Sgt. Mike Viet Nam Humor

[AJ]

We had a harbor at Da Nang too. Stars & Stripes in Da Nang to see what the largest rat there was.......the winner was 21 inches from nose to tail. The guys in the LOX Plant would catch them and dip them in LOX.

 

[F4phantom]

Had sort of the same experience when on Guard Duty at Da Nang. Was eating Midrats on post one night. Had the tray on my lap. A piece of bread fell off the tray, so I reached down and put it back on the tray and continued eating. It happened again with the same result from me. The third time it happened I reached down and felt fur! I came unglued, pulled out my .45 and chambered a round. The other Marine on post with me went nuts as he did not understand what was going on until I told him. I spent the rest of the night with a round in the chamber looking for that darned rat!!

Was on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep in the bunker. I jumped and went one direction and the small rat went the other direction. Scared the heck out of me.
We had a factory rep who was sleeping in one of the officers hooch's. He had his hand dangling close to the floor and got bite by something. He thought it was a mouse. Anyway he was transferred to the medical ship offshore and started his rabies shots.
Oh the fun we had.

 

[Mike LaNier]

It wasn't the rats or the spiders that bothered me, it was the damned snakes! It's a bit unnerving to walk into the hooch after a LRRP and find a python there. UGGGH! (I-Corps, 1965-66).

 

[14daMoney]

Was on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep in the bunker. I jumped and went one direction and the small rat went the other direction. Scared the heck out of me.
We had a factory rep who was sleeping in one of the officers hooch's. He had his hand dangling close to the floor and got bite by something. He thought it was a mouse. Anyway he was transferred to the medical ship offshore and started his rabies shots.
Oh the fun we had.

Uhmmm, ".....on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep.....", was this the standard practice.....

 

[AJ]

Uhmmm, ".....on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep.....", was this the standard practice.....

At Da Nang we stood guard, two men to a post. When things were quiet only one had to be awake. When we were on alert both had to be awake. You usually found out you were on alert when a 122 rocket or motar exploded. I have found I was on alert one night when AK rounds impacted the bunker.

 

[MF15]

This is Sp/5 Mike. Just saying hi from the DMZ in Korea1971,some were sent to Korea.
Had orders in my hands twice for NAM,never made it. Korea was real under strength in early 71.
We did get Hostile Fire Pay, while in the DMZ.
A 1/15 FA ,2nd ID.
Oh yea the problem is 2nd ID is still in Korea.

A little humor.
Basic at Bragg,KP Easter Sunday 1970. The turkeys were all green with mold,they cooked them anyway.
I ate the ham. LOL

 

[Retired W4]

A guy in my platoon had his parents send him a live trap. He would dump the rats in a 55 gallon drum and when he had 5 or 6 we would put some JP4 in there and light them up, kick the barrel over. Burning rat races. The CO did not approve. This is some of our RLO's doing rat burgers. Just kidding. In case you don't know what an RLO is; Real Live Officer, as opposed to a WO.

 

[F4phantom]

Uhmmm, ".....on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep.....", was this the standard practice.....

We worked twelve hour shifts. Then we would go to perimeter guard duty, along the runway. We were assigned two to a bunker. Unless we were told otherwise we could set our routine. Most chose two hour intervals. Yes you can sleep with jets taking off in burner. Several times I woke up my bunker mate because of strange stuff in the wire. We were warned not fire our weapons without direct confrontation. If we did fire, there better be a dead body or a lot of blood in the wire.
Oh the fun we had.

 

[Greyman50]

One night I was sleeping on my back as worn slap out when something hit my chest. Opened my eyes and there was this rat about 24” long looking at me. Well a few choice words and threw my helmet at it. Rat got on top of the wall and ran towards back of hootch. Everybody was throwing stuff at it. Never saw it again. Then there were the rice beetles that came out at night on the bunker line……

 

[14daMoney]

We worked twelve hour shifts. Then we would go to perimeter guard duty, along the runway. We were assigned two to a bunker. Unless we were told otherwise we could set our routine. Most chose two hour intervals. Yes you can sleep with jets taking off in burner. Several times I woke up my bunker mate because of strange stuff in the wire. We were warned not fire our weapons without direct confrontation. If we did fire, there better be a dead body or a lot of blood in the wire.
Oh the fun we had.

I was just wondering how you paid off the little fella to sit there and cover your shift .....

 

[AJ]

A guy in my platoon had his parents send him a live trap. He would dump the rats in a 55 gallon drum and when he had 5 or 6 we would put some JP4 in there and light them up, kick the barrel over. Burning rat races. The CO did not approve. This is some of our RLO's doing rat burgers. Just kidding. In case you don't know what an RLO is; Real Live Officer, as opposed to a WO.View attachment 757728

RLO's were abundant in our squadrons. We had about 50 or so RLO's. WO's were in the minority, maybe 4 or 5. I do think we were a bit more humane in our killing of rats. By dropping them into a bucket of LOX they were "Flash Frozen". For the uninitiated LOX is Liquid OXygen. It is -273 degrees and care must be taken not to freeze parts of yourself when handling it. We use it for the aircrews to breathe in flight.

 

[AJ]

Remember this purification tablets. Made even good water taste like iodine!!

 

[Retired W4]

I guess LOX is more compact than the green bottles of compressed O2 on the U-21, C-12, etc. Never had the pleasure of breathing anything from a LOX bottle. All I know is sucking down some pure O2 after 4 hours at a cabin altitude of 8000 feet makes every thing much brighter.

 

[HARLEY0]

Uhmmm, ".....on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep.....", was this the standard practice.....

Yep - Sleeping on guard duty, didn't you know that the rat was a spy for the VC?

 

[kelljor]

Was on guard duty and had one sit on my chest while I was asleep in the bunker. I jumped and went one direction and the small rat went the other direction. Scared the heck out of me.
We had a factory rep who was sleeping in one of the officers hooch's. He had his hand dangling close to the floor and got bite by something. He thought it was a mouse. Anyway he was transferred to the medical ship offshore and started his rabies shots.
Oh the fun we had.

Sleeping on guard duty?

 

[Tom S.]

Sleeping on guard duty?

Hey, a guy has to sleep sometime!

 

[AJ]

I guess LOX is more compact than the green bottles of compressed O2 on the U-21, C-12, etc. Never had the pleasure of breathing anything from a LOX bottle. All I know is sucking down some pure O2 after 4 hours at a cabin altitude of 8000 feet makes every thing much brighter.

After a rough night in the club, the vill or artying anywhere LOX was great. Hungover? Grab a mask fro flight equipment and head out to one of the birds. About five minutes on LOX would fix what ailed you! I imagine O2 would do the same. Use what you got!!

 

[AJ]

Yep - Sleeping on guard duty, didn't you know that the rat was a spy for the VC?

Sleeping on guard duty?

Hey, a guy has to sleep sometime!

When on a two man post, generally one man is expected to sleep. Usually in 2 or 3 hour shifts. When on 100% alert both had to be awake.

 

[Greyman50]

Nothing like not knowing an ARC light is going to happen and have to sit on the ground. Wonder what rats thought about them, lol.

 

[AJ]

Nothing like not knowing an ARC light is going to happen and have to sit on the ground. Wonder what rats thought about them, lol.

A good friend spent the better part of two years up on the DMZ in 3/9 and 1/9. He said they saw lots of ARC Lights. That told them where they were patrolling the next day doing BDA's.