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Chapter 6. Sabbatical
- University of North Texas Press
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Chapter 6 Sabbatical TUESDAY 2 MAY 1967-INTERNATIONAL MEDICINE I receive notification that I'm booked for an R&R flight to Hawaii on the twenty-first. To be eligible for the flight, I'll need a new smallpox vaccination. Of course I discover that there is no smallpox vaccine anywhere in the United States Military Assistance Command headquarters! I review the options. Navy? Air Force? Marines in I Corps? Then I think of the obvious, and pick up the phone. I contact my friend, Major Bill Broderick, who is the Scientific Advisor at the Australian section of the Free World Military Forces headquarters. I explain that, in spite of all the technology and all the money the Americans have brought to Vietnam, they can't provide one lousy smallpox vaccination for a Marine Major. I tell him that I'll bet the Australians can help. ''You must have a fresh vaccination to leave the country?" ''Yes, and I don't have enough time before the R&R flight for a vaccination not to take." He doesn't understand my English, so I explain that the vaccination has to fester the first time. I have known Bill Broderick since he and I worked out an international loan ofSmall Starlight 183 184. The Bridges ofVietnam Scopes between the Australians and the Marine 1st Recon Battalion. At five-ten, he is taller than most Australians I've met. He keeps his dark hair long enough to comb. I picture him running his fingers through it and thinking, "BloodyAmericans and their red tape," but I know that he's too polite to say it. He merely says, "Come over to the compound, Fred." He leaves me in the care of a thin, brown-haired captain my age. The captain produces a fresh vial of vaccine, and laments that the leftovers must be destroyed, because after being opened the vaccine can't be kept. "No problem, though. Myjer Broderick says I'm to give you VIP treatment , so I'lljust charge the cost to his budget." I shuck off my short-sleeved khaki shirt, and the captain proceeds to scrub my right arm from shoulder to elbow with soapy water! ''You Americans use alcohol," he says, "and wonder why the vaccine dies. I guarantee this will work." He waits until my arm has air dried, then spreads on the vaccine like butter on toast. He whips out a hypodermic needle, and commences to puncture my arm like a tattoo artist. "Now, don't take a shower for three days, and try not to perspire. Come back when it festers and you'll get your R&R trip. And don't scratch it, no matter how much it itches." It festered, and it itched. Postscript The Small Starlight Scope mentioned in the journal entry was an early version of a personal night vision device. If memory serves correctly, the Australians had brought a supply of these into country, but had decided that it would be more cost effective for a long-range patrol to use a pair of 7 x 50 binoculars than to risk losing a very expensive Small Starlight Scope. I had told Major Frank Riney in IstReconBn that the Australians had stored them in a warehouse. Hence came the request for a loan, which I arranged. If my memory is faulty, the lenders and recipients would have been reversed. 21-26 MAY 1967-R&R IN HAWAII I could have taken R&R much earlier than after nine months in country, but once taken, there would be nothing else to look forward to except the end of the tour. Additionally, there was just too much to do during [34.236.152.203] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 09:55 GMT) Sabbatical- 185 the first nine months. This indicates once again that the tours should be much longer. So it seemed right to wait until now. I get up at 0330 on Sunday morning in order to arrive at the check-in desk by 0600. First a shower-and there's water. Then comes the tropical worsted uniform that I haven't worn for over nine months, with the new set of ribbons over the left breast pocket. No food because I'm too sick with the dread ofmissing the flight. I am so fearful of the upcoming hours that I almost call it offand go back to my room. I know that such fears are unreasonable after the real threats I've survived for nine months. But I've heard that some people...