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HERE WE GO, AGAIN. BACK ON LINE

We're used to highways with tanks.
We're used to muddy rivers.
We're used to hard labor.
We're used to fear.
We're used to our kind of war.
We're used to Vietnam.
Perhaps, we're too complacent.

These shots filmed by Bill Stute

TAM MY BOMBER An RVN pilot, flying an old prop bomber, circles above the trees in Tam My. We're deep in-country, listening to radio broadcasts from Hanoi Hanna, who got most of her material from GI transmissions and letters. The plane continues to circle, like a bird of prey searching for a target that seemed to have escaped. Suddenly, the pilot drops his bomb at tree-top level. The blast buffets the plane, nearly blowing it out of the sky. I had hoped he got his man. But, somewhere in the back of my mind, I could here that VC laughing. Two girls in a jeep take on a platoon of horny Sailors and Marines. The fee was $5, and the GIs stood in line as if waiting for a movie ticket. "Hurry up!" one shouted. No shame, I tell you...no shame. We're sitting ducks at Tam My, locked in til daylight. "Might as well have a movie," someone said. Guess what they show, a John Wayne war movie. I don't need that. I got war all around me. So I slip into the compartments and turn on my SONY tummy TV, try to pick up what's happening on the Armed Forces Network. Maybe, they're showing Carol Burnett, or better yet a Shindig kind of thing. No such luck. The screen brightened and focused in on Vic Morrow in Combat. Not a chance, homey.

We're used to the towns.
We're used to the people.
We're used to the sounds.
We're used to the smells.
We're used to success.
Perhaps, we're too smug.

Last Beer Blast

One last beer party before the next mission. Ahead lay disaster, though we never believed that would happen. An old military expression says,"The difficult we do right away. The impossible may take a little longer." In the case of Clarke County, the impossible would take 16 days.

"Shift colors! Underway Duc Pho."