Page 62 - Stand Down Vietnam

That is also where I lost my hearing. They tried to
get me for malingering. I had an earache. When I went
up to see the doctor, it was on a weekend. He sent be
back home and said I was malingering. I told him I had
a bad earache, he said I was just “putting on”. The
next week I was sent to Parris Island. I had an
Admiral Doctor look at me. He asked why I had not gone

to see the doctor sooner. Well, anyway, that first
doctor didn’t last very long. The Admiral took care of
that first doctor, he was fired. Come to find out, I
had a hole in my ear drum, I lost hearing in that ear.

My next assignment was back in Vietnam. Before going
to Vietnam, I spent my leave time (fifteen days) going
fishing. I caught a lot of fish, and we ate them.
Before going to Vietnam, I went through Jungle Warfare
School in San Diego, California. That school has
stations set up like you’d experience in Vietnam. The
idea was to teach you how to deal with different
situations while in country.

We were taught how to watch for mines, tripwires, punji
sticks, that sort of thing. We had to go through
swamps, that sort of thing.

That training lasted for thirty days. They were trying
to expose us to what we would experience in Vietnam.

It was as realistic as possible. I took that school
serious, in fact I went through it twice.