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Chapter 4. Residency
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Chapter4 116 Residency THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER 1966-THE MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY WITH THE VIETNAMESE MARINES I have a little intestinal trouble this week, and know that this hour in the sun at the Vietnamese Marine Brigade Compoundjust before the noon meal will be rough. But after seventeen years I foresee no new experiences for me at this Marine Corps birthday celebration. This is my eighteenth Marine Corps birthday, since I enlistedjust before the birthday on 11 October 1949. I have performed every function in the birthday ceremony from spectator to Senior Officer Present. This year I am one ofthe escort officers (two each of colonels, lieutenant colonels, majors, captains , lieutenants, and the senior enlisted grades). I see some 150 Marine officers and 150 enlisted men here. I feel lucky to be part of the ceremony. Waiting in ranks for the beginning of the ceremony , I am surprised to discover that 200 ofthe Marines gathered here are stationed full-time in Saigon. I count ten colonels, twenty lieutenant colonels, and proportional numbers down the line. What a waste. As I talk to them, I am also surprised at how many of them know nothing personally about the war that is going on outside of Saigon. I mean nothing. Residency • 117 Indeed, the uniform for the ceremony is field uniform, and some of the Marines tell me that this is the first time they have worn this uniform since they arrived in Vietnam. I feel lucky that at least I get to see the periphery of the situation throughout the country. The ceremony starts. Goose pimples. Tears. I force myself to think of anything not connected with the Marine Corps birthday. I try to ignore the sounds of"Semper Fidelis" and "The Marine Corps Hymn." Others try too. Some of us succeed. "When Will It Ever End? When Will It EVER End?" Finallyit's over, and the Commandant ofthe Vietnamese Marine Corps says a few words. He is followed by a colonel from the Korean Marine Corps wearing the old-style Marine field uniform which we have provided to each Korean Marine in country.l Then a Marine major general fromJ2 MACV speaks. Mter the ceremony we share the birthday cake and soft drinks. I encounter many old friends. Soon I find myselfin the club at the Five Oceans Hotel with a group of USMC advisors to the Vietnamese Marine Corps. Stragglers who missed the ceremony begin arriving. Sorry for being late, but they have just come off a Search and Clear operation with one of the battalions. Their tiger suits are wet and dirty, and their spirits and throats are dry. It's a bizarre war. I realize that I am the only major in the club. I can no longer drink and raise hell with these captains who were myoId friends a few days ago. Majors just don't arm wrestle and leg wrestle in the club with company grade Marines. Sorry about that. So I leave the captains to their afternoon fun. They appear relieved at no longer being hampered by the presence of a field grade officer. I check in with my boss, who says, "Sorry I couldn't make the ceremony , but I've been working on a flap since you've been gone. Ignore the six beers you just drank, and get busy on your part of this problem. Happy 191st Birthday." Postscript By the time I began this journal entry, we had established our credentials as troubleshooters, although "gophers" might be the more accurate word. Indeed , considering the events of 3 and 4 November in the last chapter, and the 9 Decemberjournal in this chapter, we might have been known by some of our contacts as "troublemakers." [18.205.114.205] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:40 GMT) 118 • The Bridges ofVietnam I cannot remember the "flap," but my part of it was to obtain data from some sensitive documents that somebody in one of the other MACV headquarters compounds had collected, and bring the data to Ted, who was working another part of the problem. Either the information was too sensitive to transmit over the scrambler phone, or perhaps Ted or his contact didn't have access to one. A courier for the documents themselves would have taken at least until the next day, so Ted needed a gopher with a clearance. Even a gopher using the U.S. shuttle bus system took a couple of hours. WEDNESDAY 16 NOVEMBER 1966-NAWCAPTAlNARCHIE C...