After we had been in Viet Nam for awhile we were able to take a week R & R (Rest & Relaxation) a sort of vacation if you care to say . If you had the money . Some went to Bangkok , Thialand some went to Tokyo , Japan some went to Hawaii . Well any way our Captain went to Hawaii to meet his wife . After he came back he was a changed person . Rumor was that he had been to Germany before and his wife had done some running around and this time when he went to Hawaii his wife told straight up Either Me or The Army . When he returned he started drinking every night going around to the guard post singing FTA All The Way . And the FTA does not mean Fun Travel and Adventure . well needless to say he didn’t keep his command vey long after he came back from R & R the Army put him behind a desk . We got a Gung Ho 1^st Luitenent  that thought his you know what didn’t stink . he told our First Sargent that he wanted

us to stand formation every morning at 5 AM and report in for duty . Our First Sargent told the Luitenent to his face “ Sir ; My men’ses work eight hours a day and they stand guard four hours a night and they AIN’T gonna get up at no 5 AM for no formation  Sir “ Guess what . We didn’t get up for no formation . It was getting pretty rotten where we was at with new Luitenent and I was ready to get away from it for awhile . It was about third week in  January 1968 when I decided to volunteer to on guard duty on top of the hill for a week . It was a guard post where you was flown up by helicopter and stayed a week at a time on guard duty 24/7 . I was ready to get away from it for a week . The first Sargent ask for volunteers and there was about 6 of us . The First Sargent looked at me and Spratt not this time we’re expecting trouble up there this week . We need some one with some experience that has been up there before . The First Sargent picked Smitty . He had been up there before , He turned eighteen on the way over to Viet Nam . Towards the end of the week we got word that Smitty had been killed in a attack on top of the hill . His name was Eugene Smith . Red Hair . That could have been me . But you know . I never volunteered again . I did what ever they wanted my happy little butt to do . I did my time and came home .