i was air force,an e-1, in 1964. voluntered for nam and went. at that time we were consided advisors and did admin process at clark. very little admin in nam. i was air frieght. sent to bien hoa, ( mortor central ) to det 5 8th aieial port. got off the plane, go right to the armory, issued ar15, asked if i was going to be flying, what the heck, siad sure. was issued a .38 special revolverr. later i found a smith model 19 in nickel with half a box of .357, bought it $ 5o bucks. hoarded the ,357 ammo,never found more,shot a lot of .38spec. i'll tell you in those days bien hoa was not a bunch of remf's. i flew a lot with the first air commando,as a loadmaster, no remfs there either.