Day 3, June 29, 1972

We made it through our first night in Rocket City.  There were no rocket attacks that night.  We were given flak jackets (protective vests) and helmets and were told to hit the ground if there was incoming rockets.  We were told that they sounded just like a 50 pound sack of crap that you had on your shoulder and threw it on the ground... whump... try that maneuver with your next sack of potting soil and you will know...

Our barracks must have had about 20 rooms to a floor and two floors.  They were fiberglass buildings and we imagined rocket shrapnel zinging right through them.  The outside of the building had 55 gallon drums filled with sand and stacked 2 high.  If you were on the bottom floor you were pretty safe... except for a direct hit.  

We shared a bathroom with the room next door, and in that bathroom was a regular refrigerator. The best part about our room was the bottom floor location but a close second was a huge air conditioner stuck in the wall (no windows in any rooms) and it worked great, I don't think we ever turned it off of high.


On day 3 our roommate and new friend Steve got up early and went flying... and didn't come back.  


Some time during the day our commander brought us a wooden box about 18 inches square.  We were told Steve died during a mission where he was trying to save peoples lives.  We were to put his belongings in that box and bring it to him.  

We were left just standing there in shock, looking at the photo of Steve with his family hanging on the wall...

Above that photo was a chrome AK-47 with a banana shaped clip in it.  Sometime earlier a Marine had given it to Steve as a present for risking his life to save others.  That AK-47 represented Steve to us and it could not leave the country.  If we had put it in the box it would have been taken... so it stayed on our wall.  The Marine had told Steve that it belong to a Viet Cong (we called them VC) commander.

We packed the photo in the box very carefully and took it to our commanders office.  The box was only about a third full... that's all that was left of Steve for his family... we wondered if it would get to them.  

Soon we began to learn more about Steve's day.

Click  Captain Steve Bennett to read about him.

There are many links to Steve if you search his name... like this Link ... it's the story we heard that day... probably from the guy who wrote it.

I think we were transformed on Day 3. I am sure we were changed forever... rockets were insignificant... flying with missiles and AAA guns pointed at us was still looming large... But strangely, fear was no longer there like it had been before... we were ready to go... I suspect that we would have felt much different if we didn't have each other to lean on.