Where’s Charlie?

“Officers Candidate School was like basic training on steroids.… However, we did have fun from time to time. One evening, a candidate was in the … hall against a wall getting a lecture from his tact officer when a second tact officer approached, shooing a cockroach. The second tact officer told the candidate to kill the cockroach, which he did. At that point, the first tact officer shouted, ‘What have you done? That was my pet’…. I was also in the hall, braced against the wall, and heard that conversation…. We scheduled a trial for the murderer and a funeral for the pet cockroach…. Everyone in the company had a role in the trial, the funeral, or both…. Using initiative, we tried to dress our parts; towels for bandanas and hats, sheets for dresses, a blanket for the judge’s robe, etc. Early Saturday afternoon we started with the trial and ended with the funeral…. We had fun and milked it for everything we could; fainting, crying, even a fake fight between the murderer and family … members…. We buried the cockroach, a candidate played taps, and we held the gravesite in high regard throughout our program.”

“The first leg of my flight from San Antonio took me to Oakland, California. It was a long, boring, lonely, and thoughtful journey. While I waited at the Oakland airport, it rained. As I watched the rain and planes from the observation deck, a very large, beautiful rainbow appeared at one end of the runway and extended over the airplane that was preparing to take me overseas. It went out over the bay and towards the ocean, so far that I couldn’t see its end. It seemed to spread over the mighty Pacific to a distant land. While I couldn’t see its ending, I could see its beginning, America, my home. I felt a satisfying peace, a sense that it was a message from above to comfort me as I departed the United States. I was ready to do my duty. I thought of that rainbow often during my tour in Vietnam, and when I did, I felt that same peace. I looked forward to returning to its beginning, as its message seemed to imply.”

“I was on my back between two rocks, each about fifteen inches high, talking on the radio, advising the chopper pilot, ‘Your tail blade is a foot, no, inches away from my chest, no, if you don’t stop rocking, it will be in my chest!’ My RTO was shouting and waving his arms for the chopper to take off, but it continued to bounce, causing the tail blade to seesaw up and down within an inch of my chest. It contained six of my men who were slow getting off since very little space was available for them on the knoll. After off-loading several men, the chopper lifted off, to my relief; however, he only lifted briefly and returned to force me once again to the ground. Somehow, while all of this was happening, I was able to convince Captain Markham to cease landing any more choppers until the third platoon moved off the hill…. It seemed like this process took hours, but it really was only minutes, too many minutes. The chopper finally rose, and I prayed a big thank you and briefly thought about my rainbow!”

When I was promoted to battalion S4, I got to see the other side of the War. My only trip to Qui Nhon was with the battalion doctor and chaplain, and it’s one I’ll never forget. “The three of us left first thing the next morning…. On the way, we stopped at a small village store. The doctor was looking for something, maybe a local herb. The store was cluttered and smelly. While the doctor shopped, I stood near the door…. On a chair near the door sat an old woman…. When she looked up at me, I greeted her with a nod, and she responded with a toothless smile. Soon, a child came to deliver a bowl of multi-colored eggs to the old woman. When the child left, I watched the old woman take one egg, crack it, and peel off the top. To my amazement, a chick with embryonic feathers appeared, covered in a gooey mess of liquid and blood. I thought, ‘She’s not going to put that in her mouth. Holy Mackerel! She’s actually eating that thing, or rather gumming it. I sure wish they’d hurry up before I barf’.”