one man in every company has the unlimited ration card. (who paid for all that stuff anyway?) Sea Bees ate better than anybody, but couldn't get their fingers on a bottle of hooch! Marines had access to things we could get, but were in the same boat as well. First Sargent would say we need two dozen 16" x 16" oak logs asap, and put me on a chopper back to Chu Lai or Da Nang. I'd borrow the supply sargent's 3/4 ton and head over to the PX, and get a case of whatever I knew the guy liked. (Sea Bees like Jack Daniels). Two bottles would get the logs delivered that afternoon. A bottle would get enough steaks to feed everybody. Marines were even better to trade with. They wanted things like NVA pistol belts and pithe helmets as well as hooch. I'd trade with them to get radios rebuilt and socks and tee shirts. I remember once trading a half a case of Jack for two stacks of 3/4" marine plywood and 80 bags of concrete with a TV set to boot. The TV set wouldn't pick up anything, and later traded it to some guys back in the rear for a couple dozen pairs of boots. When I went to the Americal PX in Chu Lai I had a list of stuff to get, plus another list of what this guy and that guy drank. I usually bought five pallots of beer (400 cases), and at least six cases of whiskey, rum and scotch. I light trip would be four cases of booze, and a couple cases of Hienze 57 sauce. I paid for the sauce out of my pocket, and signed for the rest. Never paid a dime for anything like that. When I bought soda pop it was a similar deal (five pallots), and just signed for it. On a typical trip to Da Nang I'd have two AWOL bags full of pistol belts, and maybe a half dozen new SKS rifles. Marines by far had the best repair facility in I-Corps, and they always treated me pretty well most of the time. Best thing about going to see them was they had hot showers! (probably couldn't stand the smell) I'd show up looking like a Mexican bandit, and at first they thought I was nuts. Then their Gunny Sargent told them where I came from. They were good men

Oh yes, I almost forgot. The Sea Bees had this little bull dozer that was used by a guy with the last name of Littlebird (American Indian). I was to always drop off a bottle to him if I was in the area (First Sargent's orders!). Hated to see him go home as he was always ready to work for us. There's another interesting story about his replacement that I'll tell you about sometime (think CMH)
gary

Gary,
You know, its true what they say, it's not what you know, it's who you know. And you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours!
Is it true that GI's could buy anything in Vietnam way cheaper than in the States & get it shipped back home?
I bet there were some entrepreneurial types who made a fortune!
And I'd love to hear the story about the replacement & the CMH!
Joe.

we could get electronics much cheaper as well as watches and cameras.

when we were surrounded at A102 for several months they brought out Littlebird's replacement and his mini dozer. He ended up being stranded and the dozer took a hit from a rocket. By now the place is in a panic looking for warm bodies. The Sea Bee said "hey I can shoot that fifty (pointing an an M2) as I qualified on them." The SF team leader (Cleckner) says to have at it! He's really doing some good, and runs out of ammo. Finds a couple boxes and gets shot in the back on the way back. Never calls for a medic (he was KIA day one), but stays at his gun till help arrives hours later. He bled to death, and took two more hits. My unit has put him injh for the CMH as well as the SF team leader (he was stationed about a hundred feet right in front of Tom Garman). First Sargent told me last September that they both have put him in fore the award as they felt he saved many lives with that fifty walking the dog out there. I might add here that he refused to leave the camp when they found him a way out later the day before, as he felt he was needed there a lot more than in Chu Lai. Another good man lost to us all.
gary

Gary,
The good always die young! God was missing some angels with these brave fellows!
Joe.

the world is full of them if you give them a chance. Look at LT. Lewis. He sat there with his arm tied off, and still managed to call in gunship runs and artillary support as he had sappers cutting thru the wire. Lewis was a Mustang. Came up thru the ranks from a private. Was older than 90% of the men in the batallion. Want to find out what being scared to death, but yet being on top of your game is like? Read the second chapter of Anthony Herbert's book titled "Soldier." He's the guy who won the Turkish Osman (they have awarded it just once to a non Turk. As they just don't hand that one out very oftem). I know three men that have actually seen the medal in person

Gary,
Forgive my ignorance but please explain a little about the Turkish Osman?
Also, getting back to the thread, did you guys store rations in your bunkers? Were they C rations? And what about cases of beer? What were the drinking limitations imposed on GI's in an artillery unit?
Joe.

