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Thanks for reading this short excerpt from the paid post! Fancy buying it to read all of it?
Jim, Not sure this one is even a problem, depending on what you are trying to put into our mind’s eye. Welcome home, Dave.
I tossed the remainder of my cooling liquid, barely recognizable as coffee, into the (water flows running by on either side) of my boots. [perhaps () could be (water flowing by both sides)?]
Noted and corrected
Thank you
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim,
Jim, a few things here. Welcome Home, Dave.
And what would the Gunny (do it if) was Pilson, => reverse (it if) in (do it if) to (do, if it)
Even in the dark this ‘run to daylight’ thing should work since nobody can see or hear a damn thing, including them.” => perhaps capitalize ‘run to daylight’ as the plan name.
“I don’t think so,” he said, but that’s not what’s on my mind.” => need leading double quote before but.
I knew that () had to all be terribly funny but I couldn’t laugh. => maybe (it)
Thanks for the help on being one of the editing team. Chuck is all over this…
Semper fi,
Jim
Again many thanks Dave.
Corrected,
Semper fi
Jim
Hello Jim. Interesting read. I have a question and it’s probably a long shot. But do you remember Rittenhouse’s first name. I have a cousin by that last name who was over there as a tunnel rat. He did two tours. He came back state side in the early 70s. I don’t much about him. Just looking for information.
Russel or Nathan. I am not sure Rick, but remember, that name I used, he was a real Marine of the era and served with me as a clerk
later while I waited to medical out…but he neither died nor was he part of the Vietnam company through the story. I have changed names
to protect some of the identities.
Thanks for asking though.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, I am so glad you wrote this stuff down when you did and let it build/fester to reach the time when you decided to write these episodes. I spent about two years with the same 100 Shipmates and sadly, I don’t remember half of their names. One would think that spending that amount of time in a war zone with the same people that you would remember everyone’s name because they would be committed to memory.
I am sure I am not the only one here that says that this would make a great documentary film. I watched the one that was on TV, I believe that men in a war reach deep to decide to make themselves get through each and every event.
Keep writing.
Leo
I remembered all of the men’s names in the company for years. In fact, something I’m not proud to share here,
I used to turn quickly and see them, in a curved line behind me. Just staring back. That finally stopped and I could relax
a bit. The names started to go. I went to a counselor I paid privately because back then you did not want to be in the system for mental
problems (maybe that still holds). He was shocked when I told him I remembered my men’s names. He started writing but then stopped.
It was too much for him. I wonder if it wasn’t too much for me too. But I got through to here and I’m okay. Thanks for the comment and
no, they are not going to make a documentary because the regular public and the producers are never going to believe this shit. It’s not in them.
It don’t mean nuthin.
Semper fi,
Jim
Jim, this is a fantastic, eye opening read. I grew up in the 60’s but never experienced the hell of Vietnam. I have friends that did and not one ever discussed their time there, and I never pushed them to. When will this come out in book form? I want to give a copy to each of my children. When they see pictures of someone weeping in front of the Vietnam Memorial, they need to truly understand what that person is feeling. That is probably not possible, but I think your writing can help us try. Sir, thank you for your service.
Thanks Harold. Did not know it was going to be what it’s become when I pulled the old manuscrpt
from the closet floor. I had forgotten so much of what was in it but the names of so many things cast me back.
Thanks for liking it. The first book “The First Ten Days” will be out sometime this coming week on Amazon…or so
I pray. We are already a full month behind on it but we wanted it to be just right.
Semper fi,
Jim
You should have mentioned to Capt. Casey that Fort Sill is a Army Artillery School!
Thanks Russell. I’m not sure Casey at the time was capable of inputting that data,
much less a whole bunch more relevant shit!
Thanks for the comment.
Semper fi,
Jim
I am enjoying the hell out of this read. It is mesmerizing. Draftee myself Jan. ’68. 11B of course. Did second tour (short – 6 Months) in II Corps out of Kontum province at Camp Holloway with the 170th AHC as door gunner with the Buccaneer platoon(Guns)and have flown over and down into A Shau several times. I have a little knowledge of the topography you describe and am pleased to be able to. Please continue to keep many of us spellbound. Chris Greening
Man, now that’s a resume. I can see you sitting on the side of that chopper, facing out and into the wind.
