The Boys of Company B

By Victor L. Vining

About two new guys to the Nam. How they grow from boys to men. But will they survive the Nam?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Victor L. Vining
• Release date: Apr 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452491370

Victor L. Vining

I'm 60 years old, a veteran of Viet Nam and Desert Storm. I have three children, Brian, Amy and Stephen. I have always wanted to write. I hope you enjoy my stories. That's all any author wants.

Book preview

The Boys of Company B

by Victor L. Vining

Published by Victor L. Vining at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 at Smashwords

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CHAPTER ONE

Hot, yep hot, that’s how I first remember it. I remember looking out the Northwest Orient plane window down at the coast. You could see through the clouds the South China Sea, the beach, and the lush green land. It was very beautiful., also surreal. I was thinking in a few days I would be in that jungle, how odd a feeling that was. Around me on that plane were other army personnel, some coming back for second or third tours. Or like me, starting their first one. All heading to the same land but to different places. As we came over the coast the pilot came on the intercom and said,

Welcome to Viet Nam

This was it, too late to turn back now. It seemed like we had been flying for days, instead of the 24 hrs. We had started out at Ft. Lewis, Washington. We had flown to Japan and then on the Viet Nam. At Ft. Lewis I had been issued my jungle fatigues. I was so proud of them, I now really looked like a soldier. Only one big problem, this was December and it had been snowing for a week, I liked to have froze to death. Finally we had boarded the plane about three in the morning. Like we had to sneak off. But as I would learn the army doesn’t think about the time you leave it’s the time you get there that’s important. Soon we were landing in Cam Ranh Bay. To report to a replacement center and be assigned a unit. The door to the plane opened and in rushed hot humid air. Almost knocked me down. I obediently got in line and headed down the stairs to the tarmac. I saw a sergeant pointing out to fellow travelers and making them stand aside, this didn’t look good. I tried to look away, thinking it would work. If I didn’t see him, he wouldn’t see me. You know the old contact eye theory, Yea, right.

You there! He said, pointing at me.

I joined the group. We didn’t know it but we had volunteered to unload the plane. There Were about 200 duffle bags in the hold. After sweating off ten pounds, I got on the bus where the rest of the men had been waiting and headed to the replacement center. Some of the men on their second or more tours already had their orders and what company to go to. They had someone to pick them up or knew where to go already. The forty or so of us remaining headed to the replacement center. They had someone pick them up or knew where to go to already. We had the windows down to get some air. Our route took just past the planes leaving. I would learn later this was the infamous Freedom Birds. A line of men were heading to one of them. I was shocked. I know they had to be my age or just a little bit older, but these men looked like they had been through hell. All were thin, crows feet around their eyes. They saw us and started yelling and laughing. Some said,

Good luck, you’re going to need it,

Hey, newbie, I’m going home,

One just raised his hand and gave us a peace sign and smiled. That was cool, that was the one sign we understood. He knew we were new, green. He knew what was coming. He had done his time. In his way he was telling us,

Peace, Bro, Peace

He knew we were lost, lost sheep in the wilderness. As I was riding, I was thinking, what a way to begin my tour in Viet Nam. Cam Ranh Bay was nothing but sand. The replacement center was a group of buildings set off to a side, when you walked out of the barracks you could see the bay. I use the word barracks loosely, it was a wood plank siding on a building about twenty feet by forty feet. The windows ran along the top of the sides underneath the roof. No glass, just screening. No air conditioning, just some ceiling fans. Inside were prison made bunk beds painted grey. On them were the standard six inch mattress. No sheets but a pillow with no case. We were issued a army wool blanket. Some times the army is so funny I can’t stand it. Most of the time you slept on top in you skivvies, army issued boxer shorts, color green, naturally. Didn’t take long to find out that the wind blew the sand though the screen windows covering everything. Made you want to go to the jungle. It wasn’t that bad, it reminded me of the National Guard barracks back at Fort Jackson, SC. We had a shower, latrine and mess hall. We had four formations a day, breakfast, noon, supper, and for some reason 11:00 pm.

Hopefully we would hear our name, and what unit we were going to be assigned to. It took me about a week to finally hear mine. The night before one of the sergeants on duty took me to the bulletin board in the formation area. On it was a map of Viet Nam and the units there. He told me to pick one. I liked the patch of the First Cavalry Division. The next day I was on my way to Bien Hoa, wherever that was. How many times I have wondered since then how my life might have been different if I had chosen another unit. Might as well start counting, 358 days to go.

CHAPTER TWO

With a few others from the replacement center we boarded a C130 Cargo plane for Bien Hoa. Sitting on web seats, I was still new enough to have this alone be exciting. What I still didn’t realize was that everything would be the first time from here out. Only when I had been here awhile would it become old news and me finally an old man. Bien Hoa was a hub for departures and arrivals to and out of the country. Walking through the big building you could see many people, soldiers, airman, and civilians sitting and waiting for their flight or someone to pick them up. You wouldn’t have known looking at it you we in a country at war. It seemed everyone was looking a me.

Hey, there’s a new one They thought.

I had my new duffle bag on my shoulder and my brand new fatigues. I stuck out all right. Now if I could just make it through the building. I showed the airman at the desk my orders, he looked at them, then at me. This man had been ordering people around like a drill sergeant a few minutes before. He looked up with a sad look in his face and said.

Son, you go over there by that door, there’s another guy there going to the same place. A jeep is coming to pick you up.

Thanks I said.

Good luck, kid

He said as he looked back down at his papers.

Kid?

Well I guess he could have been old enough to be my pa.

I went to the open door, stepped outside, put down my duffle and saw the guy the airman was talking about.

I walked over to him. He was about my age, 19, my height, 69 inches or five feet nine inches. Only difference was I was white an he was black. Didn’t make any difference to me.

Even though I was from the south, we had moved around a lot. I wasn’t raised to be prejudice of anyone. Heck, I was having a hard enough time not being so down on me.

You heading to 2/12 Cav?