46 years ago, 1 SEP 1967, I arrived in 5th Special Forces Group headquarters in Nha Trang, Vietnam, on my way back to the States, after 1 1/2 years in beautiful, scenic, South Vietnam. I had departed Ba Xoai (my A-team) on 27 AUG. My convoy to the B-team was stopped by a mined road. Smitty, my former teammate from Vinh Gia, formed a convoy at the B-team (Chau Doc) to drive out and meet me at the mined area. We then continued to the B-team so I could take care of paperwork for my return to the States. He and I were returning together. After completing our paperwork, we proceeded to close the B-team bar that night. The following day we took a long convoy joyride to the C-team (Can Tho), hungover. Immediately upon arrival we made a beeline to the NCO Club, remaining until closing time. The following day we divided our time between paperwork and NCO Club, closing it again. The following day we were told to finish paperwork and get the hell outta there. The only plane we could find went to Saigon. Mistake! We spent 2 unscheduled days in the Special Forces Camp Goodman bar, before THEY chased us out. We flew to Nha Trang. We closed the NCO Club there the first night (1 SEP). At about 3am the VC made a probing action on the base. Smitty & I ran to our assigned foxholes in just our skivvy shorts. The "All Clear" was finally given, but every other man had to remain at their post. I was one of the every other men, staying there, in my shorts, until sunup. We managed to spend a lot of our time in the bar, finally being ordered to get a flight to Long Binh (near Saigon) on the 4th. At Long Binh we closed their bar that evening. We finally boarded the "Freedom Bird" civilian 707 charter jet home the following morning, 5 SEP, extremely hung-over. SLURP SENDS, soberly! P-)
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 20:42:01 +0000
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