It is
interesting to connect with men I served with in VietNam. The bits and pieces of our every day existence ,
which we assume would match fairly closely, seem to have been less well matched
than we think we recall. Even within a
company sized unit the discrepancies are much more evident to me today than
they were then.
The EM, once
assigned, tended to remain with the same
subunit. The Officers were shuffled
around more frequently. They needed both
staff and field assignments to further their career goals. I can recall that I served under three
company commanders. Yet I can only put a
name and face to one of them.
As a medic, I
had far less negative or confrontational with African -American troops than others did.
The major confrontations occurred between the senior NCO’s – men with
WWII, Korean, and Vietnam experience – and the young African Americans who were
draftees and too often unqualified for any of the military occupations
specialist training slots, other than 11Bravo – Infantry. They wound up in line companies for the
larger part of their tours. They might
wrangle a short period just before DEROS to fill guard posts, push LIP day
laborers, help with camp sanitation, etc.
My job was to
take care of everyone in the company, not just those who shared my lack of
melanin. In doing that I had to be able
to triage on the fly and reassess the situation as necessary. I also had to listen to what people were
telling me on the surface and deeper down.
People who were sent to enlist in order to avoid being sentenced to jail
did not view their participation in the South East Asia War Games as necessary
to advance their futures in the “world.”
They made it clear to the Senior NCO’s that they had not respect for
their authority and no intention of doing anything not necessary to their own
eventual DEROS and ETS. Inside the wire,
racial relations were iffy among younger troops. Outside the wire, the hostilities were
usually in abeyance. Cooperating with
the leadership group tended to make one more secure in their chances of a safe
trip home. More later
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