Accidentally deleted my thread. Opps. 45 year old Vietnam photos found by veteran.

[alfredo]

This guy was not a photographer. He had the job thrust on him by his superior.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chieuhoi/sets/72157632817930862/

[southernyankeebelle]

1. Thanks for sharing. He did a good job. When I look at the GIs I wonder what are they

thinking?

[alfredo]

2. Probably the number of days left before they leave for stateside.

[southernyankeebelle]

3. yep, that could be.

[HereSince1628]

4. Or I'm thinking of buying an Akai 240d tape deck? How do you like yers?

or similar question for SLR 35 mm cameras and seiko watches.

[alfredo]

5. I had my Pentax Spotmatic and a nice Panasonic reel to reel.

I also had a Tamron 80~250mm zoom, and a Ducati Diana MkIII and a Ducati Scrambler. Loved the Scrambler.

This was the model:

[Luminous Animal]

6. I know one thought that my cousin was thinking.

I will never talk about the atrocities that I saw or the atrocities that I committed. I know because he told me so.

[alfredo]

9. I lucked out. I was put in the Army Security Agency. I had to sign up

for four years to get this plum assignment.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Security_Agency

I see there's a novel written about my post, Kagnew Station.

[HereSince1628]

10. Then you'll probably remember THIS

It's a bit different than versions we did at Udorn & Vint Hill

The Ballad of the ASA (and the Lightning Fast Chicken Badge)



Black is for the night we fear
Blue’s for water-- we don't go near
White is for the flag we fly
Yellow is the reason why.

Red is for the blood we shed
As you see, there is no red
'Titless WACs', that's what they say
about the men of the ASA.

Fighting soldiers jump and die
But we're the ones who sit and cry
One hundred men will jump today
but not a one from the ASA.

Drunken soldiers, always high
Dropouts from old Sigma Chi
Men who bullshit all the way
We're the men of the ASA.

We're not trained to fight or kill
But we'll always drink our fill
Men who drink can seldom fight
And ASA drinks day and night!

Trained to go from bar to bar
That's a war that's best by far
"Another round," someone insists,
"we give a shit for dahs and dits."

On a mid, a trick chief waits
For his men who’re always late
Men who drink among the best
'Another round', their last request.

Headphones humming in our ears
We've been cleared, so we're not queers
One hundred men will test today
But only one makes the ASA.

A teal blue scarf 'round my son's neck
Would make my son a nervous wreck
One hundred men re-upped today
But not a one for the ASA.

[alfredo]

12. Memories!

Last edited Fri Mar 29, 2013, 01:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Our Marching song.

I want to be a desk bound ranger

Fuck that life of death and danger

Desk bound ranger ASA

Weeeeeee!

Chapter ten is about the guys at Kagnew Station

http://www.amazon.com/Didnt-Do-It-You-Betrayed/dp/B002WTCB86

BTW, we called it "The Lightning fast chicken fucker."

[HereSince1628]

13. Was that marching song something you picked up at Ft. Devens?

There weren't enough of us in signal school to warrant marching us as a group to training classes let alone a special cadence call. On station, ASA units I was in barely held formation let alone marched anywhere.

I understand if you can't tell me... this place is filled with red-badges...

My "secrets" come down to things like how a flat-bladed screwdriver and a quarter inch wrench saved the world from Communist Hegemony!

[alfredo]

14. Not sure where I heard it, probably at Devens.

I was in Company I, or the "Hungry I" due to it being the most ramshackle building on post. It had no insulation and the wood slats that formed the walls had shrunk and you could look outside by peering between them. When it snowed, you had to brush the snow off everything afterwards.

The urinal was blocked up, and they dug a big pit in the floor to fix it, but they never finished the work. So because of their unfinished business, the urinal and the it was full of stinking green water. We had to hug the wall to get to the johns and showers. A slip would send you into the pit of piss. The floor was covered with mud due to the snow and rain that came in through the walls.

Our Mess hall was famous for poisoning 3,000 soldiers.

Still, Col Lew Millet was our commanding officer. He was one hell of a guy. I learned a lot about leadership from him. The most important lesson was that a leader had to be loyal to those they lead. When some Navy Seals attacked some of us, Col Millet went to their commander and told them that he has three thousand men under his command, and if another of his men gets attacked, he will march on their unit.

I think the Seal commander knew of Millet's exploits in Korea and took his threat to heart.

[southernyankeebelle]

11. You know my father and father-in-law were career soldiers. My father-in-law once

told me you never know what goes on during combat. He said you do things that you never think you could do in civilian life. He said he saw guys doing stuff to people that would put them in jail if they had been in a civilian community. He said that would haunt him because he did nothing. He said many soldiers could probably tell us. My father-in-law fought in WWII, Korea and VN so he saw a lot. He said VN was the worst. Of course by the he was getting older.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. He was. Those photos were good

Especially his black and white

[alfredo]

8. I want to see more of his work.