Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2018 22:48:52 +0000 (UTC)
From: thailyn2001@yahoo.com
Subject: VIETNAM ? 1967 -  PART 1 ?

VIETNAM -- 1967 - PART 1 --

Editorsnote: This story takes place in 1967 when there was NO HIV . The
mostdangerous STD were Syphilis and Gonorrhea, which could be cured
bypenicillin or the new antibiotics.


 Thisstory takes place in 1967, before the "Shit Hit the Fan" in theform of
the "Tet" Offensive (February 1968). All things weredifferent in Vietnam
after that.


 InViet Nam, there is a spine of mountains, going from the northern cityof
Hue (pronounced Way), south to Saigon, that disappeared, thenthe Mekong
Delta. The Vietnamese referred to them as mountains, butthey weren't
mountains by American standards, they were hills. To betechnical, they were
buttes like we have in the American Southwest inthe area of Monument
Valley, and the Devil's Tower, featured in thefilm "Close Encounters of the
Third Kind", but that film wouldcome much later than this story takes
place. The Vietnamese Buttes,for want a better word, were sheer sided, flat
on top, and coveredwith jungle growth. There was no way to get to the top
except by air.The sides were totally unclimbable.


 Americanplanes would pour Agent Orange on the tops, and after a period
oftime for the vegetation to die off, helicopters would come back,land, and
unload men and equipment. "Bull Dozers" would be usedto clear the dead
vegetation, and a base camp would be established.Army Signal men would come
in and build microwave relay stations.With a line of these relays from
north to south, there was instantcommunication through out the entire
country. (This was beforesatellites) The Microwave machinery had to be
adjusted andmaintained, therefore, an aluminum Quonset hut was put up, and
men ofthe Signal Corps moved in.


 Onceyou had men in place, you had to have a kitchen, Mess Hall,Generator,
a laundry, bathrooms and a shower. So more aluminumQuonset huts were put
up. The presence of the men requires aschedule of re-supply, and
necessitated a Supply Shack. So anotherQuonset was set up. And soon a
functioning camp resulted. Theindividual solders would bring in TV sets,
radios, refrigerators,and even air conditioners. The man in charge of the
electrical gridwould look at what each man had brought in, and decide which
could beused, and which could not. His word was law. Usually, there was
noproblem, as the Army generators provided more power than themicrowave
relays required.


 Theshowers and toilets were ingenious! Bombs came into the country inmetal
cases. Once the bomb was removed, the metal case was garbage,to be thrown
away. But they were not thrown away. A Mechanic wouldtake these cases and
weld them shut. They would then interconnectthem together (with copper pipe
and standard plumbing fixtures) in abattery of 16 to 48, depending on the
number of men there were. Themetal cases were painted black, and put up in
towers, and connectedto standard American shower heads in the room
below. The black paintabsorbed the heat of the sun, and the water in the
filled tanks, wassoon almost boiling (After all this was in a Tropic
country). Thetowers were refilled with cold water, so the "early bird"
(after5 o'clock) got boiling water, that they had to dilute with coldwater,
and the "late bird" got cold water. The majority of mentried to arrive
somewhere in the middle of the temperature range!


 Thetoilets were just as ingenious. When you went in the front door , itwas
just like using a multi hole outhouse. There were large holes inwooden
ledges covered with regular American toilet seats, with moderntoilet paper!
It looked like rural America. On the outside, when youwent to the rear of
the toilet, the similarity ended. Across theback, the rear wall (under seat
height) was hinged in sections. Thepoor unfortunate solder who had "Latrine
Duty", that day, wouldpull out the containers that were under each
seat. The wastecontainers were 55 gallon metal drums , cut in half. At that
time,the Army was very conscious of "Waste not, Want not." When thesemetal
containers came in country, they were full of things likelubricating oil,
and diesel fuel. Once the barrel was empty, it wascleaned, cut in half, and
reused. The person who had the duty wouldremove these barrels several feet,
and pour in a measured amount ofdiesel fuel. He would light it up, and run
up wind. It did not smellvery nice, and the diesel fuel burned with a thick
black smoke.

 Itwas one of those things that in-country solders though was veryfunny!
Back in the states, photos of camps were shown with thickblack plumes of
smoke rising. Most Americans though they sawphotographic proof that
"Charlie" was attacking our camps, asshown by the plumes of black smoke
caused by the damage of incomingshells. The truth (and the funny part) was
that we were burning shit!


 "Charlie"kept the men on the buttes on their toes. Although North
Vietnameseforces could not get to the top, a mortar could. So every once in
awhile, "Charlie" would bring a mortar to the base of the hill,and fire a
few rounds at the top. "Charlie" could not see wherethe shells landed and
exploded, so they randomly attempted to coverthe entire top. Most of the
rounds did little damage, butoccasionally the shells hit a building, which
had to be repairedimmediately. There were very few casualties and not much
damage tothe installation!


