THE ORDEAL OF AN AMERICAN MILITIAMAN by THEPHONG / Dai Nam Van Hien Books, Saigon 1974

the ordeal of an american militiaman - 2
dai nam van hien books, saigon 1974


                           the ordeal of an american militiaman
                                                          by the phong

                                                   TRANSLATED BY DAM XUAN CAN

                                                  saigon daily news '... writer goes his owm way...'

Real life experience had taught me that woman bring turmoil and even bloodshed to any piece.  Bearing this unpalatable truth in mind, I swore not to be trapped in any sort of romance since the very first minute I arrived here.  The greater caution the better, I said to myself,

The first woman I had to be careful with Miss Song.  A former student  of Trung Vuong High School and holder of the Baccalaureate certificate, and the first tutor sister in this dusty camp, she was a white-complexion girl with dreamy eyes.

Old man Thinh, former editor of the School journal gave me this useful advice, 

" Listen to me, young borther, I want to be of some help to you, I want to tell you about myself first as you are a new comer here.  I came from Thanh hoa province, former political commisser of Regime 97 of PAVN *  and a relative of Captain Le.  I never asked him to do me anything.  I am also a third rank instructor like you.  I think you can trust me.  I hope you will watch your steps when dealing with the following persons.  I will tell you about them. Miss Song is the niece of Captain Le and myself.  She has been engaged, so, have your hands off her, will you.  Beware of Tối Tóc Xoăn,  he is a close associate of three captains. Don' t try to be like the three section chiefs too.  Remmeber that if they make a fault, they will be pardoned.  But if you do, you will be sacked, just like me.  You must also show respect Mrs Sang, the widow of the hero who has made the supreme sacrifice for this camp. She is a real benefactor to many people.  You can approach her when you want to borrow some money.  As far as other things are concerned, I hope you will try to find out yourself ." 
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* People' s Army of Vietnam (the North Vietnmaese Army). (TR)

I ate heartily as I listened to him, because he meal was free.  He had invited me to his place to have some meal with him.

I only nodded to show my appreciation of his advice.  I was very reserved, as my purpose in coming here was to hear and observe rather than to give my personal opinions.  I came here not to dodge draft (as many of my friends did), neither to serve the 'Revolution', but simply because I could get as much 7000 piasters a month.  I foresaw that after only a couple of months, I would save enough money to have the first book printed.  How I proposed to study all the personalities here, one by one.


Military speaking, the camp was pretty well-guarded.  Every night the ordely officer had to go on tour to on tour to inspect different watching towers, waken  the sleepy sentries and to warn male and female trainees against promiscuous  behaviour.   He should mention all incidents in the records book to be forwarded to the Boss the following morning.  Nothing could be hidden from him.

One day I came back to the camp by plane, with the bunch of the School Journal copies which had been printed in Saigon.  Dog tired and still upset by the aggressive behaviour of the Cessna pilots, I was close to madness when I found my name on the roster.  At 10 PM
 I gave orderly the permission to go to his room to sleep so that he could replace me at 4 AM.  He would ake up at 8 AM so that I could sign the report.  I was also a bit worried about the location of the coming exercise.  I would have to go too because only guard company leaders and their men were exempted.

I felt San, Duong and Chung should have known the location.  They disclosed to me that the place was not very far and it took about three hours to go by boat there.  I put it out of my mind, as the clues given by my friends were just not enough.  Feeling very tired, I envied the section chief of Mr Hoa.  I know that any of these chaps have left the whole business to the orderly corporal when he was on duty as orderly officer.  But I was only a new face, I had to be more careful.  Every hour I went about two kilometers around the camp to see if everything was allright.  When I came to gate 3, I had to waken the guardman, saying,

" Get up, man.  Suppose the Viet Cong sneak in  now you' ll surely get killed and ny head will roll too."

He pleaded, 

" Forgive me this time.  Please don' t put this on the records book.  My wife and myself will be very grateful to you."

I agreed and he promised not to fall into sleep again.  I chose to forget the whole thing. Otherwise the guard company leader would report this to Captain Van, and the Captain could recommend the Australian Advisor to sack him.

As I was going, the gate 3 guard called me, saying, 

" Thank very much.  Now, may I suggest to you a device to keep yourself awake; you go in the direction of the Mess and you' ll  hear the trainees confide to reach other.  It would be very interesting."

I could notices wry smile on his face in the dim light of the flashlight in my hand.  I then haeded towards the Mess as it was my duty. The Boss would reprimand me if another reported to him about my failure to tell him what happened in the darkness of the Mess.  After I sneaked in the hall through a half closed door, I found the darkness inside was complete.  As I proceededto focus the flaslight on a corner I found a naked couple sleeping on a makeshift bed.  I rubbed my eyes, disbelieving what I saw was real.  Alas, the pregnant woman was the widow of the hero who had sacrified his life only a short time before, and the man was one of the first four men who founded the training camp in the firstdays of its existence.  Now that one has died, we are only three.  In those days we were instructors, guides and cooks and lavatory cleaners.  Now we have the services of twenty instructors nad they cannot look after one hundred trainees properly. Why is that?

I know who that man was.  He was the close friend of the late hero.  I intended to ignore the whole thing, but I did not want to get in trouble.  I then got out and raised my voice to them, 
" Would you come back to yours rooms to sleep, at the request of the orderly officer."

Upon these words I saw the widow wrapping herself in the blanket and running out of the entrance first.  I felt so dizzy I could not see anything after that.  My heart melted for the deceased hero.  His beloved woman just could not resist the temptation and his best mate was a wolf.  The longer the war dragged on, the more depersonalized people would be.  And none of us could expect to escape the fate of this unfortunate hero.