The Osman is the Turkish Medal Of Honor. When Herbert got it they'd only handed it it one other time in the 20th Century!

If you had an electrical power source alot of bunkers had small refridgerators in them. If you didn't you got Crats or food flown in (supposed to get at least one hot meal a day (fat chance!). We always had a couple cases of C Rations laying around, and it was part of the daily exercise program to fight over the beans & weinies and fruit cocktail. We'd put it all in a piles and fight to the last man. I soon learned that I was no match for several of the guys, but could run faster than they could! So I'd grab what I wanted and run like hell.In a base camp we had a mess sargent, and that made things a lot better. But if you were on an OP, you got C's (that's what the Hienze 57 sauce was for). If you got a box of cookies you shared it with everybody. We kept beer and soda in any open place inside the bunkers. Newbies were bad about putting a case of beer under the tarp on the roof till you got mortared! The mess sargent would let you keep a case or two of beer in his cooler if he had the extra room. If you were in a place near Highway One you could get ice at the local ice house (we can't really say what all goes on in there but they also do laundry and a few other social activities). We had a couple 20Kw generators as well as two 10Kw generators in the base camp (no one knows where they came from as they just sorta landed in the back of a five ton truck one afternoon). But we still had one 20Kw to power up the motor pool and FDC. The tarps were stolen from a hooch the Service Battery kept supplies in.
gary

So if I were to put a couple of cases of Crats & a couple of cases of beer inside the bunker on my dio that would be okay, right?
Joe.

be just fine, but be sure to have the right brands! Budwiser and Millers were very common along with Pabst. Some areas had Hams (we never saw it). Schlitz was another common one. Coke was much more common than Pepsi, and remember getting cases of 7Up from time to time. Also remember the soda pop cases look different in that era than they do now. We used to get Granny Goose potato chips in the cans (much like a coffee can). Soda crackers also came in tins, and were still stale. When you went to the PX you took several duffle bags with you and filled them with whatever was on the shelves (I usually took four or five). We got the Sea Bees to cut open two fuel drums, and make barbeque grills out of them when we down on Gator. I trade for four or five cases of steaks and then we'd feed anybody that showed up (half of the guys were from the 198th Infantry). We left them on Gator, and never had another grill again
gary

Great thread on my favourite subject!
Really interesting info and wonderful stories.
Speaking of supplies; (-shameless plug -) MecModels offers a few sets that contain different kind of boxes that are all suitable for the Vietnam period (see 'printed accessories') like Carling, Schlitz, Pepsi, Hamm's, PBR, Marlboro and many more!

I have to back Mark up here.
I've got most of his beer/soda/C rats boxes & can say without a doubt that they are the best on the market!
Well worth the investment!
By the way, hello Mark. Hope all is well.
Joe.

when you guys start working on this stuff you have to put your mind in the time frame first and then take it back to thinking you are a 19 or 20 year old kid. An old man on the line would be about 30 to 33 years old. Most of them are drafted into the service (probaby about 70%), and they think differently than a "lifer." Their goal is to make it out of there in one piece and raise hell all along the way. Most all have never saw the light of day in a stateside regular Army outfit, and at least half would become missfits in a regular outfit. So you look at your kid's bedroom and you have a good idea. This is why I say that we threw the best parties and lived it to the max in the field. We literally drove my XO and master sargent nuts 80% of the time, and were always under the threat of being busted. But they soon learned that that 19 year old could have cared less about going home a private or a buck sargent. I remember Randy telling them once to go ahead and court martial him as it got him back to the rear for a week or so. I told them basicly the same thing after my two digit party in the sentence, "but I'm going home!" I actually felt guilty about saying that later, but not at the time I said it. We never had a problem with the 1st Sargent as he came up the sameway we did in Korea, and did exactly what he asked without a whimper (well except stacking sandbags)
gary