 Hill501 was one of these "Micro-Wave Relays". It was at the extremerange
of that area of Vietnam covered by the American II FieldForces. II Field
Forces Headquarters was in Long Binh, and stretchedfor several miles along
Vietnam's Route One. It was approximately 30miles Northeast of Saigon. It
was a small city, unto itself, and inback of it was the largest Ammo Dump
in Vietnam. All night long,flares were sent up to light the area, so
"Charlie" would thinktwice about attacking the Ammo Dump.


 IfAmerican forces in Vietnam had a heart, this was it. GeneralWestmorland
and General Abrams (the one the Tank is named for) livedhere.

Everymodern convenience you can think of, was here, including a
swimmingpool for the troops. At the headquarters was a Public
InformationOffice (PIO). Photos of our fighting forces, were distributed
toAmerican Newspapers, the three television networks, magazines, andeven
stateside radio stations. The PIO had intimate knowledge ofAmerican
operations. The PIO office would contact the Signal Corpsto send
photographers out with the troops.


 Theofficer in charge of the PIO office, collected gory photos, thegorier
the better. When asked "Why" he said that some day, in thefuture, someone
would ask him "What was Vietnam REALLY like". Hesaid he would sit that
person down with a barf bucket, and bring outall the gory shots he had
collected! The viewer of those photos wouldthen get an education on the
horrors of war.


 Whenthe photographers went out into the field, they would have their
Armyissued Cannon cameras loaded with 35mm. black and white film, on
onehip. On the other hip would be their personal Nikon FTN, 35 mm.Cameras,
loaded with high speed Ektachrome color slide film. Whenthe photographers
returned from assignment, a proof sheet of theirBlack and White film would
be printed, and sent over to the PIOoffice. They would send back orders for
so many prints of whichframe. These would be sent back to the states, or
given to the newsmedia. The photographers were instructed to get the names
and hometown of the solders in the shots, and the PIO office would send
theprints to local newspapers, along with official descriptions of
theoperations.


 Oneof the development technicians, who developed the Official
U.S. Armyphotographs, also had a Home Ektachrome Kit. On his own, not
usingany army supplies, he developed the Ektachrome film for
thephotographers. under what must be considered "PrimitiveConditions", he
developed the films perfectly! Since he did notuse Army supplies in this
side endeavor, and he worked at night, whenhe was "off duty" there was no
question of ownership of thephotos. The color slides produced, belonged to
the photographers.


 TheArmy Photographers were a mixed bag. Some had been
professionalphotographers before being drafted; some joined news services
andnewspapers after getting out of the army; some did not know one endof a
camera from the other, until the Army taught them the secretesof getting
good shots. One photographer was a Dutch citizen who livedin the United
States. Needless to say, he was very upset when he wasdrafted. He contacted
the Dutch Ambassador. In the investigation, itwas found out that the
U.S. did have the legal right to draft thatperson, but, in order to avoid
an international incident with anAllie of ours, he was assigned to a
position where he would not beexpected to fight. They made him a
photographer.


 Theofficial weapon of a photographer, was the 45 Pistol. Photographerswere
not in-country very long, when they traded the 45 for an AR-15or better
yet, a Kalashnikov rifle (AK-47). One of the best picturesthat never made
it out of Vietnam, was taken by a regular Armysolder. An American unit was
doing a sweep in the delta, and our PIOoffice instructed us to send a
photographer on this operation. Thetroops, including our photographer, were
walking through a ricepatty, when the Photographer fell into an unseen deep
hole. The onlything visible, was an arm coming out of the mud with an AR15
and twocameras. The solder walking behind our photographer took out
hiscamera, and got the shot.


 OurPhotographer tried desperately to get the film containing the shot,but
the solder said no. The promise of free film for as long as hewas
in-country and free development of any film, and "credit",could not sway
the solder. Our Photographer failed to get the film.So, somewhere back here
in the USA is a great photo. The dejectedphotographer came back and told
his sad story. He did get some goodshots of the American solders being
hosed down before being allowedto return to base. Most Americans thought
pictures of rice pattieswere very bucolic. They never realized that in
Vietnam, humanexcrement is used as a fertilizer in rice patties. You should
havesmelt it! Our guys had to be hosed down, because they were coveredwith
shit.


