Brownwater Ii: The Adventure Begins...

By Samuel C Crawford

This comical adventure begins for Charles Edwards after reporting to Vietnam as a member of the Brown Water Navy stationed in the Mekong Delta assigned to the Mobile Riverine Task Force 117. With a little help from his friend, Petty Officer Dan, Charles quickly matures from his humble beginnings as an 18-year-old city boy from Baltimore.

For Vietnam veterans, this story will bring back precious memories that will make them say, Yeah, I remember doing stuff like that. That part of the war was fun. For those who never served in the military will find this an enjoyable eye-opener to military life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 20, 2003
• ISBN: 9781465327246

Samuel C Crawford

Samuel C Crawford, graduate of Baltimore City College and Essex Community College. Married Patricia inFebruary 1977 and they live in Middletown, Delaware.He is the author of the BrownWater series about his multiple tours in Vietnam serving in the U.S. Navywith the Mobile Riverine Force.Honorably discharged and was gainfully employed as a Computer Programmer for an internationalconsultant firm in Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Book preview

Brown Water II

The Adventure Begins…

Samuel C. Crawford

Copyright © 2002 by Samuel C. Crawford.

Cover design by Stephanie Rea Crawford

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

15660

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

GLOSSARY

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F

APPENDIX G

APPENDIX H

APPENDIX I

Personal and deepest heartfelt thanks to Murray A. Armstrong, Mickey D. Burriss, James H. Crawford, U.S. Navy, Retired, Tony Maskello, Patrick J. Murphy II, and Randall K. Smith for their time, ideas, suggestions and words of encouragement.

To my loving wife of 25 years, Patricia and our lovely daughter Stephanie. Thank you for your love and patience

Chapter 1

After eight days of hitchhiking all around South Vietnam on all types of transportation, I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel, the USS SUMMIT. What an odd sight this ship is. There was nothing attractive about this mighty navy ship; besides, in all out honesty, she was down right ugly. I expected to see something in battleship gray with lights and many flags flying from stem to stern and guys running around in dress whites, like in the films I saw in boot camp and on old W.W.II movies.

The entire ship was dark green, a very dirty, very dark green. She was not very big and had about a dozen patrol boats tied along side her. On the starboard side, there was a floating pontoon. This pontoon was about the size of two tennis courts and was forward of the patrol boats. On top of the floating pontoon was an Alpha boat. Yep, I got that right, an Alpha boat. My guess was that she was using the pontoon as a dry dock. There was a rather large crane above the pontoon and I imagine that it was used in getting patrol boats on and off the pontoon.

„An old W.W.II LST," Dan informed me.

„LST," I questioned.

„Yeah. Proper name is Landing Ship Tank. However, it really means, „Large Slow Target," Dan explained with a snicker and a little laughter.

I liked Landing Ship Tank better, I thought to myself.

So, what do you think about your new home for the next year? Dan asked.

Responding, after being disappointed with what I saw, I said, „Well, it‘s not what I had in mind. I never would have thought that a navy ship, a commissioned navy ship, would look so old and dirty. After a moment, I continued, „Does it have any fresh paint covering any bullet holes?

„Yes, there‘s a few black spots on the other side where she had a couple of fires before."

„Well that‘s not so bad, right? I suggested, „You know, as long as her fires are small and there aren‘t many of them.

Dan looked at me as if I was an idiot and asked, „What do you mean, not so bad?"

„In boot camp, they taught us that when a ship had a fire onboard, that you had no where to go except to stay board and to extinguish the fire. At least here, you will only have a few hundred yards to swim to shore. You know, if you must abandon ship and all that."

Dan continued to look at me as if I had two heads. I asked him, before he could cut me off with, „A few hundred yards was better than a few hundred miles if we were out to sea, right?"

Well, that did not do it, because I was still getting this weird look from him. I could not imagine what I was about to hear this time.

„Now think about this, Dan answered me, with a little pause to show me how important this was. He continued with, „The odds are that the ones who started the fire or fires, are the bad guys.

„Yeah, okay," I answered.

„So you can assume that the bad guys will be on the shore waiting for you to swim their way," Dan told me, suggesting with his hands to pay attention.

„Okay, good point," I answered, as if I could have answered otherwise.

„Bottom line is, my friend, that a fire is always bad onboard any ship, any where. Even if she‘s tied up in port," he continued to instruct me, in the ways of the Navy.