Good point, Gary.
I dont think I'll find it too difficult to put my mindset back 20 years or so. I haven't matured mentally since the age of about 15! LOL
BTW, what colour were sandbags in Vietnam? Were they OD?
Joe.

now this is kinda odd, but bear with me. When I fi. If first hit country virtually all sand bags were a faded grey color (almost like concrete). (I qualify as an expert on the black art of sand bags). Then we started getting some in a violet color (kind of a dull violet). All these were a canvas like material) later we started getting them in a weaved synthetic that was O.D. green. 80% of the ones we used were the grey color. Another thing about sandbags is that we didn't like to fill them with sand unless that was all we had. Plain jane dirt was better; unless you liked stacking sandbags. The reason dirt was best was that if the bag was hit with shrapenel and filled with sand you lost all the sand in the bag. But if it was filled with M2 red clay it held together. Lastly 90% of the modelers make their sandbags too rounded. You actually beat the tops of the bags flat with a piece of wood (like a 1 1/2" x 10" x 36" long). You always tuck in the tied end so it's not exposed. And the walls should have a slight lean to them to keep them from falling down. I've probably stacked 20K of sandbags
gary

Thanks for the heads up on the sandbags, Gary.
Joe.

I spent a several month time period where I laid every sandbag in my company ( the Sargent Major was not too pleased with a few of my prior actions). The funny thing was that I almost never filled them! They fill up a 5 ton truck with all the sand bags it would hold, and I was lucky enough to get the priviledge of stacking them till all hours of the morning. I pleaded the issue that it was unfair as I happened to be an inocent bystander, and the First Sargent said to tell him when the truck was empty. So I'd go in there and wake his butt up at one or two in the morning just to make sure he knew the truck was empty. And of course it was his personal duty to get outta bed and go inspect my workmanship! This went on for about six weeks till he finally said "I give up!" (by the the Sgt. Major had rotated back home anyway).
I was considered to be persona non grata in my Battallion area (till they got in a pinch). Could not ever go inside a beer hall again(there wasn't one within forty miles anyway). And the worst part of it was that I had to make a personal apology to the bartender at a certain beer hall for sticking a hard steel object in his mouth. No sense of humor back there! (first shirt thought it was funny but the Captin was rather alarmed). And then there was the great barber shop incident (now I really was inocent here), as well as the great dead rat incident (they never did prove that one on me [ how does one finger print a dead rat anyway?]). And I almost forgot that there was the petty larceny incident as well (the XO drank Jonnie Walker Black, and somebody was trading empty bottles for full ones [ Now I didn't like scotch at the time])
gary

Sounds like you were a real fire-eating SOB back in your youth, Gary!
You sound like a little bit like me when I was at school! LOL
Joe.

I'll confess that Bozo and I were guilty as hell about breaking Division S.O.P., but yet on the otherhand we were never aware of such a rule, and if there was such a rule; then 70% of the company were also guilty. But then there was the speed limit thing (once again it was news to us). A 5 ton truck with the governor removed with run close to 120 mph! (one was clocked at 115 mph on the Autobahn). A lot of mines had a delayd fuse on them, so the faster you went the further the blast was behind you. Secondly the road down to Dottie and Liz was also a good place to be shot at from sniper fire (not that it mattered as the little boggers couldn't hit anything more than a hundred feet away). We used to redo the fast idol cable and make it into something like a cruise control. That way you got you feet outta the floor of the truck. It was about 110 degrees outside (maybe hotter), so we put the windshield down. Had no helmets on, and were setting ontop our flak jackets for a good reason. Now the road (Highway One) is pretty smooth, but dirt and gravel, and strait as an arrow. We're rolling along at about 70mph with a cloud of dust behind us that looked like a sandstorm. We meet a jeep heading north, and they see our feet ontop the dash. The jeep ends up in a rice paddy (they had plenty of room). But they caught the numbers on the bumper as we flew by them. When we got back they were waiting for us mad as hell(who really cares anyway). That was the start of the Great Sandbag School (you know Bozo never laid a single sandbag! and he was the driver!) I think that after a couple weeks I could have got out of it, but I had a run in with the mess sargent (the first one). He loved to sneak up on guys pulling guard trying to catch a guy asleep. I saw him sneaking up on me from the right at about a hundred yards hiding behind a large boulder. As he started to make his move I put about ten rounds from an M60 on the front of the rock (I could have zapped him anytime I wanted to). He starts yelling and I give him another burst. This goes on for about five minutes with guys yelling on the phone to kill him. By now everybody's going nuts and the idiot is out there in no man's land. Anyway he files charges, and we get a new First Sargent. Charges are tossed, but First Sargent also knows I could have been a little nicer to him(his words). More sandbags, but the mess sargent and I never pull guard at the sametime again. But the mess sargent got a new pair of shorts. The new first sargent gets rid of him about three months later for good (better that having a grenade sleep with you).