After a while I returned to the orderly room which was Captai Le' s office room.  Sitting on the confortable rocking chair, I lookest outside.  The aeroplanes had not come to sleep at, still engaged in the search of targets.  I was bitterly aware I was one of the nameless persons caught in this war, like the May files swarming around the burning lamp.  And my thoughts wandered through many subjects.  After the first issue, new series of the School journal Politrical Action was released, I was criticised for using a 'peace' poem as matter of fact the poem was written by an ARVN officer and the peace he longed for was a genuine one.  But the Boss was still very much ill-at-case because he feared the Americans might misinterpret his anti-communist stand.  I dozed off  till the order corporal came to replace me.  He said, 

" You can come back to the room.  The exercise will take place tomorrow in Long Son at the food of the mountain Núi Nua, the rest and recuperate center of the NLF soldiers at the time of the battle of Binh Gia, around 1964."

I nodded and came back to my room.  Really. many had to got up to prepare the equipment for the exercise.  I was not in much of a hurry because I belonged to the second party which would depart in the next day at 10 AM.  I thought of the incident at night.  Probably the friend of the late hero seduced the widow because he anticipated the fate which could be fall him any time at all.  I saw him packing in his room.  He siad to me, 

" I know you have a lot of money in gambling.  You can have one thousand piaster, Ok?"

He handed the sum to me, patting my shoulder many times to show his feeling.  The 'disguised' bribe settled everything.  Now we owed each other nothing.  Such my life, don' t you think?

Saint or villain, each of us finish his role on the stage of life.


On the Saigon-Vung Tau highway, holidaymakers see on their right hand side a fiber melon-shaped mountain before they go past Phuoc Tuy province.  That is Nui Nua, a stronghold of the Viet Cong.  In the tradition of the School, all trainees have to complete a week-long excercise in this area prior to graduation.

A party of guardsmen were despatched there to set up men listening posts around Long Son, the actual site of the excercise.  Although Long Son is only five kilometers from Cat Lo in a straight line, it takes three hours to reach there by speedboat. (because of the winding waterway). Instructor Hoa also came with guardsmen, he was in charge of the 'open arms' persuasion.  He had a rousing voice. His words to the newly recruited trainees in the opening ceremony impressed us.  They were as follows, 

"When you wear the black dress , you are no longer individuals; You have become an important part of the people, wholly dedicated to the service of the community..."

And so on ...

Each instructor wore fatigues and combat boots and carried a carbine with 60 bullets, a semi-automatic Browning pistol 15 and a dagger.  Instructors were attached to various groups such as the Battalion Headquarters or the Medcap unit. (consisting of female trainees cadres and tutors sisters.) 

As we approached the small river leading to Long Son, a guardman eyed Miss Song nad said to me softly,

"Do you know her?  She was the sweetheart of Captain Xuân the time NgocTây assumed the role of a reservist.   Ngoc Tây was supposed to act a shield for thew sake of the 
Captain' s prestige.  But after a violent brawl, Ngoc Tây asked for nothing less then to be the real lover, and he got it."

 I knew the story was true.  In the last staff meeting, Captain Xuân tried to force a motion of no-confidence in Ngọc Tây while the Boss was in mission in Saigon.  He threatened to quit if Ngoc Tây was still employed.  On his return, the Boss tried to reconcile them, but he was not very successful.  Then in the issue Number 2 of the School Journal Political Action, we published an address by Captain Xuân in which he discreetly urged the fornation of a political party.  The American Advisor blamed Captain Le, who in turn put the blame on us in a closed meeting.  And that was why we had to destroy and then reprint part of 5000 copies, just out of press.  Only a couple of days after, Captain Xuân was posted to Truong Son Training Center of Major Nay Lo in Pleiku * at the request of the Advisor.
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*  Truong Son Training Center produced the pacification workers who would work among the Montagnards, the tribesmen of Central Vietnam. (TR)

As Long Son came in sight, the guardsman suddenly asked me, 

 " I was very, very impressed by the Boss" lectures.  One day, when on duty near the lecture room, I overheard part of his lecture on the message of the Dragon King and the Lady of the Fairies and his expounding of the five oaths of the Political Action cadres.  Would you mind telling me about these, please !."

I replied, 

" The directives set by the Boss to us in the family of Political Action are to serve the fatherland, to resist the Communists and their henchmen and other enemies of the nation,and to help the poor and the disabled.  That is all I remember about it.  The message of the Dragon King and the Lady of the Fairies is one of reconciliation and union.  To carry out their duties the cadres have to be happy after the people and to be sad before they are. And they should concern with personal advancement.  As sons and daughters of the Dragon King and the Lady of the Fairies we all bound to make progress,; the Fairy is associated with Beauty and Goodness,  and the Dragon is the symbol of might and iinvincibility.  We should never accept humiliation and defeat .  Otherwise, we don' t deserve to live.  Let us not forget. that we are the sons and daughters of the Dragon and the Lady and the Fairies  Do you agree?"

The guardsman was obviously pleased with my explanation.  He did not know I spoke like a parrot.  I only looked forward to the pay day at the end of the month when I could settle outstanding accounts with the printers.

The guardsman watched the Polaroid camera in my hands closely, then said, 

" Could you give me a shot?"

Shaking my head I whispered to him that the camera was only for official use at the order of the Boss: I was charged with photographing the villagers and then handing out the prints to the people, as an act of goodwill. But I would photograph him when nobody notice of us. We then went ashore.  We moved to the Giong Rieng Hamlet.  Walking by my side the guards-man seemed to show his gratitude for my interest in him. He said, 

" I will tell you many interesting stories. (he now considered me as his mate), I tell you what, I think the Americans like the Boss very much.  Many delegations have come to the  School. The top head of the Political Action Program, a certain Doóc Thăng * was particularly impressed by the policy set out by the Boss.