I felt rather bad when I realized that my assumption was somewhat dumb and that others may have heard me. I came back with; „Could I just check to see which way everyone is swimming? You know like the other night, the ones with guns running to the left and the ones without guns running to the right."

„I‘ll tell you this my, off-track-friend, when you hit the water fully dressed and wearing heavy boots, the last thing you want to hang onto will be your rifle. As if catching his breath to tell me more, he added, „Besides, you think that everyone here just strolls around all day long carrying a rifle.

„Okay, I understand and I see your point," I answered, hoping that he would just drop it.

„Not to mentioned the possibilities of an oil fire on the water, being shot at, and swimming in deep water with a fast current."

„Okay, I see your additional points," I responded as I was thinking, enough already.

I hoped this subject never comes up again. Even if this did happen while I was here, I still hoped that he was nearby so I could at least follow his lead.

As we got closer, everyone was up and looking at the ship and at all of the boats that were tied along side her. I could hear others talking about how ugly she was and how that was not what they expected, especially the new guys like me just taking in all the new sights. The ones that had apparently been here before seemed bored and not thrilled that we were here already.

Dan started to create his own entertainment, as he imitated the teacher from the Romper Room TV show. He pointed and announced, „And I see a Tango boat, Alpha boat 105 and 106 over there. Oh my, and there‘s a Charlie boat sitting next to another Tango boat with a brand new state flag. Oh, and there is a STAB boat sitting next to a second STAB boat with damage to her port side. Hello there, to Tango boat 114 and 121. How are you doing Mr. Mike boat? I like your new paint job. That‘s a pretty shade of green."

It was funny seeing that all the new guys were quiet and listening to him very intently. Little did they realize that they were in fact getting a lesson on the types of boats that were here. Lucky for me, I got a private lesson earlier and it was still funny to hear him carry on like this.

Just as he finished with his teaching, he looked at his watch and said to me, „Damn it. We‘ll miss lunch today. At least it‘s almost time for dinner."

Oh well, I kind of hoped that we would make it back in time for lunch. Whatever, there would always be tomorrow. In fact, I will have over 360 tomorrow‘s before I get to go home. Anyway, I would not starve between now and dinnertime, especially after having a double, very fresh, breakfasts.

„How are the meals here?" I asked Dan.

„Great, not bad at all. Sometimes the cooks have bad days though," he added, after some thought.

„What kind of bad days? I mean is this bad as in, ‚bad cooking,‘" I asked. I was worried because I was so skinny already and that I could not afford to lose any weight.

„No, no, no. Bad only in the sense that on some days, there might be two or three-dozen boats tied alongside. Then the next day, there wouldn‘t be any boats. The cooks on most days cook a lot for a few and then on other days, a little bit for a lot of people."

„So, you are saying that it‘s to our advantage to eat first and not wait until the last minute in case they run out of food."

„That‘s right my man," Dan replied, giving me the thumbs up.

We were about a mile away from the ship and I noticed that an Alpha boat was coming out from behind the ship and headed toward us. I could see that there were three men onboard and all were looking at us with binoculars.

Our boat slowed quickly and within a few moments, the Alpha boat was along side us. One of the crewmembers boarded us and looked around at everyone. This appeared not to be a big deal. He just checked us over and I assumed this his job. There were even a few people onboard that he knew and they started to hold small talk conversations like, „Welcome back, how was your R&R," and other such things.

All of a sudden and without warning, there was an explosion in the water that was no more than ten feet from us. I turned my head in the direction of the explosion and notice that there was a water spout about five feet high. Here I was again with my mouth wide open and trying to think of what to do next, because there were no bunkers to duck into and hide.

What was I thinking? This was nothing but a concussion grenade from the Alpha boat. I should have remembered this from before. Being an old salt that I was, I was glad that I did not react in a panicked manner and embarrass myself. This was a real surprise to a few of the new guys, because one of them did yell, „in-coming."

The Boat Coxswain yelled at this boot or FNG, and said, „It‘s okay man, be cool. You‘ll soon be used to this. This is not a big deal here."

I planned to ignore this and be like the ones that had been here for a while. The guy that did the yelling noticed that I didn‘t panic. It made him feel somewhat relaxed with me, because I didn‘t make fun of him or anything like a few other guys did. Damn, I responded in the right way this time and no one wanted to kick in my face. To my surprise, this guy came up to me and asked in a low voice, „So how do you tell when incoming rounds are incoming rounds?"

