I met this guy in a bar today...

[Skysoldier]

He said he was in Vietnam.

But he couldn't tell me which unit, He said he "forgot" because it was so long ago.

So I asked him where in Vietnam he was....he couldn't remember that either!

So I asked him, "Well, what years were you there? Surely you can remember that!"

He told us he was there in 1972.....but he had to think awhile before he could answer.

I think he finally realized we were testing him.

He was full of shit, and we all knew it.

So I told him I had one question about Vietnam, and if he couldn't answer correctly, it means he is full of shit!

I asked him, "What did it SMELL like in Vietnam? Because anyone that was there will never forget what it smelled like in Vietnam!'

I never saw a guy pay his tab and leave a bar so fast! We were all laughing our asses off!



(Posers make better chew toys than legs!)

 

[scouter-rick]

So, what DID it smell like???? <GRIN> Tee-Hee

 

[dustoff22]

"What did it SMELL like in Vietnam? Well........Having travelled all of III and IV Corps and a little north of III Corps, I'd have to say that there weren't any smells more defining than those created by shit burning. BUT.....having been to Phan Thiet numerous times in support of the 11th Armored Cav, the defining smell of that area was nuc malm (sp?) which for those who don't know, is the fermenting of fish guts (basically) which becomes after awhile a delicacy I guess.

Truth be known, there were many different smells, dependent upon the season. Cordite was a common smell along with stinky smelly cloths soaked in the 100+ degree days.

I couldn't describe the smell of the wounded we picked up, often a combination of rice paddy soaking and days without showers. It wasn't at all a disgusting smell, it was an indescribable smell of combat.......a smell of its own without adequate description. Dead bodies, even in body bags were a smell not easy to forget.

 

[Windwalker]

Aaah, the fragrant aroma of a quarter-barrel of blazing diesel and poop soup in the morning.

 

[wolf223]

Aaah, the fragrant aroma of a quarter-barrel of blazing diesel and poop soup in the morning.

yup.

"mornin 1SG, another day in paradise"

 

[one-eyed Jack]

Were you talking to John Kerry? Jack.

 

[depicts]

Aaah, the fragrant aroma of a quarter-barrel of blazing diesel and poop soup in the morning.

And it was so much fun when they would pull the barrel out from under you for a burn!!!!

 

[Bugs100]

I'll never forget getting off the plane at Saigon and getting on the bus to the replacement center. The bus had grates on the windows so no one could throw grenades in it.

When we got close to the replacement center all of were staring at all these black pillars of smoke going straight up to the sky. The next day every one of us had the shit burning detail, one of the worst days of my life. That was July 1967.

Guys begged every day to get out of that place.

 

[depicts]

Geez Bugs, you sure picked a great 12 months for your "senior trip".

 

[Skysoldier]

Actually, Depicts deserves this credit for this post. The night before this incident we were talking about Vietnam. He brought up the subject, and I was remembered it the next day when I met the asshat in the bar.

It seems there are a lot more posers coming out of the walls lately, kinda like cockroaches.

I guess they think it was so long ago that no one remembers anything about those times.

 

[jenlynn724]

I swear there was a story very similar to this one about a guy someone met in a gun shop..

 

[FPrice]

I swear there was a story very similar to this one about a guy someone met in a gun shop..

There was.

 

[Jose]

I just will never understand the mentality that it takes to live a life of lies.

 

[Bugs100]

The sad part about it is out of the 3.1 million guys who were actually in Vietnam there's suppose to be less than 500 thousand still alive and the V.A. says that 390 Vietnam vets die every day.

 

[LoginName]

So, what DID it smell like???? <GRIN> Tee-Hee

Well, I'm glad you asked...

 

[depicts]

Funny, this should make Pilgrim set up and notice. The first time I went to Plymouth Plantation I was doing the tour of the village. I found myself getting anxious. As I went from house to house I really started revving up and feeling weird.

Didn't know what was wrong. Hadn't had any treatment for my PTSD yet. I was just shaking like a leaf by the third or fourth house.

Then I knew what it was. It was the smell of burned wood inside a hooch with no chimney, with a damp dirt floor and a thatched roof. The smell permeated the wood of the inside of the building just like it clung to the woven bamboo huts we stayed in at the Vil.

It brought me right back to the Montegnard Vils I used to go to to photograph with the CA teams. But you guys are right, anywhere the US troops were, burn barrels took over the aroma at least once a day.

 

[jairadio]

I think you are going to like this one. While sitting and burning 3/4 Cav waste, the first sergeant walked by me and said "I see you got all your shit together".

I met this guy in a bar today... Who knows for sure, could have been a bull shit artist, I've met vets that really don't remember much about their experiences, but I know they were there.

