The mind is an odd thing... at least mine sure is. I was sitting on a train staring at the train ahead while waiting for welders to do their stuff. Had my ipod in with some 60s music going.
Which I believe precipitated some odd dreams last night about Viet Nam. Maybe it was the smoked sausage sammich with extra horseradish sauce, but I did have dreams. Which led to other thoughts on the train today & I feel compelled to describe some of the things I saw while on day shift bunker watch.
By the front gate ( actually there was no rear gate) there was an elevated bunker with a 50 cal & 2 M60s. The same guys always had that watch until they went on R&R or rotated out - then it fell to 'night shift guys' to do the deal. I didn't get that duty often but clearly recall some of the sights along Rt 9 as it passed through Cam Lo. Which are recounted here in no particular or chronological order.
One morning, I had binoculars and was scanning the brush between Cam Lo & Con Thien... not really expecting trouble but it's always well to look around first thing on any watch. About a mile north, I saw some Army grunts securing from their night defensive perimeter. Standard procedure - lets the bad guys know they don't own the turf & cuts down on their monkeyshines.
So the grunts were throwing their stuff up on the RPG magnet - M113 APC - and kicking out a small fire they had going. As they just began moving out, a trip flare on the far side of their perimeter popped, and man did it ever get hosed down! They approached it in a skirmish line, firing as they went.
I have no idea what popped the flare - not an NVA as they didn't loiter or pick anything up. Maybe a mongoose looking to mooch through the discarded C-rat cans. Back to Con Thien they went. That base was mostly artillery & they shot loomies (illumination) for us.
Another day - or possibly even the same day - I watched two farmers trying to catch an escaped water buffalo. They were on foot and having a bad time of it. The buff would trot ahead and stop to munch a few bites of fresh, green rice plants and take off again JUST as the 2 farmers were very near.
Maybe you've seen a small dog with serious ideas after having smelled "Fifi" down the block. Just try catching the little bastage. They can stay ahead of you and they know it. Same for the buff. It knew the farmers couldn't catch it & it seemed to be having a lot of fun - not to mention all the green rice it could grab.
More trouble for the 2 farmers. Seems it's a SERIOUS breech of etiquette to let your buff graze in someone else's rice field. So they got yelled at a lot. But no offers of help.
They were still chasing it after they had disappeared from sight. I would not have wanted to be the buff if they ever caught it. Just like the little mutt with 'love' on his mind, it was truly in for a tuning up!
Like that only a buff instead of a nag!
I closely watched the people come & go, too. A lot of women in their cone-shaped straw hats, black 'jams & 'thousand miler' sandals made from old tires. Invariably, they had a load of some sort suspended from either end of the bamboo pole they all owned. Shuffling along on one errand or another. It was an amazement to me how much they could carry - and for long distances at that! Very tough women no matter the age. It seemed like the old women carried the same loads as the young girls.
The local customs took a little getting used to... like if a woman needed to empty her bladder, she simply took half a step off the path, rolled up a pant leg and did the deal. The drill then was to walk along for 15 or 20 minutes with the pant leg rolled up so the leg could more quickly dry.
Same for emptying the bowels... when you gotta go, you gotta go, I guess. Terlet paper? Nope. Rock or leaves or... you most likely don't want to know.
With the glasses, I looked them over closely - not much to see...
the older women all had black gums and stumps of teeth from chewing betel nut. Apparently mildly addictive as they all chewed it. Also common was a floppy cigarette ( thouc') made from the vile-smelling weed they liked to smoke & whatever thin paper they could scrounge - like bible pages.
All were bow-legged. From carrying such heavy loads on the bamboo poles? From one childbirth after another? Hardwired into the genetic structure? I don't know, but the vast majority were well & truly as bow-legged as any career cowpuncher you ever saw.
Since they wore only the rough sandals or went barefoot, their toes scarcely knew one another. Seriously, they were wide spread to say the least. No bunions, though! You would see girls in Hue wearing actual shoes, but I feel they were more affluent.
One incident that remains sharply imprinted upon my memory is a woman from Cam Lo who went mad. She came to our gate, removed all her clothing and while sobbing bitterly, cursed us in the most vulgar language imaginable. She grabbed a strand of barbed wire and shook it violently, cursing and crying all the while. I put my helmet on for that outburst as she was only 2 steps from the mines.
Oddly, no one came to take her away or offer any kind of sympathy. While I have no way of knowing, I suspect her entire family had perished in the war, children, husband and all. Eventually, some QC ( ARVN MPs) came by & told her "Di, di!" ( go, go!) But she did not, and they didn't press the matter.
Poor thing! She stayed there my entire watch, and the energy of her tirade never lessened. She had my entire sympathy, but at the tender age of 18, I knew not what I could possibly do. Nor do I now except that modern drugs might be of some small help... if such are available there.
I had some other things to post, but fatigue overtakes me & if I recall them before i go to work tomorrow, I'll add them. SW