Now here was my chance to be either a cool dude or an idiot. I must be careful to say the right thing, because I was still liable to get my face kicked in anyway. „It was just a concussion grenade, thrown in the river by a crewmember of the boat, that just came alongside; it was not a big deal."

For the first time, I felt like a big brother to this guy rather than a little brother to Dan. „It‘s meant to keep swimmers away from us," I added.

„Swimmers?" He asked, as if we were going to have swim call or something.

„You know, the VC swimmers, they attach mines to ships and stuff. It‘s an important job and that was why there was the explosion."

„Sounds like a big deal to me," he told me, showing appreciation that I‘ve filled him in.

„Don‘t worry about it. Try to pay it little or no attention. You‘ll become used to this in no time at all. This kind of thing goes on all day and all night."

„Thanks," he answered and he appeared to be grateful.

I felt somewhat good in helping the new guy. He looked at me as if I had some knowledge of what was going on here. I kind of like this feeling and I could now see why Dan was helping me, assuming that he was doing it because he likes to help people.

Dan looked at me and said, „Nice going. You haven‘t even checked onboard yet and you already know how to tell the difference between a mortar round and a concussion grenade."

„Well, not really. I didn‘t really know the difference at the time. I took notice and when you didn‘t seem alarmed, I assumed that it was not a mortar round."

„Let me give you some additional advice. Make the call yourself next time and don‘t rely on my response."

That seemed a rather harsh thing to say. „What do you mean?"

„If I wasn‘t around, then how would you make the call?"

„I would just look around and take notice of others."

„Like the guy who just yelled incoming?"

„Okay. I‘m still learning," I answered, realizing that he had a good point.

Wanting to make a joke, I said to Dan, „Out here, do you yell, ‚fire in the hole,‘ or possibly, ‚fire in the deep?‘"

He looked at me and said, „Cute."

Just as quick as the Bid patrol arrived, they were off again headed out to do their Bid patrol thing somewhere else. I watched them for a short time; just to see additional grenades go off in the water. Somehow, this seemed rather neat and would be an interesting job to have. I asked, „Does everyone get to be on Bid patrol?"

„Sort of. Each patrol boat and its crew must do, in rotation, a four-hour patrol. There‘s a patrol circling at all times. In certain areas, there might be two Bid patrols. As far as you getting a turn with this Bid patrol thing, well, it depends on your assigned watch duties and times. I would guess that while you are here, you would be doing a Bid patrol or two. However, for the most part, being assigned to the ship, you will be standing mostly shipboard watches."

I listened to him and wondered if I would get to throw any grenades.

„And, you get to throw grenades," he added, as if he read my mind.

I looked back to the Alpha boat and watched it for a while, when someone yelled, „Look at that!"

Because of the exciting way in which that was yelled, I imagined the invasion of Normandy was taking place, or at least to see Bob Hope doing a show. To my surprise, a boat went flying by, pulling a water-skier. Water-skiing, can you believe that? Someone was weaving in and out between Tango and Alpha boats, apparently having a good time.

„Dan, I said. „Check-it-out. Water-skiing.

„And?"

„You don‘t find that unusual."

With a confused look, Dan asked, „Why?"

„I mean, look around here. We have concussion grenades going off, patrol boats on patrol, and other boats in the area. You know, this is a war zone and all that, right?"

„Yeah, but look around. This is a great place to water-ski."

He was right and I would just let that one go. Maybe I will get a chance to do some water-skiing while I was here. At least in this climate, you could water-ski year round.

As we got closer, I could see much activity on the pontoon surrounding the Alpha boat. I saw two men welding near the bow and another two at the stern working on the propellers. Onboard the SUMMIT, a few men were walking around the deck. Nothing seemed out of place from what I expected to see, except for the men manning three machine-guns, one at the bow, amid ship, and at the stern.

I noticed one guy was loading a machine gun. I didn‘t know if this made me feel safe or not. Well, I guessed that I should feel safe; I mean, this is a war zone and all that. If by chance someone got past the Bid patrol, I believed that at least this guy would do his thing to stop‘em.

Dan watched me as I kept my eye on the guy loading the machine-gun and said, „Don‘t worry. You‘ll get a chance to kick off a few rounds while you are over here."

„They let you do that kind of thing here?"

„Well, yeah. Remember the war, the VC, and all that. No need to wait until you are being shot at, to train you on firing one."