---
*  Barry Zorthian, Director of the United States Information Service renamed later Joint US Affairs Office. (TR)

I nodded , thinking of the anti-espionage ace USIS * Director Barry Zorthian. Ace or not, his sneaky ways made me laugh, ones accompanied by Four Baer, another American official, he came to assess the progress of the three camps Ridge, Seminary and Cat Lo.  To conceal their real objective, they brought with them lots of American and Vietnamese books to be presented to the School Library.  Among other visitors were the American  Ambassa- dor to Vietnam, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister for Open Arms Tran van An, Caodaist Lieutenant General Thanh, Caodaist Major General Le van Tât, Lieutenant Colonel Hai, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Bui Diêm, and Lieutenant General Nguyen van Thiêu ... and foreign correspondents.  Air Vice-Marshall Nguyen cao Ky and Lieutenant Colonel Liêu also came to Cat Lo.  My guess was that the School would be assigned a bigger task or a new one after, studying the generous coverage by such influential magazines as Time and Newsveek.

Once, the Boss said to political instructors who were fraft dodgers,

" I will try to nullity the draft charge.  But all of you must devote yourself to the work in hand with greater dedication."

He completely won over Duong, San and Chung.  Any time these men wanted to go to Saigon for a change, they were flown in the military airfield in Tan son Nhat Airport in a Cessna or Porter.( it took only 25 mkinutes).  And American cars would pick them up there to bring to the heart of the Capital; Even if they were temporally held by the police or MP, a cell phone from a high place like the American Embassy would make them free again.

                                                   an instructor of PAT ( Politicl Action Team)
                                                      (Courtesy photo : Newvietart.com)

All told, there were companies  taking part in this excercise.  Two were deployed in Long Son, one was camped at Giong Rieng, five kilometers from Long Son.  A great number of youths in draft age run away when the PA men arrived.  Mr Hoa had to calm them down, shouting at the louspkeaker that the PA camee to help the villagers only, not to draft any. Unfortunately, he was not successful.  The village is not big.   There are about two hundred houses and a beautiful Nha Lang.* One hundred meters from Nha Lang was a popular forces post.  The Viet Cong often attacked the post at night, if the defenders could hold on till the next morning, they would be all right.  I also learned that a new village chief had been elected.  Captain Le asked a Southern born, soft spoken instructor to buy some golden votive paper and incense sticks to make offerings to the Nha Lang.  I had been around the country and I was very glad to know Long Son was a typically Vietnamese village.   The Nha Lang was a modern looking two-storeyed building with a beaitiful balustrade.  Around it there are a couple of smaller houses testefully furnished with old and rare objects.  I also found a lot of phoenix-and-dragon shaped dwarf trees.  I wanted to meet the old man who looked after the Nha Lang.

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*  Litterally, the House of the Village. It is used as a temple dedicated to the genuis of the village, and a meeting hall for the villagres on special occasions like Têt.  It is very similar to the Đình in the North. (TR)

He was about fifty years of age and had a chignon of hair --a typical Vietnamese in the olden days.  I had no difficulty in getting to the people, because of the Polaroid Camera. To the best of my knowledgem the Battalion of PA men had ten such cameras, quite enough to win the interest of the villagers, especially younger one. (if properly used, of course.)

A small kid names Binh took a fancy to me.  He was 12 of age and in the last form in the village elementary school.  It was he who introduced me to the old man looking after Nha Lang,

"  You are welcome" said Mr Muoi.  But I wonder how long it is to be able to meet you again, so that you can show me the prints?" 

Binh then tried to explain the sort of 'instant' photography be had just known to the old man,

" His camera is real magic.  It takes only five minutes to get the print.  The PA men are fantastic, don' t you think?"

Impressed by the kid' s words, Mr Muoi agreed to change to his best dress to pose for me.  When he got the print, he was very happy.  He said to me,

 " Thank you very much.  Is there anything in this village you want to write about? I would be given some help to you."

It took the occasion to tell him how happy I was to visit a village so rich in tradition and heritage and I confessed my absolute thrill about the Nha Lang, the most essential component in any truly Vietnamese community' s life.  

Smiling, he said, 

" This Nha Lang was erected a long, long time ago.  We all keep it to the hearts.  In the Resistance period, a French officer stood on the balustrade to urinate.  He fell down and was killed instanstly.  The Genuis of the village punished him for his insolence." 

For me I thought the vandal officer was killed due to his heavy weight, as the wodden balustrade might be near breaking point before the accident.

After leaving Mr Muoi I came to the Nha Lang to rest.   It was midday.  Lying on the cool floor lind with decorative tiles in the breeze coming from the nearby river I was  very relaxed. Everything around me was so quiet that I had the feeling I were living in paceful times.  After a while, Binh came to lie down by my side, talking about the Viet Cong.  Pointing to a huge rock up at the top of the hill, he  said that a little further beyond was Viet Cong territory, but there was little fighting though, as they only rested and recuperated there.

The sight of the near vertical treeless hill with huge rock on top stopped me dead because Long Son village actually lied astride the hill foot.  I thought Captain Van, the man in charge of organising our defensive position was not aware of this dangerous situation.  The Head-quarters of Captain Le and Captain Dowell, the Australian adviser set up near the Nha Lang would be smashed if the tricky Viet Cong could cause the huge rock to roll downhill.

But my guess was that the Viet Cong would leave us alone.  If they did, the Nha Lang would be damaged and the villagers would not nor forgive them.  So the Nha Lang served as a shield for us against the Viet Cong.