Sweeping down that valley, running from north to south…knowing that there are some Army and Marines down there
just loving you while the enemy sees too and cowers. those were the days and the times….my friend… and brother…
thanks for the air, many…
Semper fi,
Jim
James,
Thanx for your reply to my comment. It pleased me much. I know you survived and that pleases me the most. Live long, live well. Be well. Chris G
Thank you Chris. Yeah, I made it. How could that be? It simply was not possible, and hence one more of those many
seeming coincidences I’ve been unable to explain away using physics or probability theory. God. Was it God? And if it was, then why?
Here I am, just as you remember me, and I’m not up on that wall because I went and looked, and then checked the register down near the end
to make sure. Thanks for writing and thanks for still caring.
Semper fi, for all the guys who never really got to come home…to make it.
Jim
Even if Rittenhouse gets back to the world in 1 piece, he will pay forever. Thank the good Lord I never even thought real hard about doing something like that. I think every one had it as a passing thought but we kept it in its place, far away.
Mike. I think it happened a whole lot more than any of us thought, even at the time.
What with the combat survival mindset it was extremely difficult to form and maintain
tribal behavior that extended all the way out to company size. Different times, conditions,
and even project transition was changing everything all the time…and there is no motivator
greater than fear…which was running rampant…
Semper fi,
JIm
Never had anyone frag our officers… though a few should have been…read one time that the reason we were out in the bush most of the time was that they kept the trouble makers on the hill away from the grunts that were dependable…didn’t want them influansing the other..wish I would have known that then..I would have been one trubble making fool…walked point and was a tunnel rat… B Co 1/7 quang Nam Provence 69/70… tried to get me to reup several times… but couldn’t guarantee me another year… mad E5 in 8 months ,, combat promotions…new if I was to be state side I would be busted back to privet in a few months…wasn’t a good spitshine Marine
Thanks Bill, for some of your won time over there. Funny how things could all change with
the unit, place and time of where we were. Appreciate hearing about some of your own and your contribution while there.
Semper fi,
Jim
Thank you Jim for your excellent story telling and sharing memories which no doubt are many times difficult to dredge up.
I’m amazed how “well” the company actually functioned, while you were always kept on the outside looking in. The veil was lifted just enough for you to be able to utilize your skills it seems.
I check my email every day, you have created a monster.
Thanks for being there all the time. I wish life did not so infringe on the writing process
but in order to have friends and family many times the writing must wait.
They do not understand, either most of the text I put down in the story
or the fact that writing it is so exclusionary and then coming down from it has strange effects too.
Thank you for wanting more and having patience…
Semper fi,
Jim
Must be difficult to go one place in your head to write this honest, emotional,compelling material and then go about your normal life without completely closing the first door. Can’t wait to read it all again in the book(s) but also enjoy the suspense as you release each chapter.
Yes, you hit it exactly. Thirteenth Day comes up tonight and I had a tough time with
that one as i attempt to stay factual and I didn’t do the greatest job on that 12th night.
Hard to configure that in the correct way and then not feel bad about the result all these years
later. be easier to write 100% fiction!
Thanks for caring and for this comment…
Semper fi,
Jim
Never feel guilty for being a survivor. You were not only fighting the North Vietnamese but trying to save all of the soldiers around you, some of which had become the enemy with in.
Nobody can escape that kind of guilt Nancy. I can say I have, as others before me.
No, I accept that I was a pretty inexperienced kid put into the face of hell and expected to
live and do something to help others live. I also know that I made a lot of mistakes and acted
more out of fear then out of a defined sense of just doing the right thing. I handle my guilt by
shooting for redemption, like Clarence in that It’s a Wonderful Life movie. Maybe I’ll get a bell rung for me
when I go! I’ll have given enough back to let the Good Lord gloss over those rough spots in the sixties.