I screwed up and I did not make myself clear on that one. I answered, „I know where we are and why we are here. I was just asking if we get to shoot for target practice and stuff like that."

„No sweat, you‘ll get your turn."

I liked that answer. I could only speculate at what they would use as target practice. I hoped that it would not be some girl giving us the finger.

Just before we tied along side, we slowly passed a row of Alpha boats, and I noticed the amount of weapons that was all around us. We had to be winning this war with all this equipment.

With our boat now tied along side, everyone got off. Dan told me to follow him as he hurried across the pontoon. I really wanted to take my time and observe all the new sights, but I figured it was best to follow him. Besides, I would be here for the next year and this was a small ship and I confident that I would get to see all of it. Of course, there was the calculation to minus out a couple of days for time already served in-country.

On the other side of the pontoon was a ladder going up the side of the ship. Damn, damn, damn. This ship was even uglier up close. I had never seen so much green paint in one place in all my life. The only thing that was brown around here happened to be rust. There was this one sign that was above a shack that stated, ‚SUMMIT BODY & FENDER SHOP—25 HOURS A DAY—8 DAYS A WEEK.‘

Of the few guys that were on the pontoon, they just looked at us and stared. One guy yelled out, to my disappointment, „Welcome to the Green Weenie, boys."

Dan yelled out in return to this comment, „No problem Steve. We came back here so you could go home and visit your girlfriend this time. She told all of us to tell you, ‘Hi.’"

I thought that was rather funny and was appreciative that they weren’t talking to me. Looking up towards the bridge, I could see one guy doing some signaling stuff with flags. He was not exactly wearing his dress whites; in fact, he was not in any uniform at all, just cut-offs and boots. This might not be all that unusual, but near him stood this big colored guy wearing a flack-jacket. I guessed that this big colored guy figured he was a bigger target than the skinny white guy was and that his flack-jacket was an appropriate addition to his attire.

I followed Dan up the ladder and waited to see what he was going to do. In boot camp, we had to practice reporting onboard a navy ship. We had to salute one end of the ship, salute the officer on duty, ask permission to come onboard, and then wait for a returned salute and verbal permission. It was a lot to remember after traveling for over a week and it must be in the proper order along with giving my name, rank, and possibly my service number. This I was going to mess up royally, I could just tell. Maybe I could just ask permission to go home. In addition to all that and to top it off, I felt like shit and I had to pee.

Dan just walked onboard only waving at the enlisted guy who was reading a newspaper. After a quick left turn and we were at the quarterdeck, where an enlisted guy was on duty along with an officer. Dan paid no attention to the officer and just walked on past him. I was going to try the same thing when the enlisted man asked me for my name.

You have a name, ass-hole? He snapped at me.

Damn, damn, damn. I did not do anything that Dan had not already done and already I was messing up before I had even been onboard a second.

Charles Edward, Seaman Apprentice, US Navy, Sir!

Yeah, you’re an ass-hole all right. You just sir’ed an enlisted man, he laughed at me. Both he and the officer had smiles on their faces as if I just showed them a good time.

The officer said to the enlisted guy with a snicker, „Did you catch that last part? He‘s US Navy."

„Yeah, go figure. I never would have known; you know, with this being a Navy ship and all that."

They were both enjoying my little slip-up and I hoped that this didn‘t take very long. There was a line of guys building up behind me, wanting to check onboard and I was holding things up. The enlisted man looked down at his clipboard, took a swig from his Pepsi, and asked as if he was someone that had a lot of authority, „Edwards, Charles, is that correct?"

„Yes sir," I answered. Then I realized that I again, sir‘ed him.

„Don‘t worry, the officer said. „In a few days you will just be a regular ass-hole. For now, you will be the, ‚FNG ass-hole.‘

Damn it, I thought. Now these two thought that I was an asshole fresh out of boot camp. Not bad for someone having been onboard for less than a minute. At least I believed that the one guy I had helped earlier with the concussion grenade thought I was okay. This was quickly squelched when I heard him tell the guy behind him that he would not be making the same mistake that I just made.

Wanting to defuse my situation, Dan spoke up and said, „How about you guys not giving him permission to report onboard and just send him back home?"

I had no idea what he was doing. Was Dan for or against me? Either way, I thought that I might be getting myself into some kind of trouble. I just could not turn around and go home, or could I?

„Try again, Dan," the officer answered.