However, when night came, I went to stay with the guardsmen in Giong Rieng.  My friend Canh (whom I caught sleeping when he was on duty the other night) invited me to eart 
duck' hard-boiled half-hatched eggs and drink beer.  Sitting in the poor shop where the muff lamp light so dim we could not see each other clearly, Canh and myself talked about many things ay lengh.  He concluded,

" Before I was in the army.  After I deserted, I came here.  Having taken part in many operations and excercises around here, I know this place as the palm of my hand.  Don' t worry too much about safety.  I will take care of you.  Now I want to tell you a story I will never forget in my career as an American militiaman.  As you know, my wife was born in the South, so she was absolutely mad about Vọng Cổ *.  Alas, I could not buy her a transistor radio.  My salary is a little more than four thousand piasters, barely enough for a family of four.  And a good transistor radio cost no less than five or six thousand piasters.  At night I set out to search flare parachutes dropped by airplanes.  I was lucky to get two or three parachutes in such a night which I could sell at the price of two hundred piasters each.  I spenmt it on smoke and drinks.  In the last exercise I had a golden opportunity.  You know, I was informed in advance that the Viet Cong village chief of Dat Set used to carry a Japa-nese Sony two-band transistor radio cpmlete with shinning black leather case in front of his breast.  On the other shoulder he carried a AK 50 rifle.  I and my mates had tracked him for one week and we were tired out.  I also worried that if he was shot dead, we could seize the rifle; as far as the radio concerned, I could not be damn sure about it.  So I told my mates not to shoot to kill, but try to catch him alive.  One afternoon we spotted him sitting on the lip of a well, listening to the radio, smoking leisurely.  The well was dug next to the flank of a hill with the elephant grass growing thick all around.  We were only three meters from him and the damned bastard was still not aware of us.  I winked to my mates, reminding them of my advice.  I felt sure of success this time.  The raid had been minutely prepared.  Besides us, two other marksmen would take care of the track from the well to the village of Dat Set, the better I looked at the transistor radio, the happier I was. I felt on top of the world, thinking of my wife' s joy.  Oh boy, she should hear the radio all Saturday evenings.  Do you know what happened.  As I shouted, " Stay where you are or I shoot to kill" the bastard jumped into the well.
 " I then jumped  after him, but found nothing : he had disappeared.  So I told my mates to keep away from the well so that throw a grenade.  We waited for a while and his corpse did not come up.  He had managed to slip away in a secret tunnel.  I still blame myself for not shooting him at first sight."

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* Literally, to think of the past with  admiration.  Here it is the name of a song tune. (TR)



I looked at my friend more closely, and show that he was still very frustated about it.  He eyed my radio, saying,

" His radio is the same of yours."

" After having such experiences, do you believe in fate Canh?  Had the bastard  had not a radio, the bastard would have been killed  for good now", I said sadly.

Suddenly the H.T. rung up.  Was there any news from the HQ?  We eyed each other with misgivings.  A few shots were heard from the direction of Long Son.  We got up immedia-
tely, paid the shopkeeper and came back to the assembly area.  We advised  the others top get ready to fight as the guerillas had opened fire sporadically.

The cadres looked very nervous, especially the girls.  Short San moved around, exhorting the cadres to stand firm, drinking whisky.  Hoa was still shouting at the megaphone to call upon the guerillas to rally with the nationalist cause and the youths of Long Son to return home.  The guerillas fired a few shots in answer.

So, it was chear we would not have a free hand this time, as the Viet Cong felt they must do something to counter the good activities of PA cadres?  In previous 'Return to the Village' opeartions, females cadres handed out to the villagers all sorts of gifts such as soap, toot brushes, toothpaste tubes, candies and cakes.  All items were wrapped in flag paper.  The kids were given T- shirts with the flag knitted on them, and exercise books with the flag printed in the front cover.

Trainees nurse set up a medical  room and they distribute medecine to the people.  Male cadres built houses for the poorer and gave finiancial help to the needy.  There was and old man aged 70 living alone in his dilapidated hut in Giong Rieng.  The cadres repaired the hut for him and gave him clothing, sheets and blankets.  Before they moved to another house, a cadre painted on the hut two capitals letters T.H. *.
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* T.H. is the abbreviations of Thắng (Victory), Thương( Comapssion) and Thành (Earnestness). (TR)

The local guerillas reacted by spreading the rumour that the PA men worked for the Ameri-
can Green Berets, that their purpose in coming here was to check the population and report the draft age youths to the Regionnal Force, and last but not least, that the American distri-buted gifts were harmful health.

Unfortunately, before the PA men came, the Regional Force soldiers did search for draft dodgers.  Captain Le had to see the 2Lt post chief to find ways to reconcils cursactivities with theirs.  A few draft dodgers began returning to their homes.


When on excercise the instructors and trainees alike do a good job and they get along with each other pretty well.  Once back in the camp, I found the male trainees and male instruc-tors were no longer on good terms with each other : the female trainees were standing on good terms with each other : the female trainees were standing betwen them.  A number of lecherous instructors eroded the confidence of the male trainees in the instructors. 
 PA trainees from Chuong Thien province said to me, 

" You know I trusted the instructors in ths first weeks;  In the second, I already noticed they were a bit kinkly; In the third week, they seemed to be interested in the girls only; After the third week I lost my last sorap of confidence in their words.  You know Duong, Ba, Thinh ... they are all dirty old man.  I have caught Ba sleeping with Miss X, a female cadre.  I resen-
ted his action but I did not report ro the Headquarters personnel.  Because I was sure no action  would be taken against Ba ..."

Ba was the younger borother of a friend of mine.  He was very good at winning the trust of his botters, including the Boss, the Deputy Boss and even the Third Boss, Captain Van.  He was the trusted photographer whenever there were visitors, American and Vietnamese. One hot afternoon, he offered to go a long way to buy roasted quids and 33 beer for Captain Van.

Duong was a trusted man of the Headquarters, but a very bad instructor. because of his immaturity.  And his behaviour to the girls was deporable. Long after the graduation, a female cadre attached to the PA team in Tay Ninh provimce still came to see him from time to time, and Duong never failed to bring her to Vung Tau to have a good time.  He had no trouble failed the gate guards as he signed the pass himself.

As instructor practised the Tam Cùng * policy with a female trainee the singer of the camp. As a result, she became pregnant, The Boss had to summon him to his office and pleaded,
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*  Literally, three togethers .( eat together, sleep together and work together)

" You have to save yourself, the good name of the School and myself.  We all will suffer badly if this happen again.  You have to do the wedding at the earliest possible. If you don' t have money. each of us will contribute 200 piasters for a function in Cyrnos."

 I found the idea of 'marriage' very entertaining.  He already slept with her many times. 

