Alpha Battery leaves the Aussies...
It was after this joint operation that A Battery left the
control of the Australian Task Force. I had been tapped as the next XO of B Btry
at this time. It was my understanding that B Btry would return to the Task
Force. Little did I know that the Battalion Commander would try to delay that
from happening for three months. In between time a battery from the 7th
Battalion 8th Artillery, another 54th Artillery Group
unit, would take our place for a short period of time.
During November 1968, A Btry was sent into what seemed to
be exile. Captain Jim Berry had been assigned as Battery Commander in October (I
believe). We were sent to some out of view, out of the way location on Long Bihn
Army Base. We were somewhere close (too close) to the Ammo dump that had a bad
reputation for being hit by rocket and mortar fire. We believed that this
assignment was a great insult to us. So we set out to make everyone that was
responsible for this gross injustice regret the decision. This is also where I
began to smoke 3 and 4 packs of Marlboro a day. We had to monitor seven radios.
All of which had an officer on the other end that outranked me by at least two
grades. To say the least I got real nervous, real quick.
Remembering that I was the scrounge officer and morale officer I set out to ruin my superiors days for sending us to this hellhole. One of our first endeavors was to recruit “entertainment” for the troops. I detailed a new 1LT Marc Hammond and our Supply NCO to do the recruiting. The recruits were smuggled into our area past gate guards and inspection point. Needless to say the troops had a good time. During the first part of December 1968, I became reacquainted with Col. Camp.
