CHAPTER TWO - PRIME TIME

 After packing our ruck sacks which were very heavy we were tactical from the time we left our base camp. Every time we stopped for anything I would find a tree to lean against in order to help support the weight of my pack. Upon arrival we immediately began digging our defensive perimeter. I was foxhole buddies with a good friend, J. W. Smith, who was a Marine combat veteran in Vietnam. We did nothing but dig all day and as dusk arrived I was already worn out. We were tasked to man the perimeter that night, while other units did patrol and ambush duty. Besides our TANG unit there were elements of other guard units there. Memphis was there, along with Ohio and a couple of other states. I had my field jacket on but the night was so cold I was freezing and I was so tired from digging that I had trouble staying awake. Every time I nodded off J.W. would bounce a rock off of my helmet. The training cadre acted as the aggressors. It was pitch black and so quiet that all you could hear was the sound of your own breathing. Suddenly, you would hear the whistle of an artillery simulator and the flash of the explosion which was jarring. Someone would then pop a flare and the whole terrain was lit up as if it were daylight. We were all firing at once and just as suddenly it would go dark again and we would resume our watch in the cold dark night. Several times we were attacked that night but just before dawn the war was suspended long enough that we were allowed to come out of our holes and build fires. By this time I was an icicle.

 After daylight we were replaced in our fighting positions by the other units and we began patrolling and setting up ambushes. A warm front was passing through and the weather became much warmer that day. It was April and the weather can change pretty radically in the South in a very short time. The day started off bright and sunny. These woods were full of pine thickets and loaded with ticks. After our fire team set up an ambush I sat motionless for a long time watching ticks swarming all over my body and I could do very little about it. During those years it was popular for male soldiers to wear pantyhose in order to keep the ticks off. I thought that I would try it myself since I had suffered from tick fever once and I didn't want it again. 

 One Guard weekend, before we deployed to Little Rock, I had made the mistake of telling Debbie what I planned to do. We were shopping at the old Wal-Mart in Smyrna when my son Robbie grabbed a pair of pantyhose called "Big Mama's". It had a picture of a heavyset woman on the front of the package and he came up to me holding one with a devilish grin as he said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Dad, are these the size pantyhose that you wear"? I was so embarrassed that I practically ran out of the store with him running after me shouting "Dad are these the right pantyhose"? I wanted to kill him but ll these years later we still have a good laugh about it. The pantyhose actually worked well from my waste down but I had plenty of ticks on the upper part of my body. In later years I found out that Avon's Skin So Soft is the best insect repellent around and I used that when I would go on field exercises.

The weather changed rapidly that afternoon and into the night. It changed from sunshine to ominous dark clouds.. We were in a heavy downpour all night long with heavy thunder and lightning. I don't like lightning and I felt like my rifle was a lightning rod. At one point I remember lying in the rain in a 360 degree circle and seeing a snake crawling over the barrel of a nearby M-16 in the glow of a lightning flash. All day long I had been fighting fatigue and late that night we were finally allowed to crawl into our pup tents and catch a little sleep. There was no let-up with the rain. J.W. was my fire team leader so he had to attend a briefing before going to bed and for a little while I was in the tent alone. I made the mistake of taking my socks and boots off so I could sleep better. Because I was so tired I wasn't thinking about having to get my dry socks and boots on quickly in the event of an attack. After getting into my sleeping bag I was asleep by the time my head hit the ground. How long I had been asleep, I don't know when J.W. crawled in the tent to go to bed. I woke up and asked him if he could tell why my feet were so wet. He said "Pull your f _ _king feet in out of the rain". Somehow the lower part of my body had slid down out of the entrance to the tent. After pulling my feet in I fell into a dead sleep again for the second time. I wasn't asleep long when all hell broke loose. We were being attacked by the aggressors again and I felt like a zombie as I struggled to find my socks in the dark. J.W. was trying to help me while everyone outside was yelling at us to come out and get in a defensive perimeter.

 When the sun finally came up we walked by our fighting positions that we had dug the day before. The holes had filled to the top with rainwater and the men were sitting around the edges of them in the mud instead of inside them. The rest of the day was spent patrolling and fighting our final battle. Late that afternoon we were critiqued and allowed to get our first hot meal in three days. The cooks fixed us some orange juice that I later found out was spiked with pure grain alcohol. After arriving back at our base camp I took my first hot shower in days and crashed on my cot for about twelve hours. For months the guys kept telling me that I sure liked that orange juice. I did, because I drank 4 cups of it, but I didn't know it was spiked until months later. That must have been why I slept so long.