 That night we could not sleep at all because of the enemy' s sporadic fire.  The trainees from Chuong Thien provimce dug in next to my foxhole predicted, 

" I don' t think the Viet Cong will launch an attack tonight.  They will harass us like this for a couple of nights.  When we all feel tired out, they will have a go."

I nodded un agreement.

The next morning the Boss returned to Long Son. The preceding afternoon he had to give a briefing to two important visitors, General Nguyen van Thiêu and Mr Bui Diêm, with the help of Chung, the Prefect of Studies.  He spent a little while in the H.Q. then came to Giong Rieng, accompanied by two instructors, Cu and Kha Lun.*  Formely Kha Lun was a drinking mate of mine in Café La Pagode.  Those days he was a law student.  Seeing San was not very pleased by the presence of two new chaps, I knew they would be terrible rivals of San.
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* Short Kha.

As for me I felt I had nothing to gain or to lose in this sort of rivalry.  A very cunning chap, and a crawler, San always in the open to seek to gain favors and promotion.  He used to complain with us that he had been  barred to more responsible position partly because of his poor appearence. Apart from that, he talked eloquently and was very good at manoeu-
vring.  For example, he often said the wife of the Boss could well become another Madame Nhu.  Naturally she felt flattered as she was a nursing sister.  I imagined that on rainy nights, she would tell the Boss, San was very capable.  San could capitalise on this extra dose of loving confidence on the part of the Boss.

Let me be fair.  The wife of Boss had a charming personality, but I could bot think of her as the would be First Lady  of my damned country.  I felt myself uncapable of San' s brand of flattering, though I never questioned its efectiveness.

Now I was quite pleased with myself for having many good pictures of the trainees in action to use in the forthcoming issue of the School journal.  Only after three days, Long Son had a new face already.  The waterways had been properly cleared.  The village children wearing T- shirts with the national flag printed on roamed the roadsjoyfully. In teh school, they were taugh to sing the national anthem and the PA theme song.  The dingy houses had been improved markedly.  A few roads in Long Son and Giong Rieng had been renamed as Hung Vuong Road, Biet Chinh Rd * ... The bulk population here still eyed the PA men with some suspicion.  Furthermore, they still counted the Government forces ability to protect them from the Viet Cong.  An old man talked to me frankly about what he felt.  The Viet Cong were very popular untill they forced the villagers to give them money and rice.  Now the villagers had allegiance in the Government, but they were reluctant to cooperate with the Government openly for fear of the Viet Cong.  I found the situation could be rectified, if afforts to protect could be implemented more effectively.

A kid named Binh came from Long Son to Giong Rieng to meet me.  He informed me of a Viet Cong arms cache in Nui Nua and offered to lead me there.  His trust in the PA through myself was so complete he even wished to come to Cat Lo to join us after this.  Or he would go to school in Phuoc Tuy province to escape the reprisal of the Viet Cong.  I asked him about the time the Viet Cong hided the weapons.  He could not be specific, but said that it was a long time ago.  I then told him it was unlikely that the arms cache was still there.  If the try failed, Binh would not be able to join us nor to come back to the village.

I thanked him for his trust in me and his allegiance in the nationalist cause, I also said that the best thing for him to do now was to stay with his parents and study well, because of his small age.  On the day I was packing for the return to the camp, Binh came to see me and wept.  I promised that in some more years, when he was more mature, I would be very happy to see him in Saigon to advise him about what to do to serve the nationalist cause. He nodded and was quite happy again.

I returned to the camp in a spaceboat.  At 5 PM the same day I was flown to Saigon to have the issue Number Two of the School journal printed.  Among other passengers were the Boss, a new instructor named Ly and tutor sister Song.

As the Cessna flew over Long Son I cast a glance downward.  I saw the red roof of the Nha Lang.  I also saw a big smoke rising from the end of Long Son.  I knew the trainees were cooking dinner.  I was almost five thirty according to my watch.   I wondered the guerillas would harass my friends at night.  Sitting on the soft chair I felt so happy because I would be in Saigon, the city of lights, very soon.  Think that only last night I had to sleep to the muddy foxhole and  a few hours ago, I was, still struggling in the camp.

And tonight I sat down in Café Brodard.  I slipped black coffee in a cosy room, hearing the dancing music from the Tu Do Night Club not far away.  And the smartest Saigonese paraded under my eyes.  I had a nice smoke and think of my mates spending the threatening night.

At the same time, the guerillas would begin their usual probes in this their efforts to win the land and the people to their side.  My God, this process had been going on for ever twenty long years.  

                                                             (to be continued)

THE ORDEAL OF AN AMERICAN MILITIAMAN by THE PHONG / translated by DAM XUAN CAN / Dai Nam Van Hien Books, Saigon, 1970.

the ordeal of an american militiaman
dai nam van hien books, saigon 1970 

                                               ------------   THE PHONG    -------------



                                  THE ORDEAL OF AN AMERICAN MILITIAMAN
                                             translated from the vietnamese *
                                                      by Dam Xuan Can













                                                         DAI NAM VAN HIEN BOOKS
                                                                SAIGON, VIETNAM
                                                                             1970

                                                                   ------------------------------------------------
                                                                    *   TÔI ĐI DÂN VỆ MỸ /    ĐINH BẠCH DÂN
                                                                                          Đại Nam van hiến xuất bản, Saigon 1967
                                                                      ------------------------------------------------



 INTRODUCTION  NOTE


The author of this reportage is a Vietnamese in his thirties.  In the coure of twenty years of the years of war he fought foe the Resistance, served in the French-run Nationalist  army and lived through the Republic régime of Ngo Dinh Diem.  In the last two years he became an American militiaman.

This reportage covers the period extending from the Ist of March, 1965 to the end of the 1966.  Besides producing an authoritative eye- witness account of events and persons, he also proposes to unflold the mInd of an American militiman, hence the imclusion of personal feelings and ideas.

