They came back like they left, only slight movements of the nearby undergrowth giving any evidence of their reappearance. Like wraiths just outside the area of my hooch, they moved to where they were already dug in, although it was mostly useless to dig holes in mud that slowly filled back in without anything to reinforce or hold it out of the excavated area. I felt them more than saw them and it gave me a feeling of unaccountable warmth inside my very being. Warmth where I didn’t think I could feel warmth anymore. Fusner slipped across the mist laden outer layer of my strewn out rubber poncho. He pulled the Prick 25 radio slowly from under the cover I’d shoved it for protection from the elements. The mist and rain, Vietnam’s only and nearly ever-present elements anything could be done about. The heat was unremitting and nothing was to be done about that except when gaining altitude in mountainous regions.
“We’re staying, sir,” Fusner whispered, since I had not moved or given any indication I knew they were back and about our small area.
I didn’t reply, wondering once more about the mindset of the men I was among and how nothing in life had prepared me to understand or deal with whatever it might be at any given time. A shiver of fear went through me. It was a shiver because I might live and therefore feared I might die. Knowing you are going to die takes almost all the fear away. The unknown disappears and the process of dying isn’t nearly as fearful of worrying about the prospect of dying. I might live, at least through the night, and that scared me deeply all over again.
I was in USMC 73-75. I spent the last 42 yrs regretting not having gone to Nam. I look up to VN Vets. After hearing your experience I’m not so regretful anymore. Thank you for sharing your memories. The race shit with the knuckle knockers was rampant while I was in also. I hated the division it caused. I thank you again for telling how it really was. No movie B .S. Semper Fi. Pat
Thanks Patrick. I was unaware that the knowledge I’d gained about combat in Vietnam was so extensive and also so general. It wasn’t just me, like I thought for all those years.
I though I had the shittiest unit in the whole corps and I thought I deserved them for lipping off to a general about his lack of care and cowardice. Now I know, and you guys on here
have made me know. I write it as it went down for all of you, now knowing that I touch so many of you who were there and ended up doing that awful shit. I ams so glad you are here and now.
2.7 million went into the country but only 375 thousand actually fought in combat. Of those 375,000, 362,000 were killed or wounded. Only about 13,000 came though unscathed. You are unscathed
and without the night terrors or any of that. Tip your glass and smile. I, and the other real guys, smile with you….
Semper fi,
Jim
Nodaway, Iowa is 15 miles from my house.
Cool. I have never heard of Nodaway but then there are places within forty miles of my
house here I’ve never heard of either! Thanks for giving us your position!
Semper fi,
Jim
Off the coast working on the fast movers. Time to time being able to see the flares. Knowing you brave grunts needing all the help you could get. Outstanding writing and at the time wishing I could do more. USMC. CPL Michael Crane. Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. 71-72. SEMPER FI brave warriors!
Thanks for the huss back in the day Mike. There were so many supporting outfits
that came into play if you could get their help. The main problem back then was
communications and locations. Without modern commo and GPS we were really limited
in getting help when we needed it.
Thanks again,
Semper fi,
Jim
How do I start at the beginning of the series and find them all in chronological order?
USMCR (We were proud of the “R” back then.)
07/68-04/72
YEs, I recall being proud of that “R,” as well! There are seventeen segments written
so far John. I will be finishing the 18th tonight. There are all here if you hit click
on Thirty Days Has September at the top of the opening home web page. I will continue to write until
I am done and then put it al together and up on Amazon as a book. Thanks for reading and thanks for
asking. The first Segment is called “The First Day.” Tomorrow’s will be “The Fifth Day.”
Semper fi,
Jim
As a former U.S. Navy Combat Correspondent (and published author), who went on nighttime combat patrols with Marines in Korea, I salute your writing.
Some of you correspondent types were something else indeed.
You might have come and gone like the wind but you didn’t have to
be there at all, while we were stuck for the duration. Thank you for
coming in to see us. Lots of courage there….
Semper fi,
Jim
It’s Marines like you is why I joined the Corps and proudly served. Semper Fi Jim
Thanks for your input David.
When did you join the Corps?
I don’t know what to write about what you wrote David. I guess there can be no greater compliment from one
Marine to another. I would have been proud to have you there with me but, of course, would not have wished that
fate upon you either. I did everything I could to live up to what I thought I was supposed to be. I fly the flag today
and went around the world with the CIA with it ever in my mind. We are not the greatest anything on earth but we are sure
as hell out there and back here trying. Some of us. Not all, but it does not take all of us. I did not know my company needed
me badly when I got there. I wan an FNG who found himself totally out of place and in a place where no training could have
been planned or predicted to work. I had to do what good Marines do. I had to somehow made do with what I had. Thank you for your comment. Such things keep us going and I would be most happy to read or hear your own experiences. Semper fi, brother, Jim
ACCIDENTALLY UNSUBSCRIBED. Would like to remain in the loop.
Just subscribe again, Ed.
If it doesn’t work try another email address
And if that does not work either Ed, then call at 2625815300 and I’ll make the I.T. guys jump through
hoops until you are back on board. Oooooorah! Marine Corps. We’ll get ‘er done!
Thanks again. Great writing and savoring every chew.
Should have another segment up tomorrow Joseph. It’s all about guys like you and me, whether they went
into that kind of stuff years ago or maybe not so long ago in the middle east. Doing my best to lay
it down without regard to where the chips might fall.
Semper fi,
Jim
Every one a hero!
Thanks Ron. I don’t think you can be in that kind of environment, survive,
and come to think you are a hero of any kind. I still have my medals in the basement
because the citations are not true. Was any of it ‘true?’ I don’t know anymore so I am
writing on into the night…
Semper fi,
Jim