40 Years Ago Today

[frisco-kid]

After a non-stop flight [17hrs.] from Travis AFB, California, to Tan Son Nhut Air Base, on the outskirts of Saigon, Vietnam, we finally touch down. It's been real quiet on the plane for the last 20min. or so, as everyone's been looking out of the windows ever since land came into view, each with their own expectations and fears. When we finally come to a stop out on the tarmac and start to descend the stairs from the air conditioned plane, the heat hits me in the face like I'm standing too close to a forest fire. Jaysus! Can I endure a year of this? We're taken in through the terminal [no air conditioning], pick up our duffle bags from baggage, and put on buses on the streetside. The first thing I notice about the bus is that the windows have wire mesh on them. The driver tells someone that asked that this is to keep someone on a motorbike from tossing a grenade or satchel charge through them. I wonder if this was learned the hard way. I'm guessing "Yes."

We're headed for the 90th Replacement Bn. in Bien Hoa. As we go through the populated areas, the first thing I'm impressed with is the congestion of people [I later learn that all of the towns and cities are choked with refugees from the countryside fleeing the war], the visible poverty, and the bustle and chatter of the place. Next is the stench. It's a mix of dirt and dust, rotting vegetation, sewage, burning wood or charcoal, stagnant water, and cooking smells of some exotic foods that I can only imagine.

When we get to the 90th, we're processed in and issued bedding and directed to a barracks and cot. Since we're all still wearing the khaki uniforms that we flew over in, we're told to change into fatigues. That's fine with me, since mine has been saturated with sweat since 10min. after we landed. We meet some of the guys that are already bunked in the barracks. Some of them have been there for several days, with stories of guard duty and shit burning details. We just kind of hang out until we're told to fall out for the first of several formations that we have to make that day. At each formation some guys have their names called. They fall out, never to be seen again. I make it through the rest of the day without my name being called, or being assigned to any details.

I had volunteered to come to the war, so there was a sense of excitement and adventure. I was 19yrs. old. There was also a small sense of fear of the unknown, especially once on the ground. With that first blast of hot air on my face, and the wire mesh on the bus windows, I started to wonder about the decision to come here. As I started seeing armed people, gun jeeps, etc., that first day, the reality began to sink in. As I had the free time to think about things, my mind would wander; will I make it through my tour; was my training good enough to keep me alive? The worst fear that I had though, wasn't the fear of dying. When you're a 19yr. old paratrooper, you think you're bulletproof. No, it wasn't of dying,.....it was the fear of possibly finding out that I'm a coward. Or worse, being a coward and getting someone killed because of it. Letting my buddies down. This, COMBAT, was going to be the litmus test of all that I've been taught, and all that I had been built up to believe of myself. "Do you think you can cut it?" I asked myself. "I believe I can," I answered.

The next morning, in the first formation of the day, my name is called. I'm told to turn in my bedding, get my duffle bag, and fall in at a designated area. We're told that we've been assigned to a unit and handed our records and orders. I read mine and see that I'm going to the 101st Airborne Division. COOL! I'm going to be a Screaming Eagle. A few guys that I know from AIT and Jump School are also going there. It's comforting to know somebody. Some of the other Airborne guys are going to the 173rd or 1st Cav.. We're bussed back to Tan Son Nhut. We're put on various C-130s or choppers, depending on where we're going. The next stop for me is Phan Rang, the main basecamp for the 101st Airborne Division.

Let Tom's Big Adventure Begin!

[Packo]

Tom,

I could have written this myself......and doubt I'm alone. It's amazing that our thought patterns were all the same. The "being a coward" part was the worst. You just didn't know but also amazingly, we couldn't wait to find out. Reading your post was like the first time I read a PTSD symptom pamphlet. It was like you were in my brain. I spent a week in Oakland waiting to go to Hawaii, then Vietnam. The week there was due to a screw up by admin. Being an E-duece I pulled more KP then should have been allowed. When I eventually got to the 90th, I bought SGT'S collar pins. Wasn't going through that again. Well, they processed faster than Oakland and while standing with E5 and above they called my name. Being a good Paratroope I immediately answered. The Staff Sgt looked and said..."No, this is a Pvt Lane. After all the names were called I had taken off the chevrons, circled around, then went running up the the Staff and asked if my name had been called. He got upset and asked why I missed formation. Told him I'd been filling sandbags.....he bought it....I went to the Cav. Whew!

Great Story Bro!

Thanks for the ear.

Pack

[Robert Ryan]

My first tour started 15 months after yours. September 1967, left from Fort Lewis, WA, and touched down in Cam Ranh Bay, remember seeing the arch that read, "They cared enough to send the very best". Got stuck on shit burning detail 2 hours later, remember the awful stench. Two days later ened up in the 525 MI GP. Man did I have dilusions of grander their at first, thought I was going to be sneaking around the woods looking for MI. Found out I was put in a platoon of grunts that provided Tower Guard, Perimiter Guard, and Guarding the "detainees bought in" while the MI types did their thing. Didn't fire a shot in Anger until 3:10 a.m. January 31st 1968.

[b3196]

Same same Oct 12 1966
Bob K

[catman]

Tom and all...I never tire of reading your posts....Welcome Home Guys, and most of all, Thank you!

Trav

[1CAVCCO15MED]

I was at the 90th Repl Depl several times. It was my base for coming to the rear and trying to get supplies. It was near the 93rd Evac Hospital and I could hop a shuttle from Quon Loi to there. Bob Hope was at Long Binh one time when I was there. I chose to sleep in a place where the rockets weren't raining down so much.

[Packo]

I forgot to mention my time at Camp Alpha.......first experience of meeting a roach bigger than a Palmetto Bug! Sleeping where there are no rockets is a much better deal than Bob Hope...even though I respect ol' Bob for being there.

Pack

[splummer]

I could have made that same post about the 90th replacement. The heat the smell the buses with wire mess the C-130 ride to your new unit and the last time you see some of your freinds.