TAKE IT ALL, WHY DONTCHA?
I'm
not a stripper…but I shure got stripped!!
I
walked up to the Captain Nealon, the Company Commander of
B/1/35.
He looked at me and without even a handshake, he said, "Give me your
canteens." I had 3 at that time. He took two of them, took a small drink,
and handed both to the 1st Sergeant to give water to the group of
grunts that had formed up to have a drink. I was told they had been out of
water for days with no resupply due to being fogged in. He then asked what
else I had in my TWO packs. One
of the two was my old boy scout pack I had brought from home. He
emptied out the contents of both. He called over a grunt from hell and
said, "Here…now you now have pants." He then gave another grunt my
extra boots. I stuck two socks full of C-rations to bring with me and, of
course, those disappeared. Nealon told me that "I was
overloaded…that I could never hump the bush with that much stuff.
And, if push came to shove, I could never run if I really had to."
(BS to that, but it made me think). I must have been a real sight for
these guys…an FNG, one with clean clothing, bags of gear, food and water, and
even a Bowie knife (see my Photo Gallery for the real one).
Either
I was ripe for the picking or
I looked like the S-4 who got sent to the field.
Well now, I could just see myself writing my first letter home. "Dear Ma, you wouldn't believe what happened to me! After I reported for duty, the Captain of the company took all my stuff! So, would you please send me another pair of boots, an extra pair of pants, and…"
Lt
Don Keith
FO, B/1/35