Welcome To B Company and MP Duty In Vietnam
20 March 1968

     In the morning a dusty jeep picked me up at the 90th Replacement Battalion and we traveled for several minutes to Long Binh Post next door. I couldn't help but notice that there wasn't much change in appearance between the replacement battalion compound and Long Binh Post. No jungle, no trees, the smell of diesel fuel and plenty of dust.

     The jeep dropped me off at the B Company Orderly Room and left with the other two passengers, I think they were destined for A Company. I went inside the Orderly Room to deliver my orders and meet the CO. I introduced myself to the company clerk who introduced me to the Captain, who was busy at his desk with some paperwork and introduced me to the First Sergeant, who shook my hand and immediately reintroduced me to the company clerk before leaving. All this in just several minutes.

     I asked the company clerk about drawing some emergency pay because I was down to my last dollar, he informed me that my 201 file had not arrived yet so that was out of the question, but he added, "not to worry...it would follow along shortly." I got a sick feeling in my stomach, my first day at B Company was getting frustrating. It seems the Personnel File jinx I am cursed with followed me to Vietnam. This is the third time my Personnel File didn’t keep up with me during reassignment. The first occurred from basic at Fort Dix, New Jersey to MP school at Fort Gordon, then from MP school to Fort Lewis Washington and South Korea, and now from Korea to Vietnam. At least this time I still had my duffel bag with my uniforms unlike at my arrival at Fort Lewis when I learned my baggage was put on the wrong aircraft and didn't catch up with me for a week. But, no records means no pay to hold me over and I was down to my last dollar.

     The clerk continuing my inprocessing, and directed me to supply while he processed my paperwork. At supply I was informed they didn’t have any jungle fatigues or jungle boots in my size and didn’t know when they would so I left empty handed. From supply I went to the arms room for a weapon, I was issued an M-14. When I asked about an M-16 I got a funny look and was told there were no M-16’s available.

     I returned to the Orderly Room for my barracks and duty assignment. The company clerk who was still hard at work on his typewriter didn't look up and didn't miss a key stroke when he told me I was assigned to duty at Outpost #2. He didn't assign me a bunk or locker and told me not to unpack my bag and to just hang around the company area. I was instructed to report to the Orderly Room just before dark dark with my duffel bag, and I would be transported to my duty assignment at Outpost #2 by one of the ambush teams. It was then that I began to wonder just what the hell I had gotten myself into... MP ambush teams?

     I stepped out of the orderly room into the hot sun and faced an open field. I had several hours to kill, no money and no idea what to do with myself until dark. To my right was a row of aluminum buildings (Adam's Huts) used as barracks. I noticed the next to the last one at the far end had it's door open so that's where I headed. I stepped inside and found several members of the company sitting around on the bunks shooting the bull and playing cards on a foot locker. I sat down on an open bunk and introduced myself. As expected I went through the usual new guy interrogation. The standard questions, where you from in the states, where were you stationed, what's your assignment? They were all openly friendly and I now felt comfortable for the first time. Being the new guy and asking someone for a loan on you first day can be like a kiss of death but I was disparate not knowing when my orders would catch up with me. Fortunately my luck was changing and I never had to ask. I was asked to join the poker game. I now had my opening to explain my financial problem. When I told them my 201 file was lost in transit and I was short on supplies and pocket money one of them offered me a twenty until payday. His name was "Trappe." They were all "River Rats" from the boat squad. (35 years later I would again get to thank SP/4 Rainer "Hippie" Trappe, for the loan of the twenty dollars.)

     They told me about a river patrol unit, ambush teams, convoy escort to a place called Tay Ninh, and outpost duty. They all laughed when I told them about my assignment to outpost duty, and that worried me. I stayed watching the card game until they left then obtained directions to the post exchange.

     Just after dark I met the ambush team in front of the B Company Orderly Room. A seven man squad, with a buck sergeant in charge. They were all dressed in jungle fatigues, boonie hats, and field web gear. Not what I was used to seeing at a standard guard mount inspection. That was another thing missing, no guard mount or inspection.

     We climbed into a 3/4 ton truck for the ride off Long Binh Post to a place they referred to as the TAOR (Tactical Area Of Responsibility). The truck proceeded out of one of the post main gates, turned left and traveled several miles along a two lane paved highway. To our left we could see the lights of Long Binh Post and the many bunkers and observation towers that lined the perimeter, to our right was total darkness. The trip took approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

     The truck then turned right onto a small dirt road. From the post perimeter lights I could faintly see a village looming off in the distance where the dirt roadway faded into the darkness. The driver turned off the truck lights and stopped just off the paved roadway and we dismounted. The squad leader instructed me to stay near the back of the squad keep my mouth shut and to follow the movements of the man in front of me, there were eight of us this night. The feel of the M14 rifle I was issued became very gratifying. We started off on foot into the darkness in a single line.

     As we approached the edge of the village a signal was given to stop. I could hear the radio operator (RTO) in a whispered voice notifying a local outpost that we were approaching on foot and requested that they inform their sentries. A few minutes later we proceeded into the village past the outpost. It was very dark that night and when we passed the outpost it appeared that we were entering into a long dark tunnel. I couldn’t see much due to the darkness and there was only an occasional faint light every now and then from small oil lamps inside some of the village hooch's (homes). It was a long, slow, straight walk.

