Another Air Force Mind Game

Trade

Trade

Well-known Member
After we finished AIT, most of us in my class, including me got orders for Vietnam. So one of the dudes asked our instructor what we needed to bring with us when we got sent over there. He replied that we would be subject to periodic inspections and that we would be required to have every uniform item that we had been issued. So when I got on the plane I was in my dress blues withe the bus driver hat and I had my duffle bag packed with everything. Fatigues, 1505's, combat boots, chucka boot, low quarter dress shoes field jacket with liner, gloves, glove liners, field hats, garrison hat, even that long woolen overcoat that looked like something Dr. Zhivago would have worn in the Russian winter.

My duffle must have weighed 60-70 lbs. When I got off the plane at Cam Rahn and reported to my unit the first sergeant just laughed at me. "We're gonna issue you a couple of sets of jungle fatigues and a pair of Jungle boots. Keep one set of 1505's and send all the rest of that shit home" So I did. Cost me $12 bucks because we got some kind of special APO rate. But still a big chunk of change for an E-2 back in 1970.

Yeah, I got to Vietnam with 6 months in the Air Force and one skinny little stripe on my sleeve. That skinny little stripe was more embarassing to me than no stripe. If you have no stripes a layman who is not familiar with military insignia might just look at you and say "There goes a dude in uniform" But if he sees that one skinny little stripe thats a sure sign to anyone that you are at the bottom of the food chain.

Why the one 1505 uniform? That's the Kahki one. Because whenever a General came to visit and a bunch of us lower ranking peons had to dress up and stand in formation out on the hot tarmac so we could salute him when he got off the plane.
 
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Trade said:
After we finished AIT, most of us in my class, including me got orders for Vietnam. So one of the dudes asked our instructor what we needed to bring with us when we got sent over there. He replied that we would be subject to periodic inspections and that we would be required to have every uniform item that we had been issued. So when I got on the plane I was in my dress blues withe the bus driver hat and I had my duffle bag packed with everything. Fatigues, 1505's, combat boots, chucka boot, low quarter dress shoes field jacket with liner, gloves, glove liners, field hats, garrison hat, even that long woolen overcoat that looked like something Dr. Zhivago would have worn in the Russian winter.

My duffle must have weighed 60-70 lbs. When I got off the plane at Cam Rahn and reported to my unit the first sergeant just laughed at me. "We're gonna issue you a couple of sets of jungle fatigues and a pair of Jungle boots. Keep one set of 1505's and send all the rest of that shit home" So I did. Cost me $12 bucks because we got some kind of special APO rate. But still a big chunk of change for an E-2 back in 1970.

Yeah, I got to Vietnam with 6 months in the Air Force and one skinny little stripe on my sleeve. That skinny little stripe was more embarassing to me than no stripe. If you have no stripes a layman who is not familiar with military insignia might just look at you and say "There goes a dude in uniform" But if he sees that one skinny little stripe thats a sure sign to anyone that you are at the bottom of the food chain.

Why the one 1505 uniform? That's the Kahki one. Because whenever a General came to visit and a bunch of us lower ranking peons had to dress up and stand in formation out on the hot tarmac so we could salute him when he got off the plane.
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Stupid question #315—-Did you carry a rifle or a pistol or both?
 
Before we shipped to RVN they took all our Stateside uniforms and boots at Ft Lewis,Wa. We got a duffel bag of jungle fatigues and boots.

I wish I had brought more than $2 with me, coulda used a couple more beers at Cam Ranh Bay. Dump ass 18 yr. old. shrug.gif
 
Viet Nam was a mind game of stupid diplomacy thinking we can bully them stupid's and really poor planning about how you fight a war. Those fools who caused so match harm to our young, so many youths murdered and so harmfully injured, a total miss match of harm to them, maimed & some leaving the country for many years, all the marching and anti-America belief, well those that did what they could do in power should have faced a firing squad. East Asia is most likely going to end up Nuked.

My brother did 2 & 1/2 tours of duty in S. Viet Nam. Later with Nato and then A retired generals Ade. He did like his European deployment.
 
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My late husband said that in basic, if you ever made the mistake of referring to your rifle as a "gun", you had to march around holding your rifle in one hand and your....uh....organ in the other hand, yelling at the top of your lungs "THIS IS MY RIFLE, THIS IS MY GUN! THIS ONE'S FOR FIGHTING, THIS ONE'S FOR FUN!" until the D.I. is convinced that you know the difference and won't be making  that mistake again.
 
Nathan said:
Before we shipped to RVN they took all our Stateside uniforms and boots at Ft Lewis,Wa. We got a duffel bag of jungle fatigues and boots.

I wish I had brought more than $2 with me, coulda used a couple more beers at Cam Ranh Bay. Dump ass 18 yr. old. View attachment 401324
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We had ration cards at Cam Rahn. We were allowed to buy 3 cases of beer, three bottles of wine and three bottles of hard liquor per month at the BX. I always used up my 3 cases of beer and 3 bottles of wine but I didn't drink the hard stuff. But sometimes I traded my hard stuff rations for more beer and wine. I drank Mateus wine in that cool looking bottle that it came in It was $1.50 a bottle at the BX.

The beer was $2.40 a case which came to 10 cents a can. It was mostly Falstaff in those old school steel cans that you needed a chruck key to open. This is Baker one of my fellow medics with one of those cans of Falstaff. He held the squadron record for most beers drank in one night, with 20. I never could get past 12.
 

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Trade said:
We had ration cards at Cam Rahn. We were allowed to buy 3 cases of beer, three bottles of wine and three bottles of hard liquor per month at the BX. I always used up my 3 cases of beer and 3 bottles of wine but I didn't drink the hard stuff. But sometimes I traded my hard stuff rations for more beer and wine. I drank Mateus wine in that cool looking bottle that it came in It was $1.50 a bottle at the BX.

The beer was $2.40 a case which came to 10 cents a can. It was mostly Falstaff in those old school steel cans that you needed a chruck key to open. This is Baker one of my fellow medics with one of those cans of Falstaff. He held the squadron record for most beers drank in one night, with 20. I never could get past 12.
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When I got to my assigned unit I got a monthly ration card that had all that plus cartons of cigs for $2. I kept the cigs and beer and traded off the wine and hard liquor.
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Yea, Falstaff, Pabst and...Black Label IIRC. Of course if we were in a bar down in the Delta we'd get Biere 33, poured over a chunk of ice in a glass. Used to be lovingly nicknamed "panther piss".

"Mateus", ah yes that brings back memories, drank that often after I got back to the world.
 
It is what it was. We did our job. We served. We confronted whatever in that regard. We are veterans. We served, WE WERE THERE, and I am proud that I was. All soldiers have tales to tell. But we were there. We confronted our fears, we did our job. We were there.
We share a common bound at this point. Not based on actions or experiences but based, simply on being there. I hope that makes sense.
bob
 
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