The great telephone pole investigation is really pretty funny, but also left some folks dazed as to what happened. Our bunker takes a 122mm rocket, and the roof is all busted up, but not caved in. We need timbers and a new tarp. I find a tarp, but no timbers. We look all over the place and find a brand new telephone pole laying on the ground that was brought out for FDC to use as an attenna mast. Problem was that they were too lazy to dig a hole for it. So we stole it and cut it up all in one night. When we were done there was no sign of the pole anywhere and they didn't miss it for several days. They bring out a squad of combat engineers to use a shape charge to blow a hole in the ground for the pole, but there's no pole! The get another pole brought out, and the first sargent dropped by and told us to leave that one alone! Nobody knew about it but him, and how he knew I still don't know to this very day.
The rat incident was funny, and then not so funny. We used to kill about eight to ten rats a night, and had to bury them every morning. It was getting to the point that there wasn't any place to dig close by. So Randy and I come up with a crazy idea one day. We were the H&I gun, and always started out shooting charge ones and stuff like that. So we stuffed the dead rats down the barrel, and sent them packing. Next morning you'd see the guys west of us picking up all these dead rats! Well one day they are the H&I gun, and Randy and I sneak over there and tie a rat to the lanyard. They get a battery arrest and everybody's gotta shoot (we didn't plan on that part. When they fire the first round their AG grabs a rat, and starts screaming bloody murder. Next thing you know they are all running around screaming except for their section chief. (they are all Hispanics). They call the piece out! Everybody's going nuts on the radios and phone line. (Randy and I have decided that maybe we've gone over the top this one time). First Sargent drops by in the morning and says "guys no more rats!"
The barber shop deal was funny as hell, but the first sargent was mad as hell about it. I come in off an op, and need a major haircut and a shave. (let alone a bath). Guys say hey they got a new barber down in the village and the first sargent wants everybody to get him to cut their hair. They take me down there, and the guy cuts my hair with a pair of clippers. Then he drags out this knife (reminds you of an Xacto knife) and starts messing with my ears (I have a major phobia about my ears by the way). Next thing you know I'm up outta the chair with my 45 in my hand! He takes off running and I clip off a magazine at him shooting over his head. We never see him again! First Sargent's really P.O.D. about this as he liked to never found a barber. Everybody else thought it was funny except for the barber and the first sargent. We found out a couple weeks later that the barber was VC from the guys over at the MACV place. Then they were mad cause I didn't shoot him. I forgot about the barber till the guys brought it at a reunion last September.
I could write a book on nothing but funny stories in my military debut
gary

Gary,
These are brilliant anecdotes about young guys in a war zone. They had me in stitches!
You know, that book thing aint such a bad idea, after all.
I'd read it, for one!
Joe.

