Election Day

[Stick]

Pardon me if this is redundant from a different forum but -
In Vietnam in early 1968 there was a national election and at that time I was based in QuiNhon with the 1st APU. We were billetted about a mile and a half from our work station and I drove the units Izuzu 37 passenger bus to the First Army Postal Unit with the units working members on election day. The bus was fully loaded and on that day for the first time since I had been assigned to APO 96238 all of the 1st APU was issued their weapons. We were given our M-14's, all 38 of us on the bus but we were NOT issued any ammunition for those rifles. Not one bullet.
I drove through the streets of QuiNhon past several polling places and at those polling places you would see the voters standing in line to vote along with many others clothed in "black pajamas" and those in those black pajamas were carrying AK47 rifles and beating the potential voters with their rifle butts in order to keep them from voting. QuiNhon was a "secure" area (SIC) or at least that's what they told us and on election day it was the first day that I ever saw the VC in QuiNhon and witnessed what those VC felt about free elections. Had we been issued ammunition on that day we could have prevented many KIA that we had on February 2nd, 1968, Tet.
We could have eliminated most of the VC in QuiNhon on that day through just a little "show of force." I pray for our troops in Iraq today and hope that they won't have to witness the same command negligance that we suffered in 1967.