Still operating from the FOB at Phuoc VInh, but things are about to change. I start this letter by thanking everyone for sending mail. Whew! Three letters in one day. Evidently folks who wrote were overly concerned about my health. I wrote, “It’s ok, you can preach to me all you want. Everybody is doing it so I’m used to it.” They are concerned about my drinking. I respond with this, “Don’t worry about me becoming inebriated. There isn’t enough beer out here anymore to become inebriated on.” In hindsight perhaps I should have taken that as a sign as those of you who know me know that I am a recovering alcoholic.
Folks were also writing me asking about the temperature. “Since we have no thermometers I can only guess. The nights are cool. I’d say last night was probably around 65 degrees. But it gets very hot in the day. Remember, this is winter. I don’t think it’s gotten much over 105 or 110. Some of the guys here have seen it as hot as 140 and I imagine I will too before I leave.” I think I may have been prone to exaggeration. While close to equator I don’t think it ever got as hot as I thought it might in the previous statement. The average temperature in all of Viet Nam is 70-73 degrees. But it can get much higher and much lower. Fascinating, right? I guess you’d have to be there.
I was still waiting for a camera to arrive. And I was asking for pictures from the home front, particularly pictures of Peni (got that Peni obsession goin’ on). Dad had sent me a note and I thanked him for that rare occurrence. I tell him “I can take care of myself, as we all have to take care of each other over here. But things are going to get worse. We’re moving to the Quan Loi area about 10 miles from the Cambodian border. It’s somewhere north of here somewhere. It’s referred to as ‘big game country’ and I don’t think they mean lions and tigers! We usually get into Phuoc Vinh approx. once a week for showers and a change of clothes.” While in Phuoc Vinh, “I did get to see a movie- ‘The Secret War of Harry Frigg’ with Paul Newman. Good flick. Up at Quan Loi we’ll be roughing it. 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry is there now and we’ll be replacing them.” I then go on to talk about them killing 55 “gooks” losing 15 men in the process. “There’s nothing up there but hardcore NVA. But there is a bright side. We understand that they aren’t very accurate with their mortars and rockets (the NVA), and as the army phrase goes they don’t really ‘have their shit together.’” I sometimes wonder how many others writing home were as graphic as I could be in some of my letters. And I believe I get worse.
Finally, I ask for reading material saying that we didn’t have much. And I actually thought about asking for my tape recorder. That, of course, never happened. I finish on a lighter note. “Went on a two day patrol and got back this morning. We were supposed to go about 15 miles in two days, but our platoon leader was sore at the CO because he lost $80 playing poker, so we only went out about a mile and sat for two days. I really enjoyed it and wish all patrols could be like that.” Good times. Thanks for watching.
PS When I refer to Phuoc Vinh, I am referring to our FOB there, not the city itself. I never actually saw the town. The pictures I have uploaded are all from that FOB. The camera came before we left for Quan Loi.