I answered this a minute ago, and think the post is lost in outter space!
I don't mind writing a book as long as everybody comes home in one piece. No blood spilt or anything like that. But there was always something kinda funny going on just like there was some serious stuff going on all the time.
My First Sargent used to judge how much fun you had back in the rear by how many bandages you had along with a black eye here and there. He'd actually line everybody for a quick look over. His feelings were that the more banged up you got, the more fun you had in Chu Lai or Da Nang. He looked at everyman he had in his company as his own kid, and if that kid suffered; he suffered. He had a certain set of rules that were written in stone, and he'd think nothing of busting your head for an infraction. I've seen more than once give a kid a handfull of cash because he didn't have the money to go on R&R. The one rule that stood out the most was his mess hall rule. The mess hall opened up at exactly a certain time and closed at exactly a certain time. The only people allowed in the mess hall after it closed were guys returning from guard or the bush (rank had no privileges). If the H&I gun was shooting late then of course they were allowed in there. He also had the rule that lower ranking folks always ate first, and I've seen him more than once throw an NCO or Officer out of the line. He also had a rule that if anyone came into his mess hall they ate with us; no matter who's Army they were out of. His very first day on the job he had a company formation to introduce himself, and personally shook every man's hand. Told everybody that he was the boss now and this was his company. Looked over at the Captain and said he's here to sign papers, and I own the rest of you. I decided it was time to crawl under a rock for the next ten months. That lasted about thirty minutes when he sent for my first meeting with him. Thus the start of my stint as his personal slave (I was inocent!)
glt

Gary,
I really think you should give the idea of writing a book (whether its funny or serious) some serious consideration as you have a lot to tell & with the greatest respect, when you've passed off your mortal coil all that wonderful information has gone with you & will be lost forever.
I think you owe it to future generations, my friend.
Please, at least think about it!
Joe.

personally I wouldn't mind if the ugly stuff was gone forever. The funny stuff is OK. At the last reunion the First Sargent found out who it was that nailed the door shut on the E5 and above four holer on a Friday evening. Friday ws the day we all had to take the horse pill, and it was probably the best laxative on the planet. The other four holer was a couple hundred yards away. Some didn't make it in time! Guys on gun six bore the blame for over forty years. Guys on gun six looked guilty anyway, and if we knew they deserved some blame for something

Gary,
I'm not kidding, you really do need to right a book about this stuff!
Joe.

Here's a couple for you, and one of them almost turned extremely violent!!

** Picture a CAV unit that's just made a trip thru the Pineapple Forest (this is all for real) heading back to Hawk Hill. There's already a CAV unit using the place as a base camp along with A 3rd / 16th Arty and who knows who else. It's a big place compaired A102.. The CAV unit rolls into the place about four in the afternoon need deisel fuel, food, and of course some beer. Two or three of the tracks are in need of repair, and one will need a new track as it was hit by an RPG in the forest. While they are flying out the track mechanics and a bunch of parts they all head over to the mess hall and eat. Later they of course goto the beer hall there (lucky dogs), and they refuse them (their own sister outfit at that). A small fist fight flares up, but dosn't go far. Then about thirty minutes later they hear all kinds of commotion out front with guys running in the front door and out the back door. Next thing they see is the barrel of an M48 comming right thru the front door! The guy then drives the tank right inside the place with the roof comming down ontop the tank as he pushes the bar and coolers out the back wall. He climbs out of the tank and fills the coolers on the back with beer, and then backs the tank out of the place (well what was left of it). The bartender comes out with a shotgun, and the next thing he's doing is looking eyeball to eyeball with a fifty cal. A guy walking behind the tank yells that it's "Happy Hour!" You just can't put "B Troop and Alpha Troop in the same place together!"
****************************************
There were these two young men from Minnesota the we'll just call Bill and Ed (not their real names). We all were on a hill that didn't ever allow any civilians on it for security reasons alone. They decide to go down to this village and chase women (we all needed recreation). They find these two young women that were very pretty and maybe about 18. They actually buy them (I know this is nuts!) for the pultry sum of $24!!! But it gets better! Then they hide them in the back of a 3/4 ton truck under a canvas. Still gets better! The sneak them up on the hill, and hide them in an abandoned bunker nearby. They're on guard that night, so they can't do anything with the girls. But they show up in the guard bunker!! They send them back to the old bunker without being caught. By now some of us know there's something odd going happening on gun three (also happened to be my gun at the time). About 48 hours later the First Sargent is making his rounds and hears this gigeling noise in that bunker. He finds these two pretty girls, and ask them where they came from? He takes them to the CQ, and gives them a couple beds to sleep in. (remember nobody else knows there on the hill) The following morning he has a company formation, and is not a happy camper! (there actually is a good part about this) He's chewing on the entire company as a dog with a bone (I just knew I was in for it again). Comes to me and asked me what I was in this formation for? And promptly sends me to the sandbag pile! But at least I'm away from the ever increasing stream of fire comming out of him. Then he turns away and goes back inside the CQ without dissmissing the company. Back out he comes with the two girls. All hell breaks loose!! One of the LT's starts laughing, and the next thing he knows the First Sargent is in his face with a look that would burn eyeballs out. Two other guys snicker and he sends them to the mess for a day of KP. I hide as I know this is going to be a very bad day. He asked who brought them up here, and of course nobody knows. Then he asked the girls where they came from, and they tell him that they are owned by two GI's!! Think hydogen bomb now!! Here comes the Captain out to see me (he's really hiding!) Then I hear him yelling for me, and I know I'm going to jail! He sends me over to FDC to roust all of them out there in the formation. Then he asked me which one I own? I said none of them, and he dosn't believe me. Then he turns to the girls and asked them who bought them, and tells them to show him. Sends Bil & Ed to the CQ along with the girls, but leaves the rest of the Company in formation. You could hear the yelling for a hundred fifty feet away as if it was right in front of you! In walks the Captain, and he tells him that this is a Company matter and to basicly leave! (I know now that I'm not going to jail). He comes back out and asked my why I'm not stacking sandbags? I run over to the pile with the laughing LT to supervise! Sends everybody else back to where ever they came from, but advises them all he ain't done yet. The LT with me is scared to death, and says he's never seen an NCO so mad (he missed the Sargent Major incident). But we're outta eyesight!