As indicated by the title, the militiaman (or civilian figjhter) was paid by Americans.  To be more accurate, he was a lecturer in political science whose job was to expound what is behind the motto " We'll Win Through Compassion and Earnestness..." .  His colleagues are referred to in the local and and foreign as Pacification Workers of Revolutionary Development Cadres.

The author of this reportage is no hero, but he still ratains a sense of honor and refuses to be pushed around for too long.  He deals with  a problem which has never been tackled yet. He wishes to shed more light on a difficult time in history for the benefit of the generation to come.  He also hopes this, fank account of his ordeal will contribute to the nutual understanding between Vietnam and her 'big' Allies.




VUNG TAU & SAIGON
South Vietnam
late '1966' to early 1967'. 



                                                         CHAPTER  1

                                       LUONG SON BAC (*) TRAINING CENTER
                                       or
                                       THE PIRATES 'TRAINING CENTRE' 

----
 * Sanctuary of band of outlaws, heroeos of 'All Men Are Brothers', a masterpiece of Chinese firction by Shin Nai Am. 
    

I arrived at  Cat Lo Camp *  a noon in early March 1965.  This camp was formely used by Madame Nhu, the wife of the Supreme Advisor to the late President for the training of 'shrimp guards', commonly kown under the cultural denomination of  'Combat Engineers '. Those soldiers were to keep an eye on some tens of shrimp lakes in the vicinty of the township of Vung tau.  Holidaymakers from Cây Khê Bridge to Vung Tau Beach alongside of National Highway 15.  They also provided security for this portion of the national highway. To many their most notorious not was to kill Major Owen, a feared coup d' état expert.  The press reported that his Jeep was burned by the Viet Cong in  a ambush on the road to Long Hai Beach.  An instructor named Ch.  disclosed to me that he was in fact killed at the order of Ngo Dinh Nhu. They were also believed to secretly deal with the Viet Cong in many instances.  The American advisers gambled with Mr Nhu a lot.  Those affairs made headlines right before the 1964 coup d'état.
---
*  Cat Lo Camp is one of three camp knowm under the overal designation of the Vung Tau School for Political Action. 

The camp is located on National Highway 15, only 12 kilometers from Vung Tau, on the left-hand side of tourists coming from Saigon.  Before entering the camp visitors  see at the main gate guardsmen in the uniform of the ARVN *.  Unlike the regular Arvins they wear various brands of uniforms such as the Special Forces jungle dress and the Rangers' s leopard- stopped uniforms.  Many are hatless.  Once inside the camp, we cannot recognise the instructors and trainees through their dress.
---
* ARVN  stand for the Army Republic of Viet nam.

But the majority of them wear the black-pyjama garb, copied form the dress of the poor peasants.  Ironically, I think of Zorro when I look at them.  Some of my friends explain that they want to be likened to the suffering people.  This makes sense to me, in principle.  But let us not forget that this nation has become morbidly suspicious after more than twenty years of war.  In the eyes of many,  the Political Action Cadres are the mere replacement of the Civic Affairs Cardres of Ngo trong Hieu.*
----
* Ngo trong Hieu was the  Minister for Civic Action in the Ngo đinh Diem Givernment.

Actually the peasants today wear a medley of clothes.  Many have dropped the black pyjama garb together.  A few stick to it, but the stuff is less glossier, far more cheaper than that of the cadres.  Let us stop discussing the value of the Revolutionary Development cadres, symbolic dress and have a look at the real job they are doing.


I came to this training camp to have first- hand experience of an important program designed to win the hearts and minds of the people.  It is too early now for me to give any opinions on this matter.  I will have to sneak in the hamlets under the cover of darkness, braving the flying bullets of the National Front Fighters.. *   I will be in a better position to discuss then.

So what is Biệt Chính?

Biệt in the Vietnamese means special, anh Chính, politics.  Biệt Chính roughly means Political Action.  There are Biệt Chính Tiền Phong ( Vanguard Politics Action Program) and Biệt Chính Nhân Dân ( People Political Action Program).  American and Australian Advisers use the abbreviation APA for Biệt Chính Tiền Phong and PAT for Biệt Chính Nhân Dân.

As my knowledge of the American languge is very limited and I do not have a good memory. I only remember vaguely that APA stand for Advance Political Action ( the emphasis is put on the political aspect of problems) and PAT, Political Action Team ( the party has the operation size of platoon upwards.)

The chap who brought me to this training camp was Chung.  Of course, this is not the name recorded in his identity card.  The same is true of the other names which follow.   I have a special reason for not using the real names.  This has become a well-establisment tradition in my country with a four thousand eight hundred sighty six years long civilisation.  Let others live, you bastard.  To live is bad enough in itself and still we have to drink black coffee and eat hot chilly you see.

Chung said to me,

" What sort of drink do you want?"  ( he ordered a drink for me, than began briefing on the records of the first heroes in this Luong Son Bạc Centre, training the pirates for the nuclear age.)

Then he continued,

"Here we have two bosses who are two captains and a third captain whose specially is parade coaching.  We three are the leaders."  ( this  chap was very bombastic, but his grandiloquence seldom served a whorwhile purpose.)

"The first leader is Duong, I think you know him. This famous songwriter from the capital has come here to devote his time to the Revolution, renouncing the easy going artist life. He is not head of the teaching staff.  The second leader is the head of Research section, San. This short man speaks and writes French as easily as he drinks whisky, as he was an old-timer in Lycée Albert Sarraut .*  The third pillar is myself.  You know that I did before, don' t you?  I, the best speaker and coordinator in Saigon.  You want a proof?  I led the mob who chased General Van Tiên Dung * *  from Galliéni St to Hotel Majestic in 1955.   The bastard was in such a panic he was at one stage in the real risk of being flown to Hanoi without trousers on.  Naturally I am in charge of the Planning Section.   In principle the three captains are in the command but we really pull the strings here.  As you know, in a small and weak like ours, this is quite understandable.   This is why In think most Western journalists are pig-headed.  Most self-stayed war reporters nad political editors only write rubbish. They are just useless."
---
*     The oldest French High School in Hanoi.
**     General Van Tien Dung came to Saigon with a French Delegation in 1955.  This caused a bitter furore amongst the anti-Communists
population in the South.  He was quickly flown out of the country, Chung was instrumental in doingt this. 

