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Chapter 5. A Long Tunnel to Nowhere
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Chapter 5 158 A Long Tunnel to Nowhere WEDNESDAY 1 FEBRUARY 1967-COMRADES IN ARMS XI: MAJOR PETER]. BADCOE, ROYAL AUSTRALIAN ARMY My mission is to introduce my friend and partner, Peter McDougall of the Australian Special Air Service , to contacts in I Corps, so we fly to Da Nang. We plan to eat dinner at the Navy club, called the Stone Elephant, butwhen we arrive we find that field uniforms are no longer allowed. During my pastvisits, there always had been standing room only in the bar, and a waiting line for the dining room. So I deduce that the Stone Elephant simply has no room for the additional officers brought on by the arrival of Task Force Oregon (the Army's Americal Division) in I Corps. Or perhaps they just want to keep their overstuffed furniture and thick carpeting clean. However, the fact is that the field uniform rule excludes most Army and Marine officers without saying, "This is a Navy-only club." And it embarrasses me as an American to see my Australian friend turned away. Someone at the entrance tells me we can eat at I Corps. I have never realized that an I Corps club existed. Stupid of me not to have looked into it because I know how well MACV advisors live in II, III A Long Tunnel to Nowhere. 159 and IV Corps when they're not in the field. So Peter and I search out the I Corps club. Until now, when I thought ofDa Nang, I always thought of Marines, but the I Corps club is something else. Here are Army officers. Here are Army female nurses yet! Here are Air Force advisors, wearing black flight suits similar to their Vietnamese counterparts. And there at the bar are Australian advisors! Few Americans realize that Australia sent advisors to Vietnam over ten years ago as part ofajoint agreement with the United States. As members of the Australian Army Training Team, they are assigned throughout the country and integrated with the U.S. Military Advisory Command.l Peter McDougall introduces me to Australian Captain Barry Rissel, who in turn introduces me to an Australian major named PeterJ. Badcoe. Peter Badcoe is an energetic Australian only five-feet, six-inches tall, who will become seniorAustralian advisor to Thieu Chin district in Quang Tri tomorrow. Unlike most Australians I have met, Peter neither smokes nor drinks. He is understandably quite nervous, because two weeks ago the previous senior Australian advisor was killed in action, and two days ago Peter was still in Australia. He is not sure now whether he volunteered or whether he was ordered into country. Lots of luck mate!2 While eating and drinking, I compare this life of clubs and villas with another advisory era eight years ago. My boss's boss in Saigon was then an advisor to two Vietnamese regiments operating out of Hue, before there even was an I Corps. He was the only American. He received all his food and drink from a weekly flight out ofSaigon. Each week he requested the items he desired. If something was not available he discovered it after he unpacked the following week's delivery. Then on the third week he would order a substitute item. If he was lucky, he would receive it the fourth week after his initial request. His choices during the interim were what he could find from the local Vietnamese, which were mainly rice and nuoc mam. In typical Australian fashion, Peter McDougall and I spend the night drinking and doing business simultaneously. I have now decided that I must look into this advisory business a little more-as soon as I finish introducing Peter McDougall to I Corps. [54.84.65.73] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 07:13 GMT) 160. The Bridges ofVietnam THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY 1967-COMBINED ACTION COMPANY AT MARBLE MOUNTAIN For a holiday, Peter McDougall and I join with two Australians-a lieutenant and a warrant officer-whom we met at the I Corps club. They take me in an Australian Army Training Teamjeep to visit the sub-sector (district) of Hoa Yang (Wah Vang) , near Da Nang. Peter and I wear our customary pistols and knives, and the other two carry M-16s. HoaYang is the headquarters oftwo Popular Forces platoons. Although elsewhere the PF are often spoken ofin derision, here in I Corps they are sometimes compared to our Minute Men oflong ago. Several of the advisors here are...