In early 1968, Vietnam was raging and here I was in Germany. I was safe, lived in a nice barracks that was warm in the winter and cool in the summer, eating good food, and fucking my brains out with five different, sexy, beautiful, cock hungry women. I'm not sure what came over me, but for some reason, I decided I wanted to go to Vietnam. My First Sergeant said I could submit a Request for Transfer, but there was no guarantee it would be approved. Several months went by before the First Sergeant called me in and said, "Well, you got your wish. You're going to Vietnam."
My transfer date wasn't for another month, so I managed to pack all my belongings and ship them home to Arizona. I waited two weeks before telling "my girls" that I was being sent to Vietnam. For some reason I decided not to tell anyone I had volunteered. I was having an affair with five women who were all older than me and married, but when I told each of them, they had the same reaction. First, they were shocked, second, they started crying, and third, they ensured me they were going to give me the best sex I had ever had before I left. And they did.
Beth was married to a Lieutenant Colonel and was the oldest of the women I was seeing. For some reason, she took it the hardest. When I told her, she started crying and led me over to the sofa. We held each other for a long time while she continued to cry.
Finally, she looked at me with red, swollen eyes, and said, "John, you must think I'm a silly old woman for acting this way. I'm old enough to be your mother but you have always treated me like I was the only woman you cared about. You made me feel special and I love you for that. When you came into my life, I was a sexually frustrated woman. You took care of that, in spades! I love the way you made love to me, but it's not just the sex. I love you for who you are. You are the sweetest, kindest, most caring person I have ever met. I don't want you to leave me."
Then she started crying again. I pulled her to me so she could cry on my shoulder as I softly kissed her forehead, cheek, chin, and then her trembling lips. She opened her mouth and gave me a deep, passionate kiss. When she broke the kiss, she looked at me and said, "I love you, John. I really do."
I told her, "I love you too, Beth." We held each other for a while, and she started crying again.
She said, "I don't want to lose you."
"You're not going to lose me, Beth. You know the Army. When they tell you to go somewhere, you have to go."
After a while of quiet sobbing, she looked at me and said, "Why don't you marry Katie? Then I know we could always be close to each other. I know she would let me share."
Katie was her 19 year-old daughter who I had met and fucked several times a few months ago. I said, "Beth, think about what you are saying. You know that wouldn't be possible."
"Why not? I know if you asked her, she would say yes. She talks about you all the time."
I explained to her, "First, Katie is in college. Eventually, she will get a degree and start a career. She is a beautiful, sexy woman, so I know she will find someone she loves and eventually get married. Second, her father is a Lieutenant Colonel. There's no way he's going to let her marry an enlisted man. Third, how would you explain to him how I met Katie? It just would not work."
She was silent for a while before she looked at me and asked, "Would you make love to me?"
I answered, "You know I will. I can't resist you."
We got up and walked back to the bedroom. When we had shed our clothes, she laid on the bed and said, "Come here."
I laid down next to her and held her for a few minutes before reaching down to rub her pussy. I rubbed the lips a few times and then slid a finger inside. She was already wet. I got on top and rubbed my dick across the lips several times before putting the tip in and teasing her with short in and out motions.
She hissed, "Put it in me damn it. I need your cock now!" I slid all the way in and pulled almost all the way out. When I slid all the way in again, she had her first of several orgasms.
When I left her that afternoon, she started crying again. She told me to write to her and let her know I was O.K. I told her I would love to stay in touch with her, but I was afraid her husband would find the letters.
She said, "You let me worry about that."
I assured her I would write to her and I reluctantly left. I was hoping she would pull herself together before her husband came home and found her crying.
I was given a 30 day leave back in the States. Mom and dad were surprised to see me and wondered why I was back home. Telling them I was going to Vietnam was the hardest thing I had ever done. I didn't look up any of my old buddies because I just didn't have anything in common with them anymore. I was bored sitting around the house, so I cut my leave short by 15 days and flew to Oakland, California, where I waited for three days to catch a flight to Vietnam.
