I was initially assigned to B company of the 588th Engineer Battalion (C A). Later I would be assigned to Headquarters Company, S2.

I wasn't in the field (read: boonies), very often. I spent most of my time in Tay Ninh West basecamp.

That's not to say that I was not nearly killed, I was.

On a number of different occasions.

I suppose there were areas that could have been considered 'the rear'. But those areas were few and far between. But the most dangerous job had to have been those who went into the jungle to find and fight either the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese.

My unit, the 588th Engineer Battalion, was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and did what engineers do: Sweep roads for mines, build roads, build airstrips, build basecamps and fire bases, build or repair bridges, and blow up all of the above. Given it's mission, the most activity of a hostile nature was generally being ambushed by Vietnamese forces that were opposed to the building or blowing up of things.

I was in two ambushes. The first cost the American side 9 men. The 2nd we were somewhat smarter and we had no KIA (killed-in-action.)

In addition to ambushes were the constant 'harassment' by mortar or rocket fire. I put the word harassment in quotes, because it WAS NOT harassment. It was very deadly. The military uses the word harassment because the casualties are usually fairly light from a rocket or mortar attack. Unless YOU happen to be the one hit. Then it's not harassment, it's deadly.

I could not count the number of mortar/rocket attacks I've been in. But two of them I particularly remember. I've written a story or two about these things and other interesting things that I remember about my time there, they may be amusing, they may be frightening or they may be boring, but here they are.