General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUltimate Viet Nam trivia question: 21 October 1968?
What happened in Viet Nam on 21 Oct 1968 that impacted every swinging dick - E-1 (buck-private) through O-10 (4-star general) - in-country? It also adversly impacted the VC and NVA, and our ally the ARVN army. It adversely affected the economy of South Viet Nam (and, maybe, North Viet Nam). It was a US mandated event, with a 24-hour closure window.
It was the first of a number of these events.
Big Hint: 641 => 661
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,181 posts)NO idea, but it's great to see you!
DemoTex
(25,334 posts)I'll be headed west in mid-May.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,181 posts)Your Oregon adventures are second to none.
Crabby Appleton
(5,231 posts)They shut down the post and the Vietnamese workers were not allowed in. Our houch mamasan asked if we could help her out the next day with her stash.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)The U.S. periodically changed its military scrip--Military Payment Certifilcates (MPC)--to foil the black market.
DemoTex
(25,334 posts)Some how I KNEW you might get this. It was - indeed - the first of many MPC conversion dates. It foiled the black market for about 20 minutes (IMHO).
mac
MPC Series 641 was replaced with MPC Series 661
Crabby Appleton
(5,231 posts)to see if anyone could get her MPC exchanged - no luck. We were supposed to pay in Piasters on the local economy, but most people Vietnamese wanted MPC.
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)I was in country in '67-68 (July to July) & they were always threatening to conduct such an event, but never actually did it during my tour, kindly waiting until I got out of country before throwing all that shit into the fan.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)He obviously knew the answer and posted before I did.
I managed a conversion for my unit in '69. I was at HQ USARV Special Troops, a brigade-sized unit at Long Binh, when HQ CONUS issued a new, lengthy and detailed order on procedures in the event a conversion were to be implemented. HQ USARV and one higher command were dragging their feet on issuing orders to implement the new CONUS conversion procedures. So I drafted an order for Special Troops, sort of 'interpolating' what would have to be in higher command orders to comply with CONUS. The Special Troops order was issued, and conversion officers were appointed throughout our unit.
I happened to be on duty in the middle of the night when a classified order came down to implement a conversion. By chance, I had just trained all of our conversion officers in the new procedures only days before. While other commands struggled, our conversion went off without a hitch and we were the first command of our size in-country to complete it.