Dear Mom & Dad,
Greetings once again from Vietnam. Things are still the same here. We are
still here at Tan Son Nhut. We don't know when we will be leaving here. I hope
it will be soon, though. Their is too much bull shit to put up with. They are
trying to make garrison troopers out of us. They want us to polish our boots and
wear clean, pressed fatigues. They also won't let us take our shirts off during the
day and we have to wear our tin hats all the time. It's really getting chicken shit.
The rain is getting worse every day. We are just about at the height of the rainy
season. We probably won't be seeing the field until after the rain stops. We
are suppose to be going back to base camp sometime in November. We probably won't be
staying too long - perhaps 30 days.
Well, as you know, I will be going to Bangkok, Thailand on R&R next month. A
guy in the 2nd Platoon named Bob Nacy is also going with me. We are going to stay
together and share expenses so I shouldn't have to spend too much money. I want to
buy another camera before I go. Mine works beautifully but the Yaschica 35 has much
better features than mine. The lens is a 1.4 were mine is a 2.8 and everything is
fully automatic. It sells for $49 and I want to get some lenses and a tripod.
So the whole thing will probably run me about $75.
Right now, I am saving my money so I will have enough to really have a good time in
Bangkok. Next payday I should draw about $75 with my pay raise and the back pay for
Spec.5.
Being here at Tan Son Nhut has it's disadvantages. I spend too much money here.
Out in the boondocks there are no PXs or theaters so I can save my money but if
there is a place to spend it, I will. That's why I will be glad to leave this place.
Everything is too expensive.
We have had a problem with guys coming down with VD. Since we have been here at
this location, more guys have come down with it than any other location. Things got
so bad at I Troop that the CO had to bring some girls up from Saigon who had been
medically checked out. I Troop put a a GP (general purpose) tent for the girls and
business is booming. They thought that we would have the same setup here but our CO
decided against it.
Our troop has set us a "(slang deleted) shop" here. I think that I told
what a "(slang deleted) shop" was. The Vietnamese sell cokes, they do
laundry, tailoring, they have a barber shop and sell souvenirs.
(Editor's note: The next two sentences have been redacted for privacy.)
1st Platoon has an ambush patrol tonight just down the road from here. I asked
Lt. Baird, 1st Platoon Leader, if I could go along on the AP. He said OK so I'll be
going out on ambush patrol tonight. It should be interesting.
Well, so much for that. It's getting on to 11:00 AM and I have to go to work so
until next time . . . .
By for now!
Love,Bob
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