Rick Holt's Adventures in Vietnam
Letters Home from Vietnam, 1971
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Long Thanh
February 26, 1971
Friday
7:30 pm
Dear Folks,
It's been another one of those boring days. Laid around the hooch all day. I think we have the First Sergeant convinced that we're supposed to be on 24 hour standby just in case the mission kicks off again up north. At least he hasn't said anything about us doing nothing all day. Only time will tell.
Got paid today. Still E-2
149.10 base pay
8.00 overseas pay
65.00 combat pay
222.10 total
minus 18.75 bond
3.00 life insurance
7.75 social security
193.10 amount received
I owe Paulson $17. I'll have to go to the post office to get a money order to send $100 of it home. Probably be best to put it in the bank. Still haven't heard anything on the PFC yet. Don't know what the hold up is. I think Seacord and I are the only E-2's in Vietnam. As far as the TDY pay goes I won't collect that until the mission is over. Then I'll have to go into Long Binh and fill out the paperwork for it. And flight pay is something else too. Have to take a door gunner physical and try to get them to cut some flight orders. They'll probably hassle about that just like the PFC. Guess I could always refuse to fly. Don't plan on getting that drastic though.
Got two letters you wrote on the 21st and some magazines you sent by SAM. The envelope holding the magazines was pretty well torn to pieces. There was a rubber band holding it together. I guess everything was still in it: One Sports Afield, one Outdoor Life, one Reader's Digest, and one Popular Mechanics.
Still have those two rolls of film to get developed. Have to get down to Bearcat PX one of these days.
As it turns out that alert last night was the real thing. Some NVA broke through the perimeter of Bearcat down the road and blew up a couple trucks. We were alerted just in case. We usually have a practice near the end of the month and that's what everybody thought it was.
Rick