While at Chu Lai my cot was right across from Ron Wile's. One night we were all woke to the sound of a severe fight going on in his area. As we scrambled to see what was going on we finally got to him to see if we could help. When it was all over he related how he was fast asleep when all of a sudden he was startled by a rat on his chest looking him straight in the face. He said that at that moment both of them could not get away fast enough. in both of their excitement they ended up pulling the mosquito net loose trapping them both. They both spent all the energy they had finding a way out of the net.
Randy Kunkleman 04/14/98
When we first got to Eagle I quickly found the Troop Chaplain. I soon became friends with him, but I was especially drawn to his Chaplain's Assistant. We called him Pap. Pap was more of a kindred of spirit to me than any one else in our Troop. I could talk to him where I could not talk with anyone else. He helped me to adapt when I first got in country. One trip we made together with the Chaplain was especially encouraging. I don't know where we went, but I remember landing in a area just big enough to get the chopper in. We went several meters to a mostly destroyed shrine or church. We met and worshipped with a dozen infantry that was at that location. Next we went to a orphanage run by a local pastor. I could not converse with him, but I was warmly greeted in the absence of verbal communication. While at the orphanage I was able to communicate with an "American Consciences Objector" who was serving his time with VISTA. He was far from religious, but still objected to the war. Instead of going to Canada he took the VISTA route. While talking he told me that if the US was not in Viet Nam, the local pastor running the orphanage would be killed by the Viet Cong. He explained that the Viet Cong wanted sympathy from the village people. The village people respected the pastor, and they were glad for the good he was doing. The VISTA worker went on to say if we were not there the Viet Cong would not care what the village people thought and would immediately kill him. For someone who was searching for a reason to be there himself, it made me feel like I was doing something to help innocent people from being killed at the whim of an evil ideology.
Randy Kunkleman 04/14/98
After being in country for some time the guys in our hooch decided to get a refrigerator. We all put our money together and made our purchase. I can't remember where we got it, but I remember it ending up in Sergeant Pflum's hooch. Our efforts to retrieve it fell on deaf ears. On a day in which Sergeant Pflum's anger toward me was more intense than normal, he had me standing at attention in the street between the officer's hooches and our hooches. He was screaming at me to the point of drawing a small crowd of officers above us, and a small crowd of enlisted on the other side. It was as if they had come to enjoy the impromptu entertainment. In the middle of his verbal mistreatment of my person he asked "Kunkleman what is it about me that you don't like?" At that moment I replied that I considered his stealing our refrigerator to be less than admirable conduct. I went on to point out the exact times and exact articles, which he had stolen from the mess hall, and the supply and other personal instances. He rudely kept trying to interrupt my answering his question with a repeated scream of "Shut Up!", "Shut Up!" After I answered him he quietly turned around and walked back to his hooch. I believe that three things transpired from that incident. First, our refrigerator was promptly placed in our hooch. Second, Bussy was put in charge of us so as that Sergeant Pflum rarely needed to interact with us. Thirdly Sergeant Pflum secluded himself in his hooch most of the time.
Randy Kunkleman 04/16/98
I was setting in the far hooch by the Sky Crane Hilo Pad when I first heard the explosions. Everyone went out the opposite end of our hooch from where the lister bag was setting. We had a small trench dug in the side of the hill. My first thought was sappers are going through. As we tried to get in the trench I thought of trying to put two cubic yards of bodies in a one cubic yard container. It reminded me of a cartoon I once saw. In the cartoon a big group of people was trying to crawl under each other because a hungry lion was approaching. Each one of them wanted under the bottom of the pile. With the lack of available space I began to head toward the shower. I saw an enlisted man standing in the open wearing nothing but a towel. Contrary to the song about the billboard, he did not have a "smile" He was shaking much like a man with malaria. (I can not remember for sure, but I think it was Orville Gustafson - 2nd From the right below?) We went over and set down on the steps of a hooch. I knew he was in shock, so I just talked to him. He could not answer for a long time. When he did start to talk, he related how someone threw a rock at him. The rock landed at his feet and he immediately became angry. Picking up the rock he threw it back at the person who originally threw it at him. Half way back it exploded in mid air lightly wounding the original thrower. It was not until that moment that he realized the rock was a grenade. Because that LRRP was slightly wounded they found out who was involved with the fraging of Sergeant Griever. The last I saw Sergeant Griever he was wounded badly from his heals to his head. One of the grenades thrown, rolled directly below the cot Sergeant Griever was setting on. The next morning when we went to see the cot, we found a hole in the plywood floor, and a large hole in the cot, and the tin roof looked as if the stars were out at night. It was said he was sitting on the cot polishing his boots to get ready to testify against the LRRPs at an Article fifteen hearing. He had gotten to the door of the hooch when the grenade went off. It is my understanding that at least one of the three LRRPs received a thirty year sentence for that fraging incident. If he serves all his time he will get out of jail the Spring of 1999. Those three LRRPs only had a couple of weeks until they were to DEROS.
