“Listen & Learn”

A Story by one who served with

221st Signal Company (SEAPC)

Republic of South Vietnam – September 1970 to June 1971

The following episodes can best be appreciated if viewed in context “of the time” through the wide eyes of a young, Second Lieutenant.  It was September 1970 – the majority of heavy fighting by U.S. forces was over.  Military control was at its zenith and being transferred over to the South Vietnamese government through President Nixon’s “Vietnamization Policy”.  In response, the Viet Cong were relying on “alinear” warfare more than ever.  

                  Within days of hitting “Country”, Major Valen, then SEAPC commander, decided that a tour

                  of the various detachments would be an appropriate way of indoctrinating me into its

                  facilities & functions.  First stop on our “Hit Parade” was Saigon.  Just prior to leaving Long

                  Binh, Major Valen assembled the 4 of us in the Motor Pool, issued us side arms and

                  lectured us on what to expect and how to conduct ourselves in Saigon.  As we stood

                  around a jeep listening intently, he calmly almost matter-of-factly issued a blunt warning:

 

“If someone hands you a grenade .  .  .  . GIVE IT BACK!”

                  Startled by this seemingly absurd statement, my immediate reaction was to laugh –

                  that was until the Major further explained that he had “lost” a Lieutenant under similar

                  circumstances.  .   .  .  (He was alluding to a natural, human response which the VC took

                  full advantage of.  When someone hands you something – the natural reaction is to reach

                  out and grasp it.  By the time, you realize what you are holding, it’s too late!  Needless to

                  say, THAT got my attention!  That statement and the way he said it has “stuck” with me

                  ever since!   (My wife learned long ago never to hand me anything!)  

                 The balance of my In-Country “tour” involved a succession of hair-raising “hops” aboard

                  C-130 aircraft.  To this day, those “crash dive: landings remain indelibly etched in my

                  mind!   My excursion concluded with a “friendly fire” incident in Da Nang but it didn’t

                  involve “our guys”.  It proved to be drunken ARVN officers exiting their Officers Club at

                 11 o’clock at night.  As bullets whizzed through the tin roof over my head, the irony that

                 I could lose my life by still ANOTHER unconventional scenario hit home.  To my way of

                 thinking, regardless of the method, “at the end of the day” – I’m just as dead!

Of course, my experiences pale in comparison with those of the 221st who encountered actual combat earlier in the WAR.  By submitting this story, the author does not mean to diminish the suffering of those wounded or disrespect the memory of those who made the “ultimate sacrifice”.

Roger Dunlap

1Lt  221st Signal Company (Pictorial)