The officer turned to me and spoke as if he was an older kid picking on a younger kid, „Don‘t worry young man. You aren‘t going any where for the next twelve months."

„Yes sir, I‘m glad to be here," I told him proudly. I meant that, I just didn‘t think that he believed me on this.

He just smiled at me and said, „Welcome onboard sailor. Just follow Dan and he’ll take you to Personnel to get you checked in."

As a second thought, the officer told me, One more thing sailor, wait until you have been here a while before you say how glad you are to be here.

Yes sir.

As we walked away, Dan said, You ass-hole.

Don’t sweat it man. I made a minor mistake and I see it as not a big deal. Besides, what’s the worst thing that could happen to me? Will they send me back to boot camp for a review?

With that comment, I started to realize the change in attitude I was developing toward the military and its rules and regulations. Nothing in boot camp prepared me for anything like this. This appeared to be a bad start for my first day reporting here. Damn, it was going to be one long year.

Well, if you were counting the time, and I was, it was not quite one full year remaining, counting my travel days.

As we headed around to the other side of the ship, I wanted to take my time and check out the view of the river. Sure seemed like a busy place with boats all tied up everywhere with others just going up and down the river.

We’ll need to hit Personnel first and that should make you happy because you will be finally checked-in. After that, I’ll show you to your living quarters, Dan informed me.

Dan then added one more item, There isn’t too much you can mess up in the Personnel office.

I truly hope not.

Following Dan through the narrow passageways and carrying my sea bag was no easy task. Particularly when someone else would try and pass us in the passageway. Of course, I still needed to pull up my pants every now and then.

Then things started to get worse. Stairways, or ladders, seemed to go almost straight up and down with small steps. This was not easy, not easy at all. At the top of one ladder was some guy on watch and he seemed pissed that he had to move to let us pass.

After we past him, I said to Dan, What’s his problem? I haven’t been here long enough to have pissed him off.

No problem. He’s an E-6 and you are an E-2, Dan explained to me making this sound like something that I must remember. And I should, as an E-6 is much higher in rank than a little E-2. I was just a Seaman Apprentice and he was a First Class Petty Officer.

And?

And he had to move to let you pass.

I didn’t like the way that came out. I best listen up because I did not need to piss off anyone else today.

We stopped at a door with a sign; Ship’s Office stenciled in black over the dark green painted door. Wow, I thought. I was really here, ready to check-in, ready to start working at my new job and possible new career.

Chapter 2

Dan didn’t bother to knock on the ship’s office door. After dropping his sea bag down just outside the door, he walked on in, prancing, like everyone inside was waiting for his return with baited breath. You would have thought that he was there to receive the Noble Peace Prize instead of doing a simple check-in procedure. I was the one that should be prancing. I was the one that really wanted to get here in a timely manner.

Oh well, whatever, inside I went, carrying my sea bag with me. There were three desks lined up, one behind the other, with someone behind each desk working away. The guy at the first desk just inside the door looked up at me and snapped, Hey ass-hole, there is not enough room in here for the two of you.

A little taken back by how and what this guy had just said to me, I answered, Sorry, I didn’t know.

One of you must step outside and I don’t care which one. Decide, he instructed, pointing towards the door.

Thinking that he meant for either Dan or me to step outside, I told Dan, Dan, I’ll just wait outside until you’re done. I’ll wait my turn.

Again, a comment from the guy behind the desk, only a little louder this time with, Hey ass-hole. I meant you or your sea bag must wait outside. Then under his breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear, Five dollars says he’s from California. I would bet San Francisco.

Everyone was definitely enjoying my situation and was having a good laugh. I understand now, I’ll just place my bag outside, I responded as I banged my sea bag against the wall and then crashed into the door trying to open it. Of course, opening the door was no easy task with my sea bag between the doorknob and me. Damn, damn, damn. It was starting again.

Yes you will, this guy again snapped at me one more time for good measure.

Sorry, I was wrong. You can mess up, even here, Dan told me, with everyone in the office now paying attention to me as I threw my bag out the door with some embarrassment.

This was going to be a difficult place to work, I mean to live and work. I quickly returned and followed Dan past the first two desks. He stopped in front of the third desk, and announced. I’m back. Did anyone care or even miss me while I was away?

The guy behind the desk stood up to shake Dan’s hand and responded with, Not bad, this time. You made your seven-day R&R trip last not quite three weeks this time. You’re slipping.

