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We are leaving in the morning for our 2 day drive to the reunion. See you there, Brothers!
Not to mension the Teacher’s strike……. Too busy to meat with Isreal…. The list is endless…
egypt,libya,and now tunisia.This would not be happening if our so called commander in cheif had a pair. While Americans are being murdered, he’s campaigning in vegas.
Gary,
Whose old! See my wife as she handles my light work plus she is tougher than any two men.
I don’t recall ever getting the shits from bad water and I even drank raw paddy water a time or two on purpose because I was thirsty. Drank a lot more of it involuntarily. LOL I gave up on the iodine tablets because they were just too much bother. During the dry season, I carried 8 canteens and a 5 qt. blivet bag on my ruck and I usually drank all of it in a day. I sweat a lot and drink a lot of water. Always have. Maybe that’s why I’m healthier than the rest of you old geezers. 🙂
Russ, a worthy mission bring clean water to people.
Chuck, do not remember it burning but just running to a bush and squatting often.
Never had to get water out of a B52 crater. 15 minutes of what we use to do would kill me now!
As a Medic, I also carried extra water, (6 quarts, I think), The only time I got the squirts was because of those damn malaria tablets. I guess that was better than getting malaria.
I used the iodine tabs, too.
seems i remember 1 time when we were not allowed into the firebase til some 1s fatigues were were burned and new 1s brought out. must have been chucks.
terry–i remember those craters also. back then,some of those areas looked like a lunar landscape to me–after they were bombed.rome plowed and defoliated a couple times,or more. near impossibe to believe a forest of bamboo trails were once there.
clay–my rucksack is off to you. i`ll admit i am 1 of those grunts that just wasn`t tough enough to take on ham and muthers. what can i say ?
I remember huge bomb craters full of blue tinted water with reddish tinted edges while with the 82nd in the Iron Triangle. Never drank it but had a couple of dolts who did. Always wondered……..
Ask Roger Samples about dysentery. We had to cut an LZ big enough in a tall stand of elephant grass big enough for a huey. He was close to dying from dehydration.
I don’t recall anyone stealing anybody’s water. Too many guns around. I did get dysentery once. Bill, you said you had the “back door trots”. Whatever I had felt like a Quad 50 shoved up my backside. Very uncomfortable when it would open up.
During the collapse of command that epitomized Attleboro, resupply was one of the first casualties.
There was little surface water, so even the purification tablets were useless.
We came on a B-52 strike after a thirsty day and night and the water in the craters was the worst, most offensive looking stuff we had ever seen. It was also the best tasting.
It never occurred to me until just now that it was probably rain water or ground water and may have not been contaminated like stream and paddy water.
I don’t remember any water stealing.
Russ: Good on ya for your Guatemala work.
Clay,
You are my hero for liking ham and lima beans.
I had experienced being thirsty and out of water before Nam so I kept all five of my canteens full every chance I got. Plus, as a medic I figured I would need more water than just for my consumption. I used iodine tablets regularly and didn’t think they were that bad. But then I didn’t think ham & limas were that bad either. My hometown’s water was high in mineral content so my standards could have started out low. Anyway, I didn’t get sick any while out in the field. Bad water is a real curse for a huge number of people worldwide.
russ–you remember the machine gunner we had while at hiep duc in may of 70 ? named butcher–who went in for heat exhaustion–and re-upped ? then his assistant did same ? this was after 4 may. anyway, we went thru a village and i got water and4- 5 days of the runs.medic said 1 more day and i would have been sent back in. was taking anti-shit pills 3 times a day i think. think our whole squad, or most had same in various degrees. sure was some stinky humps for a few days. another time i chewed out doc quack for grabbing some of my water. think that was in that time frame.
Russ,
I carried 4 canteens. I never got really that sick. During my tour they would bring out water bladders of clean water. I did drink plenty of river and creek water. I don’t remember drinking rice patty water but a couple of times. I did use the tablets if it didn’t look that good. Some times I had kool aide to put in it to kill that taste that my family had sent. I really don’t remember getting sick. I did get the “back door trots” a few times.
As for as guys fighting over water I remember in March, 69 of being in a battle. Our platoon was ordered to drop our packs to go up a hill. When we got close to the top we took fire. It was hotter than Dutch love. We were in an open field on the side of the hill in the heat taking fire. They brought in choppers and they thought we were the NVA and they open fire on us. They hit all around us. To this day I do not know how anyone did not get hit by that friendly fire. I do not know how long we were there but I know I was thirsty and I was looking forward to getting back to my canteens. When we finally got back to the bottom of the hill all of my water had been drunk by the rest of the company. I was ready to shoot somebody. They brought in a bladder of water later that day after we dug in on a hill opposite the one we tried to go up. I never left again without taking at least one canteen of water with me.
Guys, I have a question for anyone that wants to answer or comment. It’s about clean drinking water. I just returned from a mission trip to Guatemala to drill a fresh water well for a village without. A group called Living Waters is deploying volunteer groups around the world to go in and drill new wells for people with no clean water, and the Guatemala cause has become dear to my heart. The effects of having no clean water are devastating, as we all know and remember so well from Nam. That’s the thread that got me interested in this cause.
