It’s two days after the last letter, and I start it by sounding like a ‘whiny little bitch’ as Bill Maher would say. Here goes: “Where are my pictures! You hate me! Why don’t admit it. You can’t even send a bunch of lousy pictures that I ask for! I said I wanted a picture of the house – of the boats, etc. Just kidding, honest!” Was I really just kidding or was I really upset? That I even started the letter that way leads me to believe that there was real emotion there. Not about the hating me part, but the rest, I think I really wanted those pictures because they would remind me not of Texas where I was drafted, but the home where I grew up. I continue: “The truth is I’m really appreciative for all you have done for me since I’ve been over here.” I was probably thinking about the cookies. “I realize you have better things to do than run errands for me.” Yup, here they are: “…making cookies, paying my debts, writing so faithfully, putting Kool-Aid in your letters. Thank you. I don’t know how to thank you. Perhaps I can some day.” Notice that the cookies came first. I’m still a cookie addict. I have to have cookies available at all times.
“The mail is really screwed up, but there’s little that can be done. Hardly anyone has been getting any mail lately. The last mail I received was the letter from Richard and your last two letters. This sorry stinking army.” Do you get the feeling how important getting mail was? It came by helicopter and there was no way of knowing what obstacles they faced in getting our mail to us regularly.
Moving on: “Post TET offensive seems to be faltering.” Oh, what little I did know at that point. “The Navy brought us a few miles north to a new area of operations. We’re still in Tay Ninh province. The VC are supposed to make a big push in the province this week, but so far it has failed to materialize. There are many villages around here and during the day we’re surrounded by kids. Today we patrolled inside a fairly large village. I guess the people are friendly although none of the people have called us ‘liberators’ yet!”
“More news! I have just received a change of MOS – from 11B10 to 11B20. That means I have been promoted to Specialist 4th class – but I have not received the orders yet, so it is not official. But when it becomes official it will be about $65 per month more. I hope those orders come quick. One thing it means is that I’ll be next in line for team leader position.” I never became a team leader. The reason will be in a letter down the road a bit (I think).
“Have you ever heard of Petri cameras? Are they any good? A guy in our platoon bought one for $35 from the flying PX. Apparently it sells for $100 back in the world. I will get a good camera when I go on R&R” I never did, and don’t ask me what a Petri camera is because I don’t remember. Nor do I remember the flying PX. “Unofficially I am one rank from Buck Seargent now and should make it before I leave here.”
“I guess that’s about all I’ve got for now, so take care and keep the letters coming.” If I ever found out what a Petri camera was, I don’t remember, but I must have seen one from that guy in our platoon. Reading these letters for the first time since I wrote them has made me realize how much I have forgotten. My brother Rob helped me put together a slide show of the pictures I did take in Viet Nam, and I used that show in my unit on Southeast Asia when I taught World Geography at Central Junior High School in the HEB school district. And even then I had forgotten much of what is in these letters. It’s kind of mind blowing, even the mundane stuff. The next letter again is just two days later. When mom opened it the first thing she saw was a big “Hi Ya!!”