Give me a break, sir. I had this guy tagging along behind me and I knew that I should get back here as quickly as I could. I did this in less than three weeks and you aren’t going to give me any credit, sir. Dan excitingly explained as he took a seat next to the desk.

He seemed to ignore Dan’s last statement and responded with, Naturally, you had your orders stamped each and every time you arranged a layover, correct?

Yes sir, most correct, Dan answered most assuredly and with an air of arrogance.

And how many times did you pass through Cam-Ranh-Bay? The question was asked as everyone in the office waited to hear his answer.

Only twice, sir, only twice. Now Dan answered that question as if it was the wrong answer. I had the feeling that everyone was expecting something a little higher.

As Dan finished up with his bragging, the guy behind the desk looked up at me and I got the impression that I was in trouble. I did take just as much time getting here as Dan did. I didn’t have any excuse and I thought it would be a bad idea to blame anything on Dan. I felt like it was okay for Dan to take so long to return but, for me, I should have checked in days ago. Welcome onboard. My name is Ward. I need your orders and your name, please, he advised me, holding out his hand to accept my orders.

He talked to me in a very friendly manner, as if everything was all right. He did, at the very least, made me feel that I was not in any kind of trouble and that I was indeed welcomed onboard.

Charles Edward, I answered, believing that maybe things were going to improve now that I was here.

Still in a friendly manner, he questioned, Charles Edward, What?

Ah shit, what had I forgotten this time? I didn’t that think he cared where I was from or anything like that. I know. Charles Edwards, Seaman, I answered giving my rank.

Charles Edwards, Seaman, what?

Now what? Maybe I could just go outside and stand next to my sea bag for the next twelve months. Oh, I got it. He needed to know my rank as a Seaman. No sweat, I could do that. Charles Edwards, Seaman Apprentice, I announced, and hopped that we could move along now with the check-in process.

Charles Edwards, Seaman Apprentice, what? He asked sounding annoyed with me.

Dan looked at me from his seat, apparently feeling sorry for me, he suggested, "Sir. Try saying sir. You understand? Making a face at me as if I didn’t understand English, Dan continued with, Him big shit. You dumb shit. Sir the man."

It figured that I failed to notice that this guy was an officer. It would have been helpful if officers would just wear their hats all the time to make it easier on me. Damn, I had sir’ed every enlisted person in Vietnam, except this one officer. Sir, sorry sir. I was just so excited to finally be reporting onboard that I failed to notice that you were an officer, sir.

No sweat, Seaman Apprentice. I’ll give you a little slack this one and only time, he told me, no longer acting as if I was all that welcomed onboard now.

Yes sir, thank you sir, I said with some embarrassment.

I only hope that you can recognize the VC when the time comes, he added, giving Dan a wink indicating that everything was okay.

„Yes sir, I believe that I can do that, sir," I answered smartly in true military mannerism.

Dan added in, „Yeah, you don‘t sir them. You just shoot‘em."

„Even the officers?" I asked, trying to go along with their humor.

The officer looked at me and responded with a smile, „Especially the officers."

At least that part came out in my favor. The officer sat back down, pulled out a clipboard, and added my name to this list. This must make me an official member of the crew because today, I finally made it to someone‘s clipboard.

„Your bunk assignment is R-2, he told me. „Dan can show you its location because his bunk is nearby. You can meet up with the Master-At-Arms at 1600 on the mess deck tomorrow. He‘ll give you a temporary work assignment until we can assign you permanent duties, along with your watch assignments.

„Yes sir, no problem," I answered, trying to give the impression that I was glad to be here.

The officer started reviewing my orders and I saw that he was looking with much interest at all my stamped-entries for each time I checked into a place. This took a little while for him to do, because of all my stamps. This must be where the shit hits the fan.

„Enjoyed the country side, Seaman Apprentice?" He asked, breaking the silence.

Was this a trick question, or on the other hand, did he really care what I thought about being over here? „Unique sir, unique country. Pretty in many places, I said trying to be as neutral and positive as possible and remembering to sir him, I added, „Sir.

He looked at me as if he knew that I was trying to snow him.

I guess that you haven’t seen anything that we’ve blown up yet, Seaman Apprentice.

„I did see some areas like that, sir. Those are the places that I found to be most unique, sir. I didn‘t get to see those kind of things back home."

„Where is home?"

„Baltimore, Baltimore Maryland, sir."

