“Right now I am probably more physically and mentally tired than I have ever been in my life. The last three days have been miserable. I won’t lie to you and say we haven’t had enemy contact. We have, but only had two wounded, which isn’t bad considering the amount of enemy contact we had. What we’re dealing with is VC main force. This is the organized army of the NLF and in my own opinion are more dangerous (because they are brave and foolhardy) than either the local VC or the NVA. What they really are is crazy. The other night I saw a gook rifleman open up on a Cobra helicopter. Tracers always give away your position at night, but they are necessary for night firing accuracy. The Cobra has 72 rocket pods on each side of the ship plus an automatic M-79 and 2 mini guns – 10,000 rounds per minute. Anyway, the Cobra went after the position that fired on him. I don’t know if the Cobra got the gook or gooks or not, but I wouldn’t want to be in their position.”
So that’s how I started my letter of March 3rd. I don’t know if the Cobra description was accurate, but it’s what we believed at the time and if I remember correctly the mini guns sound like firecrackers going off many times faster. In the next paragraph I talk about how there are gaps in the mail because the mail helicopter can’t always land, so when we got mail it “came in bunches. Like yesterday 2 letters from you, 2 from Brenda, one from Peni, one from Susan and one from gram and gramps.”
“I’m now in my 4th month of Vietnam. Next month I will be 22, but I feel like 32. I feel old, but I also feel wiser” I had to chuckle when I reread this part. Oh we grow to soon old and too late smart. Heard that somewhere. Back to the letter. “I think when I come home I’ll be able to settle down and do something with my life besides waste it.”
I then wax nostalgic. “You know what I’d like. I would like a picture of the house and of the bay, and of my boat and the sailboat. I have pictures of all these if you’d like to dig them out. I’d also like picture of George and me in our old duplex house.” I don’t remember if I ever got these and if I did, they are long gone. I then ask for film, “nail clippers, a toothbrush, cookies, a razor, canned peaches (I really dig peaches), and stationary. I’d also like the picture of Jennifer on the swing, and what I’d really like is a picture made from the slide of me with the beard, WWI German helmet and the TCU sweatshirt. These are the things that would make my visit to Vietnam more bearable.” What’d I tell you about nostalgia. I think they sent those pictures because they have never turned up since. Then I babble a little bit about answering questions from home. And then this: “Please! No more orange Kool-Aid. The favorites among the troops in the field are Cherry, Black cherry, Black raspberry, raspberry, grape and strawberry.”
“I hope Sue has a fine time on her trip to Buffalo I believe you said. Well I guess that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ve been thinking about writing my Congressman about changing George Washington’s birthday. He’s probably rolling over in his grave. How can you change the date of a birthday? I’d be pretty sore if you changed the date of my birthday just to make a longer weekend, but if I was a working slob, I guess I’d appreciate it. Well that’s it for now, take care all…” Later, I would become that “working slob.” Soooo judgemental. I still held the rank of PFC at this point. Just a reminder that Sue is my sister. Jennifer and Brenda were friends from home. The next letter is from March 10 at LZ Terry. See ya next week.