Post by John on Jan 12, 2004 4:11:00 GMT -5
Back here, I used to hear the hippies say all the time "we're just in Vietnam for the country’s riches". Course I figured that was all bull, but I was wrong.
We used to hump the bush 4 to 6 weeks before they choppered us back to the rear for about a day and 1/2, then send us out again for another 4-6 weeks and so forth. During those 4-6 week trips out we mined gold. Yep unbelievable! Gold! everywhere we went more gold. We mostly picked it up off the trails, but sometimes it showed up digging our holes.
Now gold was a fine thing except for one thing,,,,,,,,It was heavy to hump.105 degrees outside and packing 90 pounds already without the gold made adding it to the ruck really a bummer. But our Lt. had a solution! We would concentrate on picking up diamonds and rubies instead. This made sense, cause dollar per pound gems were a better deal as far as humping.
Don't get me wrong, there were other riches in Nam besides jewels and gold, One time I was digging a hole for the NDP and I hit oil. I mean it was a real gusher it almost washed a whole squad off the hill. The guys were kind of annoyed because we had to find another place for a NDP, but they got over it. Well all those diamonds and rubies and gold started to add up over time, so the Lt. had a chopper pilot buddy of his come and load it all up to take it somewhere. It was all kind of heavy. So heavy the Huey was too heavy to take off. Luckily it was near the edge of a cliff. The pilot motioned to us to “rock” and push the chopper over the cliff while he gave it full power. Our Lt. yelled at us “go ahead it will fly once it picks up speed”, (the Lt. was always a little pushey). So over the cliff it went, it fell downward for about 50 yards or so but once it picked up airspeed , sure enough it flew.We all sighed a sigh of relief as it flew away. After all , our hopes for the future were in that chopper.In a sense the contents of that chopper were the only "veteran benefits" any of us would ever get and we knew it.As it turned out the Lt. hid all the stuff at an old railroad track (overgrown with jungle since the 30s) exactly 1 klick south of an old cemetery, between Chu Lai and Que Son. I still have the exact co-ordinates but I am too old and tired to return to dig it up. Besides I bet the LT already got it anyway. The whole mining thing was just a waste of time, humping all that extra weight for nothing.So much for the "benefits".
P.S. Update,
I recently returned on a trip to Vietnam.
I looked for the buried stuff and to my surprise it was still there.
It took a lot of bribes to get it out and home but there was lots left.
Now instead of being a poor vet , heading for homelessness, I am a rich respectable person.
And to think I spent all those years thinking Vietnam was a waste of time
We used to hump the bush 4 to 6 weeks before they choppered us back to the rear for about a day and 1/2, then send us out again for another 4-6 weeks and so forth. During those 4-6 week trips out we mined gold. Yep unbelievable! Gold! everywhere we went more gold. We mostly picked it up off the trails, but sometimes it showed up digging our holes.
Now gold was a fine thing except for one thing,,,,,,,,It was heavy to hump.105 degrees outside and packing 90 pounds already without the gold made adding it to the ruck really a bummer. But our Lt. had a solution! We would concentrate on picking up diamonds and rubies instead. This made sense, cause dollar per pound gems were a better deal as far as humping.
Don't get me wrong, there were other riches in Nam besides jewels and gold, One time I was digging a hole for the NDP and I hit oil. I mean it was a real gusher it almost washed a whole squad off the hill. The guys were kind of annoyed because we had to find another place for a NDP, but they got over it. Well all those diamonds and rubies and gold started to add up over time, so the Lt. had a chopper pilot buddy of his come and load it all up to take it somewhere. It was all kind of heavy. So heavy the Huey was too heavy to take off. Luckily it was near the edge of a cliff. The pilot motioned to us to “rock” and push the chopper over the cliff while he gave it full power. Our Lt. yelled at us “go ahead it will fly once it picks up speed”, (the Lt. was always a little pushey). So over the cliff it went, it fell downward for about 50 yards or so but once it picked up airspeed , sure enough it flew.We all sighed a sigh of relief as it flew away. After all , our hopes for the future were in that chopper.In a sense the contents of that chopper were the only "veteran benefits" any of us would ever get and we knew it.As it turned out the Lt. hid all the stuff at an old railroad track (overgrown with jungle since the 30s) exactly 1 klick south of an old cemetery, between Chu Lai and Que Son. I still have the exact co-ordinates but I am too old and tired to return to dig it up. Besides I bet the LT already got it anyway. The whole mining thing was just a waste of time, humping all that extra weight for nothing.So much for the "benefits".
P.S. Update,
I recently returned on a trip to Vietnam.
I looked for the buried stuff and to my surprise it was still there.
It took a lot of bribes to get it out and home but there was lots left.
Now instead of being a poor vet , heading for homelessness, I am a rich respectable person.
And to think I spent all those years thinking Vietnam was a waste of time