Duong turned up.  He was the author of the soap song, " Evening is sreading on the riverband, the beautiful maids are strolling in townand threes."  He was no longer shy-looking as in the days he used to come to Café La Pagode.  The 'revolution' changed him quite a bit.  He wore black dress, and Phnom Penh sandals.  A Browning pistol on his hip and a swagger stick in his hands, he looked very impressive.  After a hello with me, he said, " What is really important lies beneath because it should not be reaveled under inopportune circumstances.  This is the basic idea governing all revolutionary activities, don' t you
 think? "  ( I had no choice but not nod.)

  Then, he continued, " So you see we three are the force behind the two-staged, three-fonted revolution.  By the way, did you have any difficulty in finding your way here ?" I nooded again, thinking he would please.  But Duong suddenly nasty, smarling at Chung,

 " Do you still think that this location is good.  The camp should be well-hidden somewhere one hundred masters off the national highway.  It shoud be a real meeting spot of the newbreed heroes, the revolution pirates."

He then turned to me, 

" What did you see man business?  Look at this blacks dress, look at this Browning, this pistol is real number one.  There are lots more. Pistols abound as autumn leaves."

I caught sight of a  Eurooean, and I thought the sort of revolution these friends of mine just talked about should have something to do with him.  I put out a provocative question

 " I agree with you are the revolutionaries fighting for suffering peasants, for all the low-living people of the race with a long record of weakness, humiliation and oppression.   I heartily wish you every succeess so that to tomorrow we all will be in a position to look white men rigtht in their eyes. I heartily wish so.  But would you mind telling me the exact role that particular white man fuffill in your revolution?" 

Chung was about to answer when Duong rushed to explain, 

" Don' t you worry about that illiterate chap.  He is an Australian  adviser.  The chap you will have to deal with in the Boss, Captain Commander Lê.  But you haven' t known him, have you ?"

We clinked the glasses to celebrate the day we meet again.  Frankly those revolution smelling cjhaps were too much for me.  I was almost overawed by Duong.  Chung continued, 

" San said he knew you.  He practised gym with you at Septo Stadium in Hanoi.  By the way, in lunchtime I will introduce you to captain Lê, Xuân anh Van.  I hope you will stay here for a couple days and you' ll make up your mind then.  We are your mates  Do you know maa, we propose  to publish a school journal.  You will look after that, will you.  You will have a free hand to say whatever you like about the corrupt goverment .* This program has nothing to do with it.  The American Government has agreed to finance the program.  But you will have to do research to find out Vietnameseness, to spell the message to the Dragon King and the Lady of the Prairies, to define the characteristic, the feelings and the aspira-tions of the Vietnamese people.  Our old school journal contains only mindless rubbish."

I could not help looking into the outside space, a patch of blue lined by the window frame and the range of mountains rising against the far skyline and a cloud of dusty sand blown up by the wind.  From afar there was the noise of skyraiders on excercise to remind us of the war.  Chung patted me on the shoulder, saying,

" My wife has arrived.  Come and see her!."

I followed him to this house in the married quarters.  I was very happy to see Thuy again. Her mere presence here made acceptable to me.  She immediately prepared some black coffee for me.  And she disclosed thát Tối Tóc Xoăn *  had been operating around for quite some time.  He had been married and was now a close assistant to the Captain Comman-
dant.  He was a classmate of mine long ago and also a member in my drinking party at La Pagode Café.  He had  a queer behaviour because of his service as an intelligence officer in the French- run Vietnamese Nationalist Army.  Every time he saw a lass going past the café, he spoke out a forget biography of her as if he knew every girl in the capital.  He often joked that what he knew about her was precisely what he did not.  Tối Tóc Xoăn was also a poet wrote slogan-sounding verse.  Here is a sample:

           "O sacred land
                                   which nurtured so may hereos in darkness
            Advance forwards!
            We' ll lead our fellowcitizens to a brighter future ... "

----
*  Curly- haired Xoăn. (TR)

Even in the old days he write in the same vein.  I often made a lot of fun out of his verse in the days when life was extremely hard to me as the cops threatened to jail me all the time for having publihed uncensored manuscript material.

Thủy said to me, " Tối Tóc Xoăn is very expedient now.  He writes poetry for the Revolution. He brings toilet tissues from public lavatories home for his kids.  He is real thirty now."

                                             Thủy (left) said to me, 
                                                                         " Tối Tóc Xoăn , he writes poetry for the Revoltution..."
                                                                                   (Courtesy photo :  Nguyen \manh Cuong)

    

At noon, I came to the Mess Hall to meet Chung.* He introduce me to Captain Lê.  The Cmmandant was salt haired, serious looking,  slightly built man in late thirties.  He seldom smiled.  When he tried to have a broad smile, his lips were still highly clenched to each other.  Seeing me taking out a package of Blue Bastos cigarettes, he smiles, 

" Do you like this brand of cigarettes?" 

'Will all due respect Captain, I am sure you' re far more revolutionary than I am.  Could you tell me your favorite brand of cigarettes?"

I thought he smoked Lucky Strikes cigarettes like other ambitious man.  Many considered Lucky Striles as a well -- wisher because it meant un coup de chance. *   But he let me down by saying

 " I do not smoke, thank you!"  

 Then he smiles -- a crocked smile.  Judged in the light French étiquette he was not a easy chap. After Chung told him that I mignt be the new editor of the school journal Political Action, he expressed his wish that it would have a distinctive mark and I would succeed in the first encountger.  At thtald have a distinctive mark and I would succeed in getting the message of Revolutionary Development across.  I listened passively.