Thanks for the intent of your comment and your writing it here.
Semper fi,
Jim
“One had to be for my maps. The second (was) for my (stationery), stamps(,) and envelopes. (Optional Oxford comma)
Floyd 91B4P
Thank you Floyd. So noted and corrected.
Always have had problems with the damn Oxford comma
Many times I write as I think and do not think grammar and punctuation
stationery
Stationary? That must be relevant somewhere but I can’ think where.
Help me out here Floyd.
Semper fi,
Jim
This is a great read…de’javu 68-69. The “ham and muthas”brought a taste back I thought I had forgotten. Thanks, I think. Semper Fi Brother!
You can’t buy and eat those old C-rations anymore.
You can still find some on Ebay but you’d probably die if you ate them now.
I thought about getting the ham and mothers and maybe the scrambled eggs.
Didn’t do it.
Thanks for the read and commenting about that on here…
Semper fi,
Jim
It strikes me as odd that 1. When I get the next chapter and read it that I am so far behind other guys writing to you.2. I immediately broke out laughing hard at “Captain Crunch” I could just see that helmet smashed in on one side with a big ” The rock was here” sign on it. 3. Rittenhouse is a dirt bag and a coward. Don’t know what will happen but I feel like Nyugen will take care of business. Casey’s rat in a trap.
Disloyal??? Well, it’s obvious that the men didn’t know what was happening and that any arty show was against them and their attitude. It does look like some of the main characters are starting to come around albeit slowly.
I find that I am thirsty for more at the end of each chapter and biting at the bit. Keep it coming Jim. It’s addicting for us
Thanks Jim, but actually you are early, in that I plan on continuing the series through the thirty days and then
on into recovery and re-integration back into the world of the time. Thanks or you conclusions, as I read them with
great interest and also a measure of satisfaction because it takes forever, if ever, to come to conclusion on some of
those things. Easier if a group of people who went through similar circumstance agree though.
Thank you,
Semper fi,
Jim
My heart relates to the letters you wrote your wife. My husband wrote me every chance he could from Vietnam and trying to read between the lines to figure out what he was going through was hard. The main thing that clued me in to his struggles was his penmanship which let me see the ups and downs of his emotions as he wrote. When he returned from Vietnam he was bound by Army Security Agency to not discuss anything. He died at age 47, three years shy of the end of that promise. He nevered discussed Vietnam with me or anyone. He somehow left it there and enjoyed every moment left of his short life. Thank you for stories that give me more insite into the struggles there for so many young men. You are a brillant writer and I am so thankful you are telling their story.
I am sorry about your losing your husband at such an early age and I’m really sorry that he
wasn’t able to share some of the ‘load’ he carried when he came home with you. Many times guys
coming back do not realize that, eerie as it may seem, women are perfectly set up to listen
and help with accommodating that stuff…and it is also relieving for them just to know what
really is eating away at you when you are up at night. It’s not leaving. It’s not another woman.
It’s not the relationship. It’s something darker to the man going through it but not darker to the
woman who might get to hear it. We all owe our wives and loved ones a level of confidence to make
the attempt. Thanks for writing on here and for reading the story. I hope you gain a measure of
understanding for why he remained silent. Many of the things your are reading are tough to talk about
at any time in any way.
Semper fi,
Jim
The capt seems to be finally realizing he is in combat but going with the lead squad he is putting himself in danger as you can bet the nva knows where you are headed and will ambush 1st squad on the way to the landing zone. Finally sugar daddy ls not on point and 1st squad may bear the brunt of the nva anger with all the death you have rained on them.
Well, there is the next segment and prices must be paid, and they were.
Thanks for working to figure out the rolling mysteries far easier to understand
today then back then. Appreciate the comment and the support…
Semper fi,
Jim
A case of whiplash for everyone.
Gunny never said it was Rittenhouse.
Gnny’s playing poker.
Alley-Ooped his chip into the pot. Asked for two more cards. Holding his Ace this time. Preparing for another hand. Over and over and over again.
Obsessed with this story.