„That‘ll be all for now, Edwards from Baltimore, Baltimore Maryland. We‘ll call you again when we need you. You can follow Dan to your quarters."

„Yes sir, thank you, sir. I turned smartly around and headed out with Dan right behind me. Outside, Dan picked up his sea bag and said to me, „See my man. Nothing was said about taking all those days to get here from Saigon.

„What did he mean about the passing through Cam-Ranh-Bay part," I questioned.

„Well, once I was able to pass though Cam-Ranh-Bay three times and I believe that was a record for one R&R trip."

„You mean that we stopped there twice on purpose?" I asked, thinking that we could have gotten here sooner.

„No man, not on purpose. It just happened to be that way. I didn‘t plan our stops ahead of time. Besides, you were with me and you didn‘t seem to mind that we made those stops."

„No, I had a great time, each time. It was really fun and I hope to make it there again sometime," I answered, trying to establish that it was really okay for me.

Dan followed that comment with, „You just might get the chance when you get to take your R&R. In fact, you should make it a point to make it through Cam-Ranh-Bay anytime while you‘re out-and-about. Know what I mean?"

„Yeah, that‘ll be great," I answered, and realized that I would get to go and visit a place like Australia and Japan. With some luck and help from Dan, I bet I could visit both places.

„Come on, I‘ll get you settled in and show you around. I know that it all looks new and exciting to you right now, but in a month or two, you will be bored."

Just outside the Personnel office, two guys walked by us and Dan yelled out at them, „Hey guys, I‘m back already. So what do you think about that?"

They both turned around to see who it was and if on cue, gave him the finger in a way that I had never seen before. Both of them while looking the other way, bent over and gave Dan the finger from between their legs. What a picture that would make to send home to my parents I thought as Dan quickly responded with, „I didn‘t ask you for your IQ."

The guy nearest us stood up and answered, „No man, just reminding you of your IQ."

The two guys chucked at the remarks and continued on their way.

I asked, „Friends of yours?"

„Yeah, no, sometimes," Dan answered hesitantly.

„So how would they greet you if they weren‘t your friends?"

„Probably in the same manner," he answered after giving this some thought.

With nothing more said, and with his two friends out of sight, we headed down the port side and came up to a stack of crates filled with all kinds of stuff growing out of it. Even its color had the blends of browns and greens.

„What‘s this stuff?" I asked, while trying not to take in any more of its nasty smell.

„Potatoes man, can‘t you tell? We have potatoes with every meal," Dan responded as if I should have recognized that these were potatoes.

„They smell and look bad. Is it safe to eat?" I know that I was asking too many questions, but I have to find out about this. I mean, this could be the garbage pile for all I knew, and he was just filling me with some more of his trash.

„No problem, we can eat that. If it‘s bad, then we‘ll give it to the gooks. They love it."

„But, is it safe for us to eat it the way it is now?" I asked again.

„Oh yeah man. As long as it keeps growing like that, then it‘s safe to cook and eat," he instructed as he examined the living potato pile, giving the impression that he was no longer as sure of his answer after close inspection.

„The ones on the bottom have yellow stuff growing all around it," I mentioned, pointing to the bottom of the pile.

Dan questioned, „So what‘s your point? You got a problem? After a pause, Dan continued, „Look, as long as it‘s cooked, then there‘s no problem.

My only response was to look at the pile as if there was no way I‘d eat potatoes ever again. In The-Nam or not, no way, no how, and no potatoes for me tonight.

„Besides, he continued to fill me in. „Even military food must be camouflaged.

„I can understand that part. I never would have imagined that potatoes could be so colorful and still be okay to eat."

„Not exactly, Mr. Potato Head," said Dan, jokingly.

We continued on and stepped inside one of the passageways. One of the doors was opened and I looked inside to see a very small room with two beds, a small desk, and a closet. „Cool rooms, do we get to pick our roommates?"

„Roommates? This is not college. These happen to be for the officers. Our living quarters aren‘t quite this cool or that big."

„Are you serious? These rooms are nicer and bigger than what we have?" I had a hard time with this, and tried to imagine anything smaller than what I had just seen. Then I figured the reason our sea bags were so sturdy was because we would be expected to live out of them.

„Yes, afraid so. Remember that we are enlisted men and this is a Navy ship. All available space is allocated toward ship‘s operations and the comfort of officers, instructed Dan, giving me the sad news. He added, „Welcome to the Navy.

„You don‘t mean, welcome to The-Nam?" I retorted.