 Oneof the other things Americans had to adjust to, was living with
theMonsoon rainy season, and its resultant mud. Most of Vietnam is
notpaved. Streets and roads are dirt. When the Monsoon arrives, the
dirtturns to mud, even in the cities. Americans don't deal with mud on
aregular basis, and newcomers have to learn to deal with it. Theyquickly
learned that you could tell the depth of the mud, by itscolor. A light
brown indicated a shallow deposit, while a dark browncolor indicated a deep
filled hole. If you didn't learn this, youstood a good chance of stepping
into mud filled hole, and beingcovered in mud up to your hips or even
higher. This acquiredknowledge was very handy when out in the "Boondocks",
in thejungle, and even in the ubiquitous rice paddies.


 Outsidethe cities, after the "Tent" stage of Base development, housingfor
men consisted of three types: the Quonset Hut, primarily used in"Advance
Camps", the aluminum Hutch, and the Wooden Hutch. Thealuminum hutch was
just what you think, a long room, whose walls(with windows) and roof were
made of metal panels, (Aluminum). TheWooden Hutch was more interesting. A
series of 45 degree anglechocks were nailed to the up rights. Wooden planks
were then nailedto the chocks. Thus all siding was as a 45 Degree angle,
leaving anopen space between each siding plank. On the inside,
"mosquitonetting" was nailed or stapled to the uprights. Thus a breeze
couldgo through, but sand, bugs, and rain could not. The passage of air,was
a necessity, because most Americans were not used to theexcessive heat of a
"Tropical" country, and it was totallyimpractical to "Air Condition" every
building.


 Outside of cities, some buildings were air conditioned. Buildings
thatcontained electronic equipment or chemicals were, as were the
officesand meeting rooms of Higher Ranking Officers. Really high
rankingOfficers had air conditioned bedrooms, and men of lower ranks
couldbuy air conditioners in the PX, but had to get permission to plugthem
in, so generators would not be overloaded.


 Whenour Photographer Specialist 5th Class (E-5) Tom Rydel,first arrived in
Vietnam, he lived in one of these metal Hutches. Hehad been in country less
than a week, when, (in the middle of thenight) a parachute flair, from the
nearby Ammo Dump, failed to open,and the flair fell straight down into the
metal Hutch next to the onehe was living in. The Flair came straight down,
and into the aluminumHutch that men were sleeping in, and set it and the
contents on fire.(The temperature of magnesium flairs was measured in
thousands ofdegrees.) The young solder in charge of the water truck, woke
up,and in his underwear, ran to the motor pool, thankful that he hadfilled
his water truck that night, for an early start of his roundsthe next
day. He drove the truck to the Hutch, and turned on thewater (in his full
Water Truck tank) full blast, putting out thefire, and saving the lives of
the men in the hutch. He received amedal for his actions. One of the men in
the hutch, was so badlyburned, that he was shipped to Japan for extensive
medical treatment.When Spec 5 Rydel was rotated home, (a year later) he
went to the"Repo-Depot" at Tongsonut Air Field, outside of Saigon, and
hemet the the burnt solder returning to Vietnam to complete his tour.The
medical Magicians in the American Army Hospitals in Japan, hadworked their
medical magic, on him, and he was recognizable. Afterwhat he had gone
through, sending him back to Vietnam wasunconscionable, but it was the Army
Way (then).


 Spec5 Tom Rydel had gotten his first camera when he was 12. It was aKodak
Brownie, and you couldn't do much with it, except takepictures. He was 14
when he got his first 35mm. Camera. It was aLeica, from Germany, one of the
first European companies to recoverafter World War II. He could now play
with the camera, adjustingfocus, camera speed and "F Stop", and varying the
focus. Heconverted a closet in his house into a darkroom, and he began
toplay. He began to develop a reputation as a photographer, and becamethe
Official Photographer for the High School Newspaper and Yearbook.He also
started to work with the local newspapers, and began to sellhis photos to
magazines. By the time he graduated High School, hislife was planned
out. He would save his money and open his ownstudio. To accumulate the
necessary money, he took a low paying,bottom of the heap job with a
national magazine company, while goingto a "Photo School" at night. He was
developing a reputationwithin the business, as someone with a good eye. His
company begansending him out as an official photographer on events of
nationalimportance. Everything was going according to plan, when he got
oneof those letters from the government: "Congratulations,
Yourdrafted". (This was back in the days of the "Draft" Army!)


 Tomtried everything he could think of, to avoid the draft, he didn'twant
to be Vietnam cannon fodder. The government did not recognizehis "Photo
School" as a college, so a college deferment was notavailable. Phone calls
to his Congressman and Senator resulted innothing. No matter what he did,
he could not avoid the draft and soonfound himself in the Army. The
psychological tests failed to findTom's innermost secret -- He was
gay. Although he had had fewliaisons, he had a complete education in what
it means to be gay, andhe knew the importance of appearing straight. It was
difficult forhim living in a barracks with 50 other late adolescent males
duringbasic training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, but he survived and no
onediscovered his secret. The Army did discover his expertise with
thecamera, assigned him to the Signal Corps, and sent him to the schoolfor
photography at Fort Monmouth.


