At the risk of causing any Grunts who might read this to groan, I have to admit that we had TV at Penthouse/Trang Sup until some scut stole the set. I've always suspected that it was the work of a Special Forces Colonel who once accused us Air Force types of corrupting his men. The SF troops, using the shaky excuse that it was OJT, admittedly enjoyed watching reruns of Vic Morrow's Combat!

The Colonel dropped by the camp one day and found himself  faced with a small difficulty: how to tell the Army people from the Air Force ones among the men moving about the general area. Everybody was bare-chested, hatless, shirtless, wearing a tee shirt and shorts, a tee shirt and uniform pants, or some such combination of clothing. Fortunately, nobody was doing any nude sun bathing.  

The Colonel scanned the men in sight and picked out the huskiest one, a well-built young man who, as luck would have it, turned out to be our friendly local Air Force Sky Cop. The Colonel was not amused. Grumbling something about flippin', undisciplined Wing Nuts, he ordered all the Army personnel into full fatigues.  

Needless to say, although the Army continued to wear the proper fatigue uniform after the Colonel left, the wool headgear gradually began to disappear again in favor of cooler covers. Even the Special Forces guys got a chuckle out of the Colonel's mini-tempest, although they'd had to suffer a little because of the Air Force's subversive influence in the choice of suitable tropical attire.

© 2002 Thurman P. Woodfork

Webmaster: Thurman P. Woodfork

View My GuestbookSign My Guestbook