pretty much the way James says it. And remember, he came almost a year after I got there. It wasn't getting WORSE, it was getting BETTER.
When they would finally get us some new fatigues, the platoon sergeants would dole them out, based on who needed them the worst. I've had jungle boots so bad, the rotted leather was cracked through across the top.
True story about the C's being old, but often still better than the chow they would send out to us.
You'd be lucky to get 2 beers a week and it was always hot, and almost always Black Label in rusty cans. The helicoptor crew chiefs would practically put armed guards on the CO2 fire extinguishers so we wouldn't steal them to cool the beer and sodas
.
I've gone 2wks. without mail. Westmoreland visited us in the field one time. As he walked amongst the ranks, he stopped and asked my bro, Cos, if he's been getting his mail okay. "I haven't had mail in 2wks., Sir." The next day EVERYBODY had mail,......lots of mail
. Like James, I know I didn't get all my mail.
I left Phan Rang to be sent to my company up-country in JUL66. My company didn't get back there until FEB67. Slept on the ground the whole time. The scout dogs assigned to us from time to time lived better than we did.
Unlike James, I felt we had pretty good line officers over-all. We did have a couple of duds, but they didn't last long. I think we had good senior NCO's, too. Many of them were professional soldiers with alot of combat experience. Our 1st Sgt. spent alot of time in the field with us.
It's already been discussed how stingy and unorganized the 101st was about medals. When it was just the 1st Bde. anyway. The Air Medals are a prime example. I saw many acts of bravery that went totally unrecognized. It was some tough SOB's that got spit out at the other end of a tour with the 101st back then.
But for all that,........it was still better than a tour with the 173rd
.
As bad as it was at times though, I've always been proud to have served with the 101st. We were handed some of the toughest jobs at that time of the war, in some of the toughest parts of the country, and did them. That's why Westmoreland always used us a s a Reactionary Force; the Fire Brigade. I've always felt that we were the best of the U.S. paratroopers of the time.