He then calls in the XO and tells Ed to go over and get his section chief. Then he realizes there isn't one! The Chief of Smoke is now also the section chief as well as his current duty. Then he sends the guy back to the gun to bring over the rest of the crew. Has them all at attention out front. Makes a guy that's a spec four the section chief even though there are two NCO's in the crew. Get's mad again and sends the Company Clerk to the mess hall for some KP! Mess Sargent shows up and asked him just what he's supposed to do with all these new guys? Tells him to send the guys on KP back where they come from, and put the new ones to work! Now the Captain and the LT are supervising the one man sandbag crew about fifty feet on the otherside of the CQ (I've decided that Bill & ED are on the way to jail by now). He sends the Chief Of Smoke and Bill & Ed down to the village to return the girls on foot. About a mile and a quarter walk from the top of Gator. Then the First Sargent shows up with the girls in a Jeep. Their Dad won't take them back! Then he has the Chief Of Smoke bargin with them. He finally gives in if Ed & Bill pay him a little over $80, plus four cases of orange soda pop, and four cartons of Kool Cigarettes! Ed & Bill don't have the money or the cigarettes. First Sargent counts the money out to them, and says they will pay him back. They end up buying one carton of Kool cigarettes for ten dollars as all they can find is three cartons. Top and the Chief Of Smoke come back in the Jeep while ED & Bill walk back.

Upon returning Ed & Bill show up about seventy-five feet from me with shovels to fill sandbags. They fill sandbags from about seven in the morning till about midnight everynight for about two weeks (how'd they get off that easy?). When the first of the month rolled around and everybody got paid; the First Sargent was standing there with his hands out! Two weeks later was the start of Tet, and most was forgot about.

these two stories are very true, and the one about the tank is well known in I-Corps
gary

hello,
I served in the dutch army in 1982/83, we had the m110A1 version in those days ,the dutch army was converting at that time to m110A2.The verlinden-set has the right barrel for the M2A2 gun as on the M110 and the longer barrel M201 as on the A2,verlinden is incorrect in calling the short tube variant a M110A1.You can use the longer barrel without the muzzle brake and you will have the correct barrel for the M110A1,so in fact you can make all three versions with this conversionkit which in the first place was intended for the m107 kit at a time italeri was yet to release their m110 kit.The verlinden gun is naerly accurate when you use the whole gun with short tube(M2A2)or vietnam version,when you want to use the longer barrel with or without the muzzlebrake you should use the part that fits in the craddle from the kit because these demensions are better,its not entirely accurate but dimensions are near and overall length is okay,
regards,bert