The B.C. showed up a few seconds later, his personal revolver in hand, and I reported to him the confrontation we had resolved. He announced the MP’s were on the way. Unbeknownst to me, he had had a similar confrontation. He told me that I’d saved him a lot of paperwork. He was returning with his weapon to shoot the guy. I’d prevented the violence from getting out of control. I would have to represent the battery in the court-martial to follow because he was getting short, (coming to the end of his tour of duty), in a month or so. Later that day, the soldier manning the guard tower said that he had a bead on the guy with the pistol, any shots fired and he would have dropped him. I laughed and told him I doubted that would have saved me but thanks for the help. The MP’s arrested the pair shortly afterward, confiscating the .45 and also finding a grenade or two. The speculation was if they were on drugs. They were not members of the battery, but were 40mm Duster gun crewmembers manning the perimeter.
A month later at the Court-Martial, we all reported to Phu Loi or some other base, my memory is weak here, for the hearing. We sat together on benches waiting for the procedure to begin, chatting amicably. I asked what had started the dispute. The fighter said they’d asked to join a basketball or football game that some guys were doing for exercise. He said he was informed “Niggers weren’t allowed” by the white guy next to me.
I asked if this was true. These were the same guys protecting him on the perimeter. He said he spoke those words, but was just kidding; the black soldiers used that term all the time referring to each other. This was before the Army started the racial sensitivity training classes. I informed them all that I needed to tell the truth at the hearing, I’d be under oath. I told the black soldiers that their mistake was not informing the battery commander of the use of a racial slur. He would have Article 15'd, (a less severe military punishment system), the other guy. He did apologize to them, and seemed to be sincere about his mistake. Later at the hearing, I was hopeful that some form of justice would prevail because the hearing judge was an African American Major. I heard later that they both served time in Long Binh jail followed by a less than honorable discharge. I now understand the Hearing Judges’ rationale; too many heavily armed soldiers in a high stress situation to allow an insult to rule reason.
Back at Song Be, near the end of my second week, Sgt. C. returned from his big adventure, the ¾ ton truck loaded to the gills with all kinds of tools and parts. He told me that he had to be picky while loading it because he could have filled a 5 ton truck. More stuff would be following, but would be slower to make it to us. I felt guilty that I hadn’t provided the 5-ton to begin with, and maybe collected more coupons from the other officers for more stuff. Sgt. C. told me he was sure he could have scored another gun so we could have had five in our battery. I thought damn, missed opportunities! That would have impressed the Battalion Commander! I probably could have wangled another gun for Alpha too. I then remembered making a promise to Major Merritt to behave myself. Learning a lot about the Army supply system, and doing well, I settled into doing my job and helping the Commander with whatever he needed. I hoped to break the monotony by scoring a stint as forward observer for somebody.
I used my coupons one other time. Sgt. M. wanted to throw a nice going home party for Capt. Buhnmann. He asked me for one or two to insure we got the supplies necessary to do it correctly. I was surprised and happy when he presented me with some very large boxes of real steaks, like you buy in the grocery store. I was unaware that such niceties were available in the Army supply system, having become used to the thin “horsemeat?” steaks that we usually ate. He also procured charcoal for cooking. Some of the maintenance crew welded a grill together for him. The guys appreciated the effort. I don’t think we ever had a morale problem in Bravo after that.
