Bob - The Navy Years, Chapter 12

Welcome to Vietnam

After checking in at Travis AFB and sitting around for a couple of hours, I was loaded onto an airplane and headed to Vietnam.  It was a normal passenger plane. The trip over was rather quiet.  The guys on the plane were pretty subdued, not a lot of joy in mudville.  We made a stop in the Phillipines, then landed at Tan Son Nhut Air Field, Saigon, Vietnam. Because I was attached to a joint service outfit, I didn't belong to anybody.  I found that out early.  A misfit. 

All new arrivals, no matter what branch of service, reported to an indoctrination center.  At the Air Field I was instructed to throw my seabag on the truck, get on the bus. No problem.  I never saw my seabag again!  So, my first hours in Vietnam I lost everything I owned except what little I had in my gym bag I had carried with me.  These sole items included my razor, toothbrush, change of underwear......and that's pretty much it.

This is why today the only thing I still have that was issued to me in boot camp was my 'Ditty Bag'. You can see my name and service number stenciled on the bag.  I went through about 5 days of in-country orientation.  I can't remember what they taught us that took 5 days.  History lessons about the country, how we were paid, what to do and not to do out on the street.  Don't eat the food from the corner food vendors.  Stuff like that. One thing they did though, was issue us 3 sets of jungle fatigues, boots and hat.  That took care of my clothing problem for the moment.  This was the uniform I wore while in Vietnam.

After orientation I reported to work at DCA-SAM.  This was a large building in a corner of Tan Son Nhut Air field.  They were in charge of all communications in Vietnam.  All land lines, radio hook-ups, etc.  They were the AT& T and FCC all rolled in to one in Vietnam.  I worked in an office, doing a lot of filing, a little typing.  I don't remember where I lived during that time, which only lasted about a week.

I received orders to be transferred to the DCA-SAM Detachment in Nha Trang.  This City was on the Coast, about in the middle of Vietnam. In Peace Time, Nha Trang was, and is today, a Resort Town.  They have a beautiful Beach. I found out that the Detachment consisted of 7 people.  When getting on the plane to go up there, I found out that another person was being transferred up there, too.  An Air Force Captain.  So we traveled together. I didn't board a normal passenger plane like I came over on, but a military transport plane  The Seats were netting, as shown in the picture. I also heard that most people rode in those planes sitting on their helmets, in case some enemy fire penetrated the fuselage.  I didn't have a helmet, so I just sat on my rear.

At this time in the Vietnam War, the fighting was in the Jungle. The Cities were the non-combatants. Fairly safe except for terrorist attacks, which happened frequently.  Someplace was always being blown up. So, leaving Saigon, heading to a small town up north, sounded to me like I was headed into hostile country.  The Captain felt the same way.  At the Airport in Nha Trang we were met by the other people in the Detachment.  They were armed to the hilt, each wearing a .45 on their side and carrying an M-16, wearing flak jackets and helmets. Not a good sign.  They were rush-rush, in a hurry. they handed us flack jackets and helmets and we all piled into 3 jeeps and headed out.  We left the airfield, headed down this dirt road, passing little huts filled with Vietnamese families, driving fast. They told us "Watch out for someone trying to throw a hand grenade into the jeep, or anything that looked suspicious." What the hell does that mean?  So I kept my eyes open.  We reached the end of this road and it emptied into a field where they circled and stopped. Over to one side of the field was a run down looking barn. We got out and they said "You guys will have to stay out here tonight, we'll be back to pick you up in the morning.  If you go over to that barn there's an old Papa-San over there who can find you a place to sleep.  You should be OK until we get back in the morning."  This was a fast, rush-rush, and they jumped back into the jeeps and took off.  The Air Force Captain and I stood there looking at each other.  Finally he said, I guess we'd better head over to that barn.  Just then, the jeeps turned around and headed back.  They pulled up, jumped out laughing, and said "Welcome to Nha Trang!" We then realized this was their practical joke.

The small Detachment in Nha Trang was headed by and Army Major, along with an Army Captain, a Special Forces Captain, another Air Force Captain, and two Navy Chief Petty Officers. The Air force Captain I came up with was taking the place of the Special Forces Captain who would be leaving in 2 weeks.  That would leave our little group to be seven people. Not belonging to any branch of service, we were Nomads.  The first night in Nha Trang I stayed with one of the Navy Chiefs in a Villa that he and several of his friends had rented out. After that, arrangements were made with the Navy people for me to stay with the Navy guys in their hotel.  Quiet a luxurious accomodation.

The second night in Nha Trang the group decided they should celebrate our arrival, so we went out to one of the finest restaurants in town.  I can't remember the name of the place, but it had a French name.  We were seated at a table outside. Ah, alfresco dining.  Not long after ordering our food, before it arrived, BOOM!  The Viet Cong blew the place up!
Did our hero get killed?

To be continued........