Goin Up The Country, Don't You Wanna Go

So far, so good. Been "in country" for 3 whole days now and still alive. In the early days of the war, the replacement centers would sometimes get hit and some poor bastards were killed after only being there for a matter of hours or days. Were they the lucky ones?  Maybe they just got fucked up, didn't die and were sent home to a hospital to maybe recover. Just to be safe, I didn't stray too far from the bunkers.

. . . . .as long as I can still ride my motorcycle.. . . . .

But you block all of that out. And it's 3 days that I can deduct from my tour. Let's see, only 362 more days until I go home. Every GI there knew exactly how many days they had left. When you had less than 100 days, you were officially a "two digit midget". When you had less that a month to go, you were officially "short" and as such were entitled to walk around at yell at apparently intermittent  intervals, "SHORT" while also holding up your hand with your thumb and index finger about an inch apart. This is probably the only time that men will do this. Think about it.

. . . . . 362 days is not that long is it?. . . . .

Walk into a small office where a Captain briefly looks up and asks me to sit. No windows, pictures of the chain of command on the wall starting with Nixon and ending with the Replacement Center Commading Officer, some Major. Bare plywood walls. Gray steel government issue desk and chair. No windows. What's there to see anyway. Musty smell.

Piece of paper shoved in front of me. First Lieutanant P. Wise assigned to USACAV.

. . . . .sudden horrible chill, phone call at 2:00am type of chill . . . . .

What's USACAV? Isn't CAV short for Cavalry, like the first Air Cav. Something is terribly wrong, I'm not supposed to be going to the infantry. I was just told. . . . .

Lieutenant, we saw that you have an engineering degree so we're assigning you to USACAV, where you'll . . . . . .

Excuse me Sir, I heard myself say, but what is USACAV?

Oh, it's the U. S. Army Construction Agency Vietnam, thought you knew. Anyway, you'll be the new CO of the 46th Engineering Detachment. They do maintenance for the 173rd Airborne Brigade up north. We saw you have an engineering degree and you're in the infantry so. . . . . . .

. . . . . . . .uh, how far up north . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . In some weird way it probably made sense. . . . . 

Lt. Wise, be ready to go tomorrow at 1300, Smith will give you a ride to the airport where you'll catch a ride  to Qui Nhon and hook up with The Herd. This afternoon you need to get your insignias sewn on and get squared away. Any questions?

No Sir

 . . . . . still processing new reality. . . . .the Herd? . . . . . . 

And so it started.

Got my patches sewn on and got "squared away".

The 173rd Airborne Brigade, eh?