Fort Lewis, WA Jan-July 1966. Part 2 of Six. Scroll down one to read in order.

Vietnam (1st Tour)

31 December, 1965 (the day/night when I met Barbara.

     As a newly arrived member of the 4th Division at Ft. Lewis, I was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry (And, as the British called them during the Revolutionary War: "Those are Regulars, by God!”) As I mentioned in my last input, for career purposes, I needed to command a company-sized unit. As it turned out, I was given command of HQ Company of the Battalion - a 200+man-sized unit (generally reserved for a senior captain--but I was still looking for my authority to BE a captain,which was, hopefully, somewhere on the "cutting room" floor up at Division HQs.)

     Anyway, as with any organization characterized by having a chain of command, span of control, and task specialization (e.g. U.S. Military, Catholic Church, et.al.,) I (metaphorically) saluted and “moved out.”

     We were the first Brigade of the 4th Division scheduled to go to Vietnam, and we had six months to get ready. As it turned out, we left by ship in July. When I assumed command, my 1st Sergeant was young, fit, etc., but was soon replaced by an older WW11 veteran who (at least) was still capable of calling a formation. We spent 6 months getting ready to go.

     One of the  visible highlights (?) of that period, was when I had my "carpenters" (somewhere in the unit) construct what amounted to be a 2-holer outhouse which would fit over sections of 55-gallon drums. It seemed to be a hit, and other units came to look at it.

     Approaching the day of boarding the ship for departure, I was notified that the Division Commander (2-star) wished to speak with my 4.2" mortar platoon. Apparently, they had written a letter to the Secretary of Defense, (McNamara), telling him he would have their blood on his hands if he completed the plan to take their tracked vehicles away and replace them with wheeled vehicles. On the morning of departure, prior to the Division Commander's arrival, I told them that I agreed with their point, and I supported them, but, in the future, please let me know ahead of time of what's going on.

     Ft. Lewis that day looked like some storm had hit it - dumpsters overflowing, etc. We boarded the ship and left Tacoma.

     While on the ship, en route, over time, I gathered each platoon and passed out some condoms to each of the "troops." (I had spent the remainder of our "unit fund" on them). I told them they could do whatever they wished with them, but in the interest of self-protection, there were said to be some "bad bugs" where we were going.

     I also took with us the unit’s 16mm projector, which became a hit (And a rationed item) at our to-be-established fire base in the central highlands of Vietnam.

Sue says:  I had some questions for Jon, and he replied:

Questions: Why was Ft. Lewis such a mess, with garbage overflowing, etc.?  (I was worried that it was a mess generally, like the situation found at Walter Reed Hospital a couple of years ago.)Was it just the inevitable consequence of a busy troop movement? Was there some reason for putting the older WWII vet to work? In the movies, he’s always wiser than the college boy Lt., who comes to respect his wisdom, but by then, you had experience with command. Did McNamara accede the men’s demand to keep their tracked vehicles? I will look forward to the next installment! And I will be curious about what films were popular when you put the projector to work.

Answers: I'm guessing the mess was the result of each soldier being able to take with him/her (very few "hers" in those days), only items which had been issued, i.e. uniform items, weapon, etc.

I think they may have "swapped out" Sgt Montezdioca (sp?) (my new one) to get the other younger Sgt back to where the fighting would be. As it developed, my company clerk and I handled most everything, letting Sgt Montez do the routine (& simpler stuff). The tracks for the mortar platoon went away, and I don't remember watching any of the movies. There was a circuit whereby new ones were delivered periodically, but for a while, the projector I had brought was the only one available, and it was taken over by the brigade and passed around among the battalions. :-)