A Chaplain Volunteers: A Memoir of My Two Years In Vietnam

By Rodney W. Spitler, Sr.

A narrative of my two (one year) tours in Vietnam, the first with the 22nd Surgical Hospital (MUST), the second with the 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry (NO SLACK) of the 101st Airborne Division (SCREAMING EAGLES). Many of the stories are based on journals I wrote on the battlefields.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Aug 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781483415147

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A CHAPLAIN

VOLUNTEERS

A memoir of my two years in Vietnam

RODNEY W. SPITLER, SR.

Copyright © 2014 Rodney W. Spitler, Sr..

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-1514-7 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 08/01/2014

CONTENTS

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1    A Chaplain Volunteers

Chapter 2    Slack Times

Chapter 3    Do We Torture?

Chapter 4    Slack Time, Again

Chapter 5    Patients

Chapter 6    Hospital Food

Chapter 7    Rockets/Survival

Chapter 8    Fort Bliss El Paso, Texas

Chapter 9    Back To Vietnam

Chapter 10    The Saigon Experience

Chapter 11    Rest And Recuperation

Chapter 12    Back To The War And Lam Son 719

Chapter 13    From My Vietnam Journal

Chapter 14    The Last Big Battle

Chapter 15    From The Journal

Chapter 16    After Thoughts

Postscript

Addendum

Maggots

Chinook Helicopter

Friendly Fire

Typhoon

Loyal Captain

Colonel As Not So Patient Patient

The School Teacher

Notification Duty

Black Teeth

Juicers And Dopers

Sally

John Potter

Very Close Call

God Hears

Rappelling

Walking The River

Clean Uniforms

Crapper Duty

Bronze Star

Deer Hunting

Always Watching

Racial Tensions

Fraggings

One Last Word

Dedicated to ALL the victims of the Vietnam War

INTRODUCTION

For much of my life I served both my Country and my God as a US Army Chaplain. While most of my service was during peacetime, the very beginning of my Army Chaplain career was during the height of the Vietnam War.

Unlike many of our fallen and veterans, I was not drafted for service to Vietnam -- I volunteered. It may seem odd that a pacifist man of the cloth would volunteer for service in a dangerous combat zone, but for me the decision seemed right, and the things I saw and experienced there forever changed my life and views. They also reaffirmed my most basic core values, though these were often challenged by the horrors I experienced. Those horrors I am sad to say weren’t just done TO our men, but sometimes, under the most extreme of circumstances, BY our men. I am not here to judge, only to report what I saw. To my knowledge, much of what I report here has never been documented, and may be difficult to believe, but I do hereby affirm that everything is true. While I rely on memory to recall much of what I’ve written, I also kept journals which sometimes transport me right back to the sights and smells of the unforgettable.

As I said, I volunteered for this service -- I didn’t have to go at all. It may surprise some to learn that during the Vietnam conflict Clergy were not drafted into the Armed Forces. Once ordained by a recognized religious denomination a newly minted minister, priest, or rabbi was automatically reclassified 4F - not draft-able. Also, a Man (and, these days, a Woman) of the Cloth is not typically just assigned to the Chaplaincy based on their willingness to volunteer their services directly.

So how is it that the military has chaplains at all? Under the system in place during the Vietnam War, the military approaches each religious denomination directly and requests a certain number of clergy based on responses given by US citizens during the most recent decennial (10 year) National Census. In other words, if in 1968 the US Army needed (hypothetically) 100 chaplains, and 15% of respondents to the 1960 National Census were Catholic, then the US Army would ask the US Catholic Church to find volunteers for 15 Chaplaincy positions. Some clergy elect to remain in service and receive promotions, and those clergy form the hierarchy of the Chaplaincy Service. I chose to remain in Military service for 20 years, and retired in 1987.

As to my religious bona fides, I entered the Army Chaplaincy representing the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I was ordained in the Christian Church in 1962. I had received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1960 and the Bachelor of Divinity Degree in 1963 from Texas Christian University. The Bachelor of Divinity Degree required at least 90 hours of Graduate Studies and was the Professional Degree for Ministers. So at the time I entered the US Army I had three years of experience as a full time, ordained minister, but no experience in the military, or in combat. I really don’t think anything can prepare you for that.

After my wartime service I continued my higher education and received a Master of Science in Education (Counseling and Guidance) degree from Long Island University in 1976.

Many are also not aware that Chaplains, like Doctors, are almost universally understood to have a unique responsibility on the battlefield. Like doctors, whose Hippocratic Oath and professional code of conduct obliges them to render medical assistance to ANYONE who needs it, whether the casualties are our troops, our enemies troops, or civilians who tragically are always caught in the crossfire, Chaplains are also understood to have a similar responsibility. On the battlefield too often this is the spiritual care of a person, friend or foe, who is about to die. The Chaplain has the responsibility to ensure that, to the best of his or her ability, any last words of comfort or rituals associated with that person’s faith are executed.

Because these responsibilities are by definition non-combative in nature, both medical and religious persons, specifically Doctors and Ministers, enjoy (?) a special exemption - they are, whenever possible, not to be harmed, even in a full scale combat situation. Under the rules of engagement set forth by the Geneva Conventions of 1949, targeting a physician or clergy on the battlefield is a war crime, and if the offender’s military hierarchy is aware of such a violation and does not move to discipline him/her, their superiors are also guilty of a war crime and can be tried and convicted of same.

On the whole the US has had a good record of meting out justice to those who violate the Geneva Conventions as well as many self-imposed rules of engagement, but the so called fog of war has, and always will, allow atrocities such as some I witnessed to go forever unpunished. One of the reasons I decided to write this book is so that someone besides myself would know of many of the things I saw that I’ve never seen nor spoken of since. I wasn’t asked, or required to keep these secret, and I impart these to you with no joy at all. Someone has to know.

Back to that special status, though - the immunity or non-combatant status a clergyman or physician enjoys carries with it another solemn responsibility - they are never, EVER to carry, or even pick up, a weapon, except to move it aside or out of reach, even in imminent threat of death. To do so would immediately reclassify them as a combat soldier, and they are now fair game. While not specifically expressed in the Geneva Conventions of 1949, this concept is so well implied that the US has, since 1949, prohibited a Chaplain from carrying a weapon, and instead requires them to have an armed Chaplain’s Assistant while in active fire and combat areas (though my assistant rarely carried his, which left us both entirely unprotected at times we both wished he were carrying his sidearm).

While in Vietnam I carried a very special card which I still have to this day, called a Geneva Conventions Identity Card. On the front, along with