 

[wolf223]

I think you are going to like this one. While sitting and burning 3/4 Cav waste, the first sergeant walked by me and said "I see you got all your shit together"..

the words "sphincter" and "butt boy" were routinely included in any statement made by my 1SG to me. he had issues

 

[jairadio]

I always loved some of the lines the senior NCO's would throw around. They might have believed they were insulting me, but I always thought of it as great comedy lines, in fact I sort of enjoyed it.

 

[beaker]

In the mid 90's I met a Brit Ex-Pat (who was definitely the right age), who told me he was:
1) A Spitfire Pilot
2) A Paratrooper/SAS operative in Africa
3) An operative who did secret missions after the war including gathering information on the Soviets until the ealry 60's. Like going into Vladivostok harbor to take pictures of ships and submarines.

I couldn't tell if he was full of it or not, but I guess it was possible. I was on the doubting side myself, but I just nodded politely and said wow a lot. He seemed happy with that.

 

[Big_Red]

BUT.....having been to Phan Thiet numerous times in support of the 11th Armored Cav, the defining smell of that area was nuc malm (sp?) which for those who don't know, is the fermenting of fish guts (basically) which becomes after awhile a delicacy I guess.

I am too young to have been in Vietnam during the war but even I would have guessed that it was indeed Nuoc Mam. The guy must not have seen any VW documentaries.

 

[Blitz1]

I was an Airborne Ranger in the Civil War, I used to jump out of observation balloons shooting my Henry Rifle on the way down. I only made one jump though because I didn't have a parachute. That hurt.

Disclaimer: I have the utmost respect for our service personnel past, present and future here. This post is meant to make fun of the posers and nothing else. I Salute You All. Even Chet.

 

[Bugs100]

There was a real nasty little Viet Cong Village in Xuan Loc Province named Sui Cat, it was on the road to Gia Ray.

It was at that Village the 11th ACR suffered there biggest ambush. A platoon of A Cavs was attacked by 100's of NVA walking down both sides of the road dressed as ARVN's.

You could smell it a half mile away from the place. They had dozens of those little igloo huts with the holes in the roof that poured out smoke 24 hours a day from the charcoal they made in them. Every thing around it stank.

Every time I smell burning wood I think of that place..

 

[depicts]

Bugs, the 11th ACR got involved with the first Tank to Tank battle in Vietnam, Near LZ MaryLou in late '68 (I think). Were you around for that? If you were, I might have some pictures of the captured Soviet tank if they are any interest to you. I knew a guy named Horseman in that unit, and was visiting about the time the action started.

 

[Marcus5aurelius]

This Saturday we hit the range just like we do almost every Saturday. The usual crowd of 6 or 7 gathered around that wanted to shoot our SW500 which was alot of fun. After the crowd dispersed, one of the guys who took a couple of shots with it earlier came over to me and said before I loaded up the cylinder to come down and try out what he had to shoot. He was an older guy who said he was in Vietnam and was shooting the gun that he picked off of a North Vietnamese officer when he was over there. It was a smaller semi auto gun chambered in .380 and I proceeded to carve out the center of his target with it.(It was still amazingly accurate). I have the utmost respect for these guys, and you could tell he the real deal because he wasn't trying to tell everyone on the range and didn't get into many details of what actually happened. It wasn't much of a gun at first glance, but hearing its history made me honored that he allowed me to shoot a mag through it. People who pretend they're vets just so they can play up a story are truly scum.

 

[bfm]

And it was so much fun when they would pull the barrel out from under you for a burn!!!!

Hey, could be worse, they could have left it under you.

 

[rattletrap1970]

This is a picture of my Dad (he's the one on the far Right) in 1969. He was stationed in Chu Chi at the 269th CAB Headquarters.

We lost him on Veteran's Day, Nov 2009. Complications from the treatment of cancer caused by Agent Orange.
Whenever I hear a poser in a bar I want to smash a bottle across their face.​

 

[Bugs100]

In late 68 I was in the Hospital at Fort Devens I spent almost 6 months there.

I was with the 101st and spent almost all of 68 in the A Shua Valley. They had a nickname for A Shua, they called it, the Helicopter graveyard..

I spent all most the whole year of 67 in the Rubber Plantations. The A Shua made that look like a trip to liquor store..

 

[dustoff22]

Lost a lot of friends in that valley Bugs. Glad I didn't have to be that far north.

 

[Skysoldier]

In late 68 I was in the Hospital at Fort Devens I spent almost 6 months there.

I was with the 101st and spent almost all of 68 in the A Shua Valley. They had a nickname for A Shua, they called it, the Helicopter graveyard..

I spent all most the whole year of 67 in the Rubber Plantations. The A Shua made that look like a trip to liquor store..

I knew there were people here that I have something in common with!

Bugs100, I went over in December of 67 with the 3/187th.

I was just wondering though.....you said you spent almost all of 67 in the rubber plantations, which were down south, and almost of 1968 in the A Shau valley, up north.

Just how long was your tour?