Duty and AWOLs

     All good things come to an end. For that matter, so do bad things. And that brings us back to good things ending. In this case it was time to pull some MP duty. Believe me, five days of training does little to prepare a person to become a cop. At least that was my case. Lucky me, Sgt. Heath and I hit it off. He saw something in me that wasn't there. An ability to be a truly fine MP. Must have been the way my German blood took to wearing a uniform. Or maybe my spit shined boots. No matter, on the first possible night shift I found myself in the passenger seat of a Jeep. Thank God the man in the driver's seat knew what he was doing.
     Not much was going on in Dong Tam. Unless you consider an AWOL or two wandering back onto the post something. I don't know how many GIs went over the hill in Vietnam. A little research hinted that the number might have been as high as four thousand. Like I've said many times, this wasn't a popular war. We even had one of them in Bravo Company.
     He was the guy with the machine gun hiding behind the dike when my squad was trapped in a bare paddy. Guess he figured it was better us dying than him. He was also the guy who couldn't get it up for a two dollar whore when we were pulling guard for an artillery outfit. It's actually a funny story in a cruel, sadistic way. With a touch of the irony I love so much.
     Joe was your typical horny GI. Actually we all were but a fair number of us kept our zippers up for a variety of different reasons. In this instance an elderly gentleman, more of an asshole pimp actually, brought a young lady over to our position, the idea being two dollars for a minute's lust venting. Not my cup of tea. Couldn't see much romance in it.
     So, as she backed up against a tree - I got this info second hand as I saw no point hanging around like a dog on the outskirts - a line formed and the old guy collected admission. Joe was about tenth in line and bouncing around in heat. Till his turn arrived and naturally he instantly went limp. A half minute of self stimulation got him up again and two strokes got him off. Here comes the ironic part: of course he got the clap. As did all the others. Yup, it was one weird war.  As usual, most of the problems were self caused.
     About the time rumors started about the pullout Joe disappeared. Never heard from him again. For sure he wasn't the guy we picked up on that first duty night.
     As time grew short, more and more filtered in. Who could blame them? Better to end up in the stockade than be left behind. Who knew what might happen when the war ended and the ARVNs lost?
     I knew for sure I wouldn't want to be a GI deserter when the North Vietnamese came marchin' into Saigon. Too bad for the AWOLs but they sure as hell screwed up. Life in a combat unit was tough but geez Louise, in Vietnam the grass sure as hell wasn't greener on the other side of the fence. No flag wavin' intended but once you took the oath it was a little late for protestin'.