My premise is that there’s not a grunt, or a Charlie Grunt from the bush that didn’t get sick at some time from drinking bad water. I remember the iodine tablets that supposedly made the water safe to drink, but were totally unpalletable….we gave up on that.. And I remember the times we had no good drinking water. We had to take many chances drinking spring and river water that weren’t always good. I remember the fear of a body in the water upstream that could mean hepatitis from drinking it. And I remember an operation where we knew we could not get resupplied, and had to conserve, as impossible as that was with the heat and the humps we had to endure. Some could conserve, and some couldn’t and brother turned on brother.
Was sickness from bad water as common as I think it was…? ..the parasites, the FUO…
If you’re up for a trip back to the bush, we will be going again. It’s not quite as harsh as Nam, but it is reminiscent, except for the WIN at the end….
There is a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel in Rapid City.
605-399-9999
800-357-9998
Anytime I think of Captain Morris or hear his name mentioned (like Bill Beckum’s post here), I think of those old fictional war heroes whose men “would follow them through the gates of hell.” I’m no hero and I’m not violent and I don’t look for trouble, but I have told people for the last 42 years that if Captain Morris called me up and said he needed me to do something, anything, I would do it. Never met anyone in life who impressed me so much. He even made me realize that “lifers” could be OK, which I never would have believed prior to serving with him in the field.
howdy–went browsing on this page and found it to be informative//ustoo.org//it has also has a link to find out about what the new regulations relating to AGENT ORANGE exposure and what they are going to do///on another note that ”stare got me into lots of trouble–Mom thought i was on drugs//just stare out into space and be oblious to anything else…
Short Round,
You maybe right about 1000 yards and not 1000 miles. Most people find water relaxing. I know I do. I guess there is no way for a “grunt” some sort of PTSD after combat.
As you say Chuck—— Guess that means no Captain for me tonite!
Chuck,
I do not remember the exact date but I would guess 11/14/69. Extended 17 days so I could get out after 19 months when I returned. Which I did on 11/23/69. Went in 4/22/68. Vietnam 11/5/69. Out 11/23/69. Did not see the good side of the Army in 19 months but proud of my service and the men I served with.
Hey guys!
I am scheduled to arrive in Rapid City SD on Tues Sep 18 at 1:36 on UA4884. Anyone know how I can hitch a ride to the Americinn?
LT, I’m getting there on the 18th at noon. I’ll just take a cab. I think the hotel is only 8 miles from the airport. Tooch.
Terry, it looks like you stuttered……. Short Round, put the crack pipe down….. Bill, hail Captain Morris…… what date did you leave the field?
Thanks! I believe my last three months was spent this way(9/69-11/69) as I remember only two things from that period. One was Capt. Morrison coming to the field and thinking he looked like the comic book G.I. Joe charging up a hill with a machine gun in one hand and a grenade in the other and was going to lead us into deep shit. My other thought is being told to jump on a resupply chopper as I was out of the field with a week to go home and how the artillery fire we flew through almost got us. The pilot was unaware it was coming. He zig & zag and cussed into the radio.
terry–congrats on the family addition.she`ll keep you all busy.
bill–i thought it was the 1,000 yard stare and yes i`ve been there a few times with different reactions at different times. sometimes the cold sweats, other times uncomfortable, other times the mind goes off somewhere either searching for answers, or just spaced out, as in giving the brain a rest.
interesting comment about water since we were ground pounders. seeing pearl harbor,via water, sure got my eyes wet. talk about sacrifices–whew.
Bill, in the past that which you ask about has been called “soldiers heart” “shell shock” or even now as PTSD. It is a condition of those who have had a traumatic incident in their lives, not just soldiers. I have a group of friends who go camping together, all VN vets, and we dicovered all5 of us describe a feeling of being lost in our own thoughts staring out over the horizon and losing our complete train of thought. This has happened to me, generally if I am in a view over water. I have talked to others from our company, some have had this experience, others not. My brother-in-law was VN Air force, my sister describes his departure from awareness of his surroundings as surreal yet he emphatically denies he does this. That can be a part of it too. I usually find a peaceful feeling come over me and I do not fear this happening. Sometimes I seek the peace.
Bill, in the past that which you ask about has been called “soldiers heart” “shell shock” or even now as PTSD. It is a condition of those who have had a traumatic incident in their lives, not just soldiers. I have a group of friends who go camping together, all VN vets, and we dicovered all5 of us describe a feeling of being lost in our own thoughts staring out over the horizon and losing our complete train of thought. This has happened to me, generally if I am in a view over water. I have talked to others from our company, some have had this experience, others not. My brother-in-law was VN Air force, my sister describes his departure from awareness of his surroundings as surreal yet he emphatically denies he does this. That can be a part of it too. I usually find a peaceful feeling come over me and I do not fear this happening. Sometimes I seek the peace