During this time, I had to turn in all of my uniforms, and in return I was given several sets of jungle fatigues and two pair of jungle boots. I almost had a fight with the supply clerk who insisted I had to turn in my jump boots. I pointed out I didn't have to turn them in because they were never issued to me. I bought them myself. Never try to take a paratrooper's jump boots! I was also given several vaccinations for numerous diseases that were prevalent in southeast Asia.
I finally got a flight and after several hours, I arrived in Vietnam where I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Binh Hoa. After six weeks of in-country training, I was told I was going "Up North" to Camp Eagle. I boarded a C-130 and flew to Phu Bai. When I arrived, I was met by two MP sergeants who told me to put my duffle bag in their jeep and get in back. On the way to what I assumed was Camp Eagle, I noticed they were both wearing the 82nd Airborne Division patch. I didn't think much of it at the time.
We soon arrived at an area with several squad size tents with sand bags stacked in front and a single larger tent. There was also a sand bag bunker in the center of the compound and a POW enclosure at the back. When we got out of the jeep, the sergeants shook my hand and one of them said, "Welcome to the 82nd MP Company."
They took me over to the large tent where I met the platoon leader. He explained that the 82nd was very short-handed, and when he had asked for some replacements, he was told I was on the way up from the 101st. Somehow, I managed to get transferred to the 82nd while I was in the air! I didn't mind. It turned out to be a great assignment with some really great guys.
It only took a few hours for reality to set in. As opposed to the nice barracks I had been living in, I was now living in a squad tent with seven other guys and sleeping on a cot with no sheets or pillows. The temperature averaged 98 degrees with 90 percent humidity. I quickly learned from my squad mates that it was better to sleep in the nude.
We had to walk across a dirt road to take a shower. The shower was a 55-gallon drum mounted on a wooden frame about 10 feet off the ground. There was a valve that allowed the water to come out the bottom. The water was heated by the sun. The mess hall was a large tent across from the showers where we got a breakfast of scrambled eggs made with powdered eggs, and a slice of spam. If we got lunch or dinner, it was usually C-Rations. I quickly learned to love hot sauce. It made everything taste better!
Our bathroom was an outhouse with a half of a 55-gallon drum underneath a hole. Every day we would drag the drum out, pour diesel fuel in, and set it on fire to burn the shit. Lovely. I was beginning to regret my decision to leave Germany.
Our job mainly consisted of escorting convoys and processing and guarding POWs. When we provided escort for convoys, we would have a gun jeep in front, one in the middle, and one bringing up the rear. Since the roads weren't paved, I ate a lot of dust. We also provided security for the engineers who swept the road every morning for mines.
My platoon leader somehow found out I had been the General's bodyguard in Germany. Anytime we were attacked, either with mortars, rockets, or actual Viet Cong with rifles trying to get through the perimeter, the general and his staff officers all met in a large bunker called the Tactical Operations Center, or TOC. I was told that any time there was an attack, I would have to go to the TOC to protect the general. I also escorted him numerous times when he visited the troops in forward areas. It was exciting to say the least.
Most of the infantry soldiers wore jungle fatigues with no unit patch or name tape. The MPs were combat soldiers, but they were still MPs, and MPs always looked sharp. Most of them had the 82nd unit patch on the left sleeve, a name tape over the right pocket and the U.S. Army tape across the left pocket with a set of jump wings above that. I had been in country for a couple of months and all my shirts still had the 101st patch on the sleeve. One day my squad leader told me to grab some of my clean shirts and come with him. We drove to a small village right outside the gate and he took me to a little hut that he said was a tailor shop. He took my shirts and told the girl there to put U.S. Army tapes over the left pocket, jump wings over that, name tape over the right pocket, and an 82nd patch on the left sleeve. He told me I had to look sharp.