Rick Holt's Adventures in Vietnam
Letters Home from Vietnam, 1971
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Da Nang
August 15, 1971
Sunday
3:30 pm
Dear Folks,
I've been up since 1:30 am this morning. That's when Davis woke me up and said I had to get 073 checked out and ready to take off to Da Nang at 4:30 am. Everybody else was supposed to leave at 5:30 am. I got off the ground about 15 minutes late. When we left Long Thanh 061 was still in the hanger. When I arrived at Da Nang 061 was already here. They left 45 minutes behind us and beat us here.
I went up on the first mission. It's the same set up as last time only this time it isn't practice. I took off about 9:30 am and landed about 2 pm. Everything went OK with the radios for a change. and when O'Briant relieved me with 061 his radios seemed to be working Ok too.
So here I am in Da Nang again. Supposed to be a 2 to 5 day mission, but it could go longer and even be cancelled. In other words nobody knows how long it is for.
Been trying to find something to eat. The RPI doesn't sell food any more. Guess I'll have to wait for the mess hall to open.
I'm scheduled to be on station again at 1:30 tomorrow morning. So it doesn't look like I'll be getting much sleep tonight either. With only 4 operators we get run to death. It's me, Sylvester, O'Briant and Kadramas. I don't know if I've ever mentioned him before. He's working in Avionics. Seacord likes the security platoon so much he wouldn't leave.
Got here in time to catch another band at the RPI. If I don't die of starvation by tonight.
Rick