     After a few hundred yards we came to a bend in the main road to the right, and stopped. The point man shouted in English "MP-GI" towards a building on the other side of the roadway and a Vietnamese replied "OK-MP" in broken English. After a brief moment we continued on. I asked the man to my front what had occurred and he said that we were passing the National Police Station and wanted to alert the sentries. There were no U.S. Personnel working the station.

     The smells and what few outlines I could make out in the dark were not unlike the many villages I patrolled on foot at night in Korea. The difference being that in these villages there was no one outside, you heard no music, and gone were the voices of adults and children. Here there were no people about or the sounds that you would associate with rural village night life in Korea.

     Shortly after passing the National Police Station we turned left came to a large metal bridge that crossed what appeared to be a wide canal. The squad stopped, watched, and listened for several minutes before moving on. They were especially cautious at the bridge. As quiet as we were, the sound of our footsteps on the steel deck planking of the bridge could still be heard for some distance.

     Approximately one hundred yards beyond the bridge the buildings ended and the road wound through a large expanse of what appeared to be forest to our left and open rice paddies to our right. It was still dark and overcast and hard to see very far beyond the sides of the dirt roadway. Your vision was restricted to outlines and shadows. Some were darker than others which allowed you some distance perception. After proceeding several hundred yards I could make out some faint lights and the outline of several trees and small buildings in the distance to our right, past a large field of rice paddies. It was my first view of Outpost #2 (OP-2).

     As we approached the outpost we stopped again at a right turn bend in the roadway. The RTO contacted the MPs inside, alerted them to our approach, and once again we waited several minutes before proceeding on. The squad next stopped at a small barbed wire gate on the perimeter of the outpost where a Vietnamese soldier in fatigues with a WWII era M2 Carbine strapped over his shoulder opened the gate and directed us inside. We walked past sandbag bunkers on which several other Vietnamese soldiers were sitting with their weapons across their laps smoking cigarettes in the dark.

     Once inside the compound area I was introduced to SGT Robert R. "Andy" Anderson (age-20 from Pennsylvania) the outpost military police squad leader, my new boss. The squad leader of the ambush team talked with SGT Anderson briefly about any VC activity and after giving his men a short smoke break, back out into the darkness they walked.

     It was after 2400 hours (midnight) and very dark at the OP, I couldn’t see very much of what was around me, just the outlines of the bunkers and buildings. The only lights they had were small oil lamps and lanterns, it’s like I was at Valley Forge with Washington’s Army.

     SGT Anderson walked me around the center of the compound so I had some idea of it’s layout. During the walk he explained that they were trying to get a new generator for perimeter lights that surround the OP, and also hoped to obtain one more man for the squad which at this time numbered four MPs, including me. SGT Anderson said our primary mission is to provide protection to the local village of Long Hung. He explained that they were very well liked by the local villagers and that the villagers have warned them whenever the VC have moved into the area. The OP is also manned by approximately fifteen to twenty Popular Forces (PF) soldiers from the local village. The PF’s are the Vietnamese equivalent of the local national guard. Our sister outpost, OP #1, is located approximately one klick (1000 meters) to our south, just outside the Village of An Xuan. SGT Anderson explained that the company refers to them as the "Cowboys from OP#2" because they’re very self sufficient. I thought to myself that with what I just went through on post you would have to be, just to survive. I was introduced to the other two members of the OP team, a PFC who liked to be called "Junior" or "JR" (age-19 from Georgia), and another PFC named Hush (age-19 from Kansas).

     Due to their manpower situation I was immediately assigned a shift on the radio watch. My bed for the night, and the next several months was an old Army issue cot located in the main pavilion with the other team members. After the introduction and brief orientation I was free to sleep until my radio watch. My adrenaline was pumping big time and there was no way I was going to be able to close my eyes until it wore off. I traded my shift for the current one and made myself at home by the radio. I sat down in a chair next to the small wooden table. On the table was a small oil lamp, the radio and a crank field phone. I started to relax taking in all the sounds and smells of the night. The small oil lamp on the table gave off enough light, so I figured this was as good a time as any to write a letter.

     I'm not sure exactly how much time had passed but I was still writing the letter when the night came alive with the sounds of automatic rifle fire and excited voices over the radio. In the distance towards Outpost-1, tracers were flying wildly through the night sky. Within seconds the rest of the crew was up, armed, and and at the ready. There was a exchange of gunfire between some VC and one of the ambush teams somewhere between OP-2 and OP-1. According to the radio traffic no one in the ambush team was wounded and they didn't find any VC casualties.

    I though to myself how nice of them to welcome me with a fireworks display,welcome To B Company and MP duty In Vietnam." We spent the rest of the morning on full 100% alert until daylight arrived.

     I volunteered for Vietnam because I wanted to see what this war was all about. My four month tour at Outpost-2 and later Outpost 4, before being assigned to ambush duties, would give me the best view. I consider myself lucky to have been able to start from that assignment and I have never regretted having volunteered.

From the Journal of CPL Thomas T. Watson, B Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, Long Binh, Vietnam, March 1968 to March 1969.