 Whenthe teachers at the school discovered his extensive background,
theysat back and he wound up teaching the classes to draftees
withabsolutely no knowledge of photography. He had his own camera, andtook
many photos of his fellow students and life at Fort Monmouth. Heused his
own 35mm film to teach the other students "Development",and how to make
prints, both matte and glossy. He, nonchalantlyshowed prints to his
teachers, and his photos, with a credit, foundthere way into Official Army
Brochures.


 Aftergraduating from the Army photo school, the teachers tried to keep
himat Fort Monmouth as a teacher, but they failed to do so. His firstduty
assignment was with a ceremonial unit in Washington D.C. He tookmany photos
of President Johnson at ceremonies around WashingtonD.C., and of other
personnel high in the Government. He advanced inrank, was granted a "Top
Secret" Clearance, and was frequentlysent to the Pentagon. His most
exciting assignment was when theymoved the body of JFK from its temporary
location to its permanentlocation with the eternal flame. The FBI called
him to come in themiddle of the night. He was using a 3 x 5 Box Camera,
with a Polaroid back pack. The FBI assigned an agent to be with him at
every second.The FBI man took the instant photos, and the background
papers, sincea print could be made from the Polaroid negatives. Tom's
mouthdrooled at how much he could get for those photos, but the FBI wasone
step ahead of him. He could not profit from the assignment, buthe was
there, and had a memory he would carry with him for the restof his life,
particularly, when they opened the coffin to verify thatit was the body of
JFK. He was sworn to secrecy, that he would nevertell anyone what he had
seen that night, and he didn't. He did tellhis fellow photographers, but
nobody else!


 Theynext sent him to Vietnam as a photographer. At first they kept him
atthe Headquarters, taking pictures of General Westmorland and
GeneralAbrams. His "Security Clearances" (Gotten in Washington D.C.)came in
handily. After several months of this, they let him go intothe field.


 Luckily,Tom was an attractive young man, he looked great in his tight
Armytailored "Fatigues", and he was able to meet similarly inclinedmembers
of the draft Armed forces. His "Gaydar" was welldeveloped, and he never
made the mistake of making a pass at astraight solder, although he did
introduce several solders, who didnot know they were gay, to the joys of
gay sex. If he was extremelyhorny, he would wrangle a trip to the cities,
and pick up aVietnamese male for a night of uninhibited sex. The
Vietnameseattitude towards homosexuality was different from American's. It
wasan accepted part of life, and homosexuals were not ostracized
ordemeaned. Homosexuals served in all aspects of life, including theArmy
and Government.


 Thiscreated several humorous situations during the "VietnamizationProgram"
when members of the Vietnamese Army were billeted withAmerican units. One
of the members of the Vietnamese Army Unit gotthe hots for an American farm
boy from Nebraska, who knew nothingabout homosexuals. The funniest part,
was that the boys form New Yorkand New Jersey, who knew what it was about,
did not clue in the farmboy from Nebraska. It was very amusing when the
Vietnamese boy creptinto the bed of the Nebraska farm boy. The Nebraska
Farm boy'sreactions upon waking up to find another male holding his
genitalswas laugh provoking! The rest of the guys in the hutch prevented
theNebraska farm boy from killing the Vietnamese boy, and no permanentharm
was done to anyone. A few tense days followed, and one of theboys from New
Jersey filled in the Vietnamese boy about Americanattitudes towards
homosexuality. The Vietnamese boy was confused byAmerican attitudes, as it
was not logical. The boy from New Jerseysaid he did not understand it
either, but said that that was the wayit was. When the Vietnamese boy
finally realized that AmericanSolders were "off limits", he stopped
pursuing the Nebraska farmboy, apologized to him, and things returned to
normal.  It was funnywhile it lasted!


 Spec5 Tom Rydel enjoyed his stay in Vietnam. He was of sufficient rankthat
he did not have to do the dirty work, and qualified to attendthe "NCO" Club
(Non Commissioned Officer's). He had all thebenefits of home at the base
camp, and only put his life in danger onrare occasions. He dealt with the
heat and the mud, knowing that itwas only a temporary situation, and that
soon he would be back in thegood old "ZI" (Zone of the Interior- Mainland
USA), and then outof the Army. There were enough members of the draft Army
with hissame proclivity, that he was not sexually frustrated like many
otherstraight American troops were; however, Vietnamese prostitutes
werecheap and readily available. All this changed after the
"Tet"offensive. The almost tranquility of "Advisors" was replaced withreal
warfare, although the many American and Vietnamese dead in thisperiod,
might not agree with the word "Tranquility."


 Thingswere proceeding swimmingly until the arrival of Spec 4 John
M.Johnson.