Randy Kunkleman 04/16/98
The training at Gray Army Airfield in some ways was as hard as the real thing. In the trips to the field we shared our living accommodations with scorpions and rattlesnakes. One trip out my ¾ ton truck began toward the front of our convoy and I ended up making it to our destination a good deal of time after everyone else. According to Monk when I limped in my truck was running on 3 cylinders. The times at the range may have been fun for the pilots, but it was all work for the armors. Hundreds of pounds of 7.62 went fast with 4 guns firing at 4000 rounds per min. Also when the wing store mini guns jammed, a good deal of live rounds went in the pound. I can't calculate how many live rounds I cranked back out of those pods. One of the easier jobs was CQ runner. I remember the first time I pulled CQ. After an evening of reading I woke up everyone at the proper time I was required to do so. I am amazed at how personal they took my waking them. First Kick Abner Meadows arrived and I said I would go get some sleep since he had taken over. As I was leaving, he sternly called me back. I was informed that the CQ runner was not finished until the morning coffee was made. I explained that I was not a coffee drinker and that I had never made a pot of coffee in my life. He was unyielding to my logic. Since I was very much in need of a little rest I decided to attempt this insignificant task. I found the very large coffee pot. I found a container in the top with holes in it and quickly reasoned out that this is what the coffee went in. I looked for the line to fill to and seen none. Having the intelligent engineering mind I possess I realized the coffee must go to the top of this container which undoubtedly was made just the right size. Next I needed to know how much water. With no line again it was easy to deduct the water must fill right to the bottom of the container with the holes. There was lots of coffee in the cabinet so I emptied enough of it into the container leveling it across the top with a ruler. I poured water in carefully getting it to the point it just touched the bottom of the strainer. I turned it on and went to bed. The funny thing is that even after I was so careful to get everything just perfect from an engineering perspective, I was never again asked to make coffee.
Randy Kunkleman 04/17/98
With all of us having disappointments and frustrations on a daily basis we at times were a little edgy. I remember working on the flight line one day when Frank Burdine (second from the left below) informed me that he was about to do me bodily harm. I tried to back away and reason with him, but he had made up his mind. He lunged at me with much gusto and instantly went crashing to the ground. I with no rational thinking had just used a judo throw, which I had not done since a YMCA class I had as a grade school child. With a good deal of verbal vindictiveness I was informed that I would never do that again. He lunged again and went down much like before only from a different Judo throw learned at that same class. That time when he bounced he got up silent. Deciding he had done me sufficient harm he walked away. The whole thing was over so fast that I never found out what started it. I thought very highly of Frank, and he showed in many ways that he liked me. I had many good talks with him before and after that incident. To my horror, and because of that incident, Jim Brown, the company "Bull of the woods" decided he wanted his chance to prove my encounter with Frank was not typical. He often tried to get me into an altercation. To my good fortune he never pressed the issue to its end. Aside from divine intervention the outcome would have been disastrous for me. We were like a family, but when having a bad day even a grown family, can sometimes act like little kids.