After taking leave Captain Lê, I asked Chung about some other persons.  Captain Xuân, Deputy Commnadant was nicknames Deputy Boss.  His white skin and bright eyes gave us positive clues about his breeding.  He came from a rich family, was politically -- minded but still 'innocent' and good natured.  Then man next to the Deputy Commandant was captain Van, a magnificent parade coach. 

It took me three days to know the key men in thie 'pirates' training camp and what was going on, I decided qwto stay.

I also found out that the School for Political Action comprised three seperate training camps which more or less arried out the same learning program.  The Boss was in charge of Cat Lo Camp.  Before making any financial decision, he consult an Australian officer named Dowell.  Then man who had overall command on all three camps was an American adviser named Courage.  Like Captain Lê, I thought he was a very good type, un bon papa *  right after the first encounter.  At that time the Number Seven Course of APA was hearing graduation.  Three hundred trainees consisting of more male than female members were given both military and political training.  The nurse trainees looked after the health of their counterparts and where also entrusted with the task of winning the sympathy of the villagers by their humanitarian activitivies.  The school training period lasted approximately nine weeks plus one week-long excercise in a contested area.  They would confront only lighweight enemies, namely the local guerrillas.  And yet we had an instructor named Chac and a guardsman killed and a few trainees wounded when the Number Six Course trainees went on excercise at Hoa Long, a small village some kilometers from the township of Phươc Tuy.** The school still gave Mrs Chac and her children housing and food.  She later became an usurer.
---
*    In French in the original text (TR)
 **   Ba Ria- Vung Tàu province, now.

The sort of political training given to the Revolutionary Development cadre trainees dealt with general civic education * and pertinent current affairs.  It was hoped they would be well equiped to debate communists politicals cadres with reasonable success.  Personally, I felt their chances were rather slim, because the Civic Affairs cadres had not fared very well after doing a similar syllabus.

The training camp enjoyed the facilities of a five hundred seated meeting hall.  Above the lecturing dais were a large national flagf, an elongated S letter out in the middle and a large banderols reading, ' We Will Win Through Compassion and Earnestness ' abbreviated in to T.H.
---
*  the Vietnamese sentence reads, " Chúng ta sẽ Thắng bằng Tình Thương và lòng Thành Khẩn"


According to a lecture given by the Boss T.H.  was the symbol of the Revolutionary Deve-lopment Program, just as the Cross was the symbol of Christianism or the Wheel of Buddhism and the swatika used as emblem by the Nazy régime.  Around the walls were full of posters reading, ' Political Action Cadres Are Not Afraid To Die but To Sumit to Humilia- tion Which Party Has The Righteous Cause '   The National Liberation Front Or The Political Action'  We Invite You To think Again. '

These slogans diid not make a great impression on me because  I thought WILL referred to the future, a future which could evade us for ever.  I did not say this to anyone, as it was none my business.  My busimes was to edit the school journal, I said to myself I would do my best although I Had been given a raw deal : I was employed as a third rang instructor.  Al my three friends Chung, Duong, and San got each two thousand piasters more than I didi every month, because they were first rank instructoirs.  This sort of uneven treatment somewhat destroyed the impact of the beautiful denomibation Revolution we all cherished. Do you agree with me, my dear readers that revolutionaries shoud not ask for favours like pay rise, and promotion because their oneand only concern should be the life of the people, the welfare of the people.  Revolutionaries must to eat live, but salaried revolutionaries are seldom genuine ones.  This sober view almost killed whatever enthusiam I had for this program, financed and advised by the Allies. ( I would think Supervise is a better word.)

At the moment I was preoccupied with the plan to come back to Saigon the following day to settle my family affairs so that I could take up the job.  My aim was to earn enough money to print my already mimeographed manuscripts.  So I accepted things at face value.  When the Boss asked me whether I had read the book 'Communauté des hommes' by Jean Nélis, I knew immediately that he himself was a left- wing Roman Catholic.  As I read the book as early as 1957, I could easily impress the Commandant.

Now I was sure my manuscripts would find their way into print.  I knew this sort of flattering was shameful, but I had reached anage when moral principles sounded pretty hollow.  I adopted compromise asa way of life already ... A proverb in my country sumps up thi spirit as follows, " If someone comes first, I shall be second, and if there is a second, I should accept with pleasure the third place." After hearing me praising Jean Nélis, the Boss nodded and said, " In the final analysis, religion id an effective tool in the hands of leaders."  I knew what he meant by this. The days I planned to come to Saigon. Captain Van drove to the Vung Tau airfield in a Jeep with a T. registration plate and handed me a letter to the Super Boss, Courage by captain Lê.  I would be flown to Saigon in a Cessna and the same place would bring me back on Wednesday.After settling myself in my reserved sent in the Air American twin-engined plane which I found to be more comfortable than the soft chair in Olympia Night Club, I suddenly remembered a reamark of the Boss to the trainees,

" When I required the air transport service of a foreign airline, my thoughts I founds in this lie a painfully familiar ring with the words of a few leaders in the Resistance era, ' When we are on mission overseas we wear nice dress and eat good food, we suffer terribly because we cannot help thinking about our low-living compatriots.  Don' t you know we are forced to do so simply because we cannot afford to have the white man look down upon us, the repre-sentatives of a small but brace nation '." 

These bastards, whether they were nationalists or communists, always tried to rationalise each and every of their corupt practise.  But I was no longer a white-collared chap. I was over thirty. They could not fool me, the bastards.  And suddenly I felt an overwheming pity on the trainees who did not question the sincerity of the Boss.  They were like myself some fifteen years previously.

At the Cessna flew on toward Saigon, I was able to watch the beautiful Vietnamese countryside with innumerable tiny square paddocks I wondered how the Boss could detect any sign of suffering of the people at such a dizzy height, as he told me before.  The only possible explanation was that he found the sufferings of the people just by looking deep in his heart.  

I admitted I had urinated on my suffering compatriots don' t you believe ?  

                                                                                           (to be continued)

   THEPHONG

                                                         The Phong    [i.e. DO MANH TUONG  1932-      ]
                                                                                         (  photo by TRAN KIET NO)