Dino Meets Miranda Man

Many of you have seen Miranda Mans Photo's that the Marine Corps is
using for its new exhibit on Khe Sanh and the surrounding Hills. Here
is what Dino had to say about Dave's recollections:


From: dino (dino_member@newsguy.com)
Subject: Re: A challenge to Dean Shultis
View: Complete Thread (16 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: alt.war.vietnam
Date: 2003-06-03 18:50:15 PST


In article <3t2qdvgq2hakpeo4t9via0dgr9hj0r6irl@4ax.com>, Fatty Patty
whines...
>
>On 3 Jun 2003 1345 -0700, dino wrote:
>
>
>>
>>For two nights I have searched Khe Sahn and Lam Son and I get mixed results.
>>Patrick originally claimed it was freezing cold most of the time. A week or so
>>later he claimed that he didn't say that. He then claimed that he originally
>>said that he froze his ass off during most the time he was there, which was a
>>lie and I pulled his post and proved it. Patty said that he humped continously
>>with 100 pounds while wearing a flak jacket. I've humped more hills more times
>>than I want to remember but I'll be damned if I complained about it being cold
>>when I was humping those hills! Patty can't have it both ways...
>
>I can have it any way I want it, because I did it, you on the other
>hand on searching for "two whole nights" and getting mixed results.
>Thats because you didn't experience it, you know, that concept where
>you, your own self did something? You ever heard of that concept?
>Nah, I didn't think so.

I've hiked in the mountains of the eastern US for nearly 40 years...

>Miranda Man was there, his work is being used for the new Khe Sanh
>exhibit the Marines are putting together, here is a quote directly
>from him.....see if you can understand it. Read slowly and out loud
>and you might get the drift even if you are a dimbulb.............
>
> Hello

Hello...

>As for it being extremely cold in the northern provinces of South Vietnam I
>>really don't understand why any one who was there would not acknowledge how
>cold it gets there. All the shaking and teeth chattering I did during
>the nights and days was not imagined. All I ever had on was hot
>weather combat fatigues with no T-shirt and a ragged pair of underwear
>which I rather not think about.

If all you had on were wet hot weather cotton fatigues, then... if it
really
got cold... you would have died... Let's get real... Thin, light
cotton
clothes would be worse than wearing nothing if it got "extremely" cold
and
wet...

I wonder whatever become of the field jackets in Da Nang? Didn't
someone say
EVERYONE was wearing field jackets? What happened to the flak
jackets? No flak
jackets? Why was Patty cold when he was humping 100 pounds and
wearing a flak
jacket? Why was his teeth chattering during the daytime while humping
those
hills? Ohhhhhh... He wasn't humping those hills... He was in some
fucking camp
doing whatever...

>And every thing was shiny and slick from dirt, body oil, sweat and just plain
>>grime from being worn night and day for weeks without taking them off.

No shit!

>Everyone lived in the dirt exposed to the wind and the rain soaked to the bone
>>twenty-four hours a day.

Yeah... Sure... Rain for 24 hours a day... Yeah... Sure... The most
I stayed
wet for an entire year was 2 weeks... This guy must be on drugs...

>Not to mention being tired and stressed out.

From what? Sitting on your ass?

>And on occasion a lot more that just stressed out.

Drug withdrawal?

>Drinking water that is unfit to drink accept for the fact that you dissolved
>>iodine tablets into your canteen.

That was the Marine way...

>Your feet wanting to rot away if you neglected them.

How many feet casualties did we have in Vietnam? I know my feet
looked
disgusting like others, but we lived through it without medical
care...

>And I was incredibly thirsty even though I was shaking from the cold with
>the wind and rain blowing in my face all the while.

Gone With The Wind?

>I woke up one morning east of Con Thien with a lymph gland in my neck swollen
>>to the size of a baseball due to the cold.

That would be a medical first... I could just see this baseball size
thing
hanging from his neck... What a fucking fruitcake! What mental
institution did
he escape from?

>And then when I was in the higher elevations it was fog and the mist that
>>chilled you to the bone and made sleeping almost impossible sometimes during
>>the night.

Sometimes? "Almost" impossible? I thought you just said your teeth
were
chattering during the daytime?

>I had no idea what the actual temperature was and I didn't care.

I'm beginning to get the sense that no one else cares either...

>All I knew was that I was trembling from the cold and would have given almost
>anything just to be warm again. I remember having a green towel I wore
>around my neck. It was great for wiping the sweat off but it also doubled as a
>>cold weather scarf in the cold months.

Now the truth is coming out... a towel for the sweat... then it was
hot... but
cool during the "cold" months... but we don't know how cold because
he didn't
care...

>A Vietnamese barber stole it from me when I was getting a haircut in his hooch
>>in some tiny village some where out there in the great AO. I fell asleep
>almost as soon as he stared cutting my hair.

Druggies tend to do that...

>Interesting to think how a barber in Seattle would react if I went in for a
>>haircut with dirt caked on my scalp and my hair stiff with yuck. You think he
>>would cut my hair?

Ask me if I give a shit?

>LOL. I'm glad the Vietnamese barber just took my towel without cutting my
>>throat.

Then what are you bitching about?

>I guess the fact that there were Marines sitting around outside his hooch were
>>a deterrence.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

>Any way I am getting off the subject.

You never were on the subject...

>But whenever I have to recall something specific about Vietnam all sorts of
>>other stuff starts bubbling to the surface

Drugs... drugs... drugs... drugs... drugs... drugs... drugs...

>some good and some not so good. Any way that is some of what I remember of the
>>weather.

Let's hope you don't "remember" anything else...

>> Semper Fi
>>
>> hollywoodsix

Hugs and kisses...
dino