„No, I mean welcome to the Navy. All navy ships are this way. Besides, he continued, „It‘s better than the BEQ and about the same as in boot camp. These living quarters are just like any other navy ship anywhere in the world. Even the newer ships are like this.

I looked around in amazement and disappointment, as Dan continued to point out items of interest. Dan was sounding like a real-estate agent and that this was a new home that I was about to purchase.

„I never would have thought that the living quarters would be smaller than what I just saw," I continued, trying not to sound as if I was a spoiled rich kid from a large home.

„If you want a larger room with better beds, fewer people, your own toilet, and better food, then commit a crime and go to prison. Living conditions in prison are a little better than being stationed onboard a navy ship."

„You‘re probably right about all that. I don‘t know for sure because I had never been in prison before," I answered.

„Are you saying that I have?" Dan asked, as if I insulted him.

„No man, that‘s not what I was saying or suggesting," I quickly answered, showing surprise that he would even think that I thought that about him.

„Even working conditions are better in prison, Dan added. „Here you work 12 to 16 plus hours a day and you have a high degree of drowning.

„Okay, I get the idea," I answered, indicating that I got his point the first time.

„And one more thing that‘s better in prison."

„What‘s that?" I asked.

„You can work on your college degree at no cost."

„It‘s sad, but it‘s true. How about getting shot at?"

Dan thought for a second and said, „You can be shot in prison, too."

„Yeah, I guess," I answered in agreement, remembering that I had been shot at already.

„But hell man, here we‘ll get fifty dollars a month combat pay for being shot at," Dan added in this additional, but cheerful comment.

Wanting to be funny, I said, „Fifty bucks. I can use that money to buy life insurance."

Ah, no sweat. The Navy already has you insured for fifteen thousand dollars.

I ignored that for now. Anyway, after making our way through a maze that would make a mouse crazy, we finally came to our living quarters. I now realized why they called it the, ‘living quarters.’ We are to live in a space around a quarter of the size needed for anybody to live normally.

The bunks were stacked three high with lockers under each rack. The lockers were about a foot deep with six compartments that ran the length of your bunk. This gave the person below each rack a small space in which to sleep. It was about two feet from the top of a mattress to the bottom of the locker above. The mattress was only an inch or two thick and I bet they were thicker in prison.

Naturally, it got worse. The bunks were only six feet long and there were only a few inches between the head and the foot with another bunk. This was no way to live I thought and Dan was quite correct that there was more room in prison for the prisoners. I thought that we were the good guys and that we were doing the right thing for God, country, and the American way.

As if things could not get any worse, well, they did. The passageway through our living quarters was only about three feet wide. I never would have imagined that you could sleep twenty or so men in a space the size of a small station wagon. Maybe the reason for only a year tour was because of the living quarters. But wait, Dan had already explained that Navy ships were the same all over the world. New and old, living quarters were living quarters.

What’s that smell? I asked, because this odor was very unusual. In fact, this odor was so foul that I forgot all about the living space issue and started looking for a pile of rotting potatoes.

You have been mostly outside for the last few days and you’ve enjoyed the fresh air. What you smell in here is a combination of diesel fuel, motor oil, dirty socks, brown and yellow underwear, men who don’t shower, dog poop and piss, monkey poop and piss, and old food that has fallen between the bunks and the bulkhead. After a few days you‘ll not even notice it, Dan informed me as someone he knew walked by and added, „You tell‘em Dan. Keep‘em straight."

I only hoped that I could make it past the first few days without getting sick because I could almost taste the odor. „Hope I don‘t throw-up," I said trying not to complain.

„And speaking of throwing-up, Dan added, making all this sound like one big joke, „Add in the smells of spilled beer with old and new vomit.

„Thanks," I answered, showing disapproval with the living conditions here.

„No problem, you got a year to become accustomed to it," responded Dan.

I found my assigned bunk and it was on the bottom. I looked over to see that Dan was unpacking and that he had a top rack. Unpacking didn‘t take long. It worked out that the lockers held exactly what I had in my sea bag, and no more. No extra stuff, or extra-extra stuff. The only things that didn‘t fit in my locker were my wet towels, which were filled with sand, and my new shorts from the beach.

I noticed that Dan had placed his towels and shorts into a fishnet type bag that he had. He said to me, „Let me have your wet things. I can get them cleaned and dried by tomorrow."

Thanks," I replied, giving