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LD-3.JPGPatrol TrainingWe were sometimes forced to go on patrols periodically by a sergeant who was a hard-ass and thought it was "good training" to keep us on our toes so we in Commo wouldn't get too soft out there in the field! Of course, good 'ol sarge was bunked up cool, safe and dry back at Montezuma when we were out crawling around in the jungle, wading through mud, being devoured by bugs, traversing rice paddies, sleeping in foxholes, dealing with "charlie" and... well, you get the picture.Dec 24, 2012

LD-1.JPGPopular DogLooks like we have yet another photo of "Short Round". Much talk and I think a special place on the 2/9th web site for pics of unit adopted dogs. Here is another. This dog had several names as I recall... "Short Round" being one of them, but he had others as well. Guy with him here was a Commo member, but I cannot recall his name. Possibly Terry. If I remember, he was a lineman. He arrived shortly before went home. By this time, I believe the 'ol hard-ass sarge was gone or at least not somewhere close enough to have influence. He would have never allowed boots to look like that! Note the the "urinator" and ammo boxes in the background. I think this was at Kontum...Dec 24, 2012

LD-5.jpgHoganOne of my Commo buddies, Hogan back at Camp Enari in Pleiku shortly before returning home 1968... note the clean, pressed jungle fatigues!
Dec 24, 2012

LD-2.JPGMe & My Guitar - Duc Pho, MontezumaSeeing Sgt Butler's photo with his guitar struck memories. Strange thing the photo triggered was that the orange plastic finger twists on the end of the guitar tuners always twisted loose after just a few tunings. Whoever/whatever made those tuner heads must have been in Viet Nam because they were the worst I had EVER seen... and I had seen a LOT of guitars by the time I got there! Anyway, I bought a guitar in Saigon with orange plastic finger twists and cutaway, exactly like the one in the photo. I gave it to one of the guys in the battery and on my next Saigon trip I bought (for just about $2 or $3 more–in "P" of course) another guitar with Japanese tuners on it (they had white plastic tips that never broke). I also left this guitar at the unit when I returned back to "the world." I just wonder if the guitar in the photos was the one I had!

Dec 24, 2012

LD-4.jpgPatrol Training - 2One of my buds was walking one of these dikes in a rice paddy when he stepped on a VC landmine. It was NOT a pretty experience...Dec 24, 2012

JM-28.JPGSitting on the docks of Cam Ranh BayGoing Home! Fly to the land of the Big PX. Mission completed.Dec 21, 2012

JM-27.JPGLet's Go Home!It's all over for us. Members of my Ft Sill AIT have completed their tour of duty, gladly demonstrating their "I'm this short!" signals. A wonderful feeling.
At left is Don Primer of A/2/9 and Mark Jowers, 4th from left.Dec 21, 2012