- It's been quite a while since I've made any signicant additions
to my Vietnam narratives, but a recent discovery of two cassette tapes I
recorded for my family while I was in Vietnam gave me an unexpected source
of first-person information. One tape was made for my family and the other
was specifically for my new wife. Listening to the tapes brought back some
forgotten details including the frustrations of dealing with an ally (the
ARVN's) who stole from us every chance they got, to enduring reprimands
from our brass (high ranking officers and NCO's) who, at times, seemed to
have nothing better to do than worry that our trucks and boots got muddy
and our haircuts were 3 days past-due. That was pretty hard to swallow when
we knew they lived in nice air conditioned hootches with cement floors back
at the base camp.
- Another thing that struck me as I listened to the tapes was my
awkwardness with the new fangled cassette recorder. I spoke in very short
bursts, struggling with nice things to say while trying to avoid talking
about the dangers that surrounded us. Basically, I had a difficult time
"speaking civilian." The fact is, we weren't very pleasant people at the
time and I had to be very careful with what I recorded on the tape.
- In the recording to my wife I talked a great deal about our future and
very much looked forward to setting up our little apartment when I got home.
I talked about my pay (I just got a promotion), most of which I sent home,
and how much we could put into our savings account. My top pay was $290.00
per month (wow). I usually kept $10.00 for myself and sent the rest home
via a money order.
- The background noises on the tapes were very interesting. On the tape I
recorded while at Go Dau Ha, I could hear the bulldozers that the
engineers were using to expand the perimeter of the camp. I climbed about
50 or 60 feet up the radar tower for a little privacy, so there was also a
little wind noise in the microphone. I described my view which included
Cambodia a few miles away, the Song Vam Co Dong river nearby and farmers
in the fields.
- On the second tape, I described our location and also mentioned Ben Soi,
which was name of the camp we just moved from, something I wasn't absolutely
sure about until now. I also described the barge that carried our
vehicles and equipment across the river. It was supported by 5 boats and
powered by a small outboard motor. On the far side, the barge was beached
at the U.S. Navy base at Ben Soi. Our camp was just up the road a couple
of hundred yards or so.
- Over the coming weeks I will be incorporating information gained from
the tapes into the appropriate pages on this website. Also, I'm going to
look into a way of placing portions of those tapes onto this website for
those who might be interested in listening to a 22 year old soldier's
rendition of a letter home.
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