Randy Kunkleman 04/17/98
I can not remember how many times I pulled guard duty, but each time I went I would see one of the guys get out of guard duty by making "Colonels Orderly". After two or three dozen times standing in the guard formation I knew all the questions they asked. All of a sudden I thought it would be nice if I could do that. I memorized my code of conduct, had a special pair of fatigues pressed and spit shined my boots. Having mastered present arms, I was ready to compete. To my amazement I began to make it almost every time I went for guard duty. All of a sudden Sargent Pflum was livid because I did not pull guard and still had the next day off to do as I pleased. After four or five times of making "Colonels Orderly", he couldn't stand it any longer, so he walked me down to the first kick and asked him to make me go to the flight line and build rockets. The first kick said he knew that the Sargent Major had never called for his runner, and he knew that he would not do it now. However he told Sargent Pflum that he was not about to put himself in the spot where he might have to explain to the Sargent Major how his runner was on the flight line. First Sargent ended saying "I am not touching that man with a ten foot pole". It is ironical that Sargent Pflum was responsible for my learning all the answers. I did not have to be smart, I could not help but learn from the abundant repetition. When he found he could not change things, he began to have everyone take their own turn at guard. It went to several weeks between chances at "Colonels Orderly".
Randy Kunkleman 04/20/98
Most of us like animals, and GI's are no exception. We had an old cur female dog wonder though at Camp Eagle. We quickly named her Tatter and started to feed her. She decided to stick around. She quite often made her residence under our hooch. I like many others derived happiness and diversion from prevailing circumstances in occasionally throwing her a stick or pulling an old rag as she growled and tried to take it away. I had heard of a phenomenon when dogs mate called "latching on". The only time I ever saw that happen was with Tatter. I was in our hooch when I heard a dog pitifully barking as though it was being badly beaten in a fight. I quickly looked out to see what was happening. There was Tatter running along like nothing was going on. She was rear end to rear end with a stray male who with great difficulty was half walking backwards and half being drug. A litter of pups some time latter was produced, possibly due to that encounter. One of those pups was kept at our hooch. The other pups were at other locations. Unfortunately the dogs got sick with what was believed to be rabies. The brass quickly decided that shots would be made available to anyone wanting to take them. A large percentage of the Troop accepted since there was much handling of the poor deceased pets. Each day at the predetermined time we would all walk up to a building set aside for the this task. We had to lie down the same way you do to give blood. A large needle was inserted and the serum was injected. This produced a sensation much like a hornet stinger deep within your stomach pumping venom for an eternity. After the shot was over there was a required period of time to lay there and recover. Since you really did not feel like jumping up there was no argument about leaving. As soon as a person was able to get up (with help) off the table they went outside and decided to spend a little time resting. I took pictures of my stomach with all the magic marker circles showing where each shot went in. As I remember we were later told that they had determined that the dogs had distemper. They waited to tell us after the shots were done.
Randy Kunkleman 04/20/98
Due to the unique relationship between Sergeant Pflum and myself I was longest in grade as an E-4. This was apparently noticed by our XO and he called me to his office to find out if there was a problem. After a short interrogation I was asked why I had never gone before the board. I explained the small likelihood of Sergeant Pflum putting me in for a promotion. He asked if I felt I should be. I encouraged him to review my records to see that I graduated top of my class at AIT and had letters of commendation for extra accomplishments. I noted the positive effect of our Troop having the "Colonels Orderly" so many times. I indicated my opinion was I deserved it, but I was resolved to the fact it would not happen. To my surprise I was sent before the next board and scored high enough to make E-5 in the first promotions to go around. I found out later that it was my XO ,bypassing Sergeant Pflum, who put me in for the promotion. I hope I do not remember which XO it was, but it is my hope to someday express my gratitude to him for going out of his way to do something kind to me.
Randy Kunkleman 04/20/98
Just before we left for Viet Nam we were required to present our weapons for inspection to Major Dolin. I remember the instructions were clear concerning anyone caught using scalding water in the cleaning of any weapon. If caught, they would be given an article 15. After hours of cleaning and having my M16 returned each time, I became despondent. After finally succumbing to unauthorized means my M-16 was accepted. ( I deserved an article 15 )
Randy Kunkleman 04/20/98
One night as I set in my bunker the phone started to buzz. The first sightings of a group of eight or ten unidentified people beyond the barbed wire started to our right. They were carrying equipment. Immediately there was a request to open fire. After a small pause the instructions "do not fire" were given. Everyone was told that the first one to open fire would be court-martialed. That unidentified group walked past each bunker as if they were on a Sunday afternoon stroll. They continued past our bunker and walked on to the left until they arrived in front of the old dump. All of a sudden they could not be seen anymore. Ten minuets later they started mortaring Eagle. Now we were given permission to fire. Unfortunately no targets could be seen.
Randy Kunkleman 04/20/98
