dai nam van hien books, saigon 1970.
the ordeal of
an american militiaman
by the phong
TRANSLATED BY DAM XUAN CAN
CHAPTER II
WE WILL WIN THROUGH COMPASSION AND EARNESTNESS
or
THE DAGGER AIMED AT LIFE
Normally after each exercises a report must be forwarded to Captain Le in due course. The condensed version of this preliminary draft will be sent to the American Embassy in saigon.
All instructrors were to atted a meeting presided over by the Boss, San, now Assistant in charge of Training conducted the meeting. Thirty instructors were slipt in two groups, one headed by Kha and Cu and the other by San, Duong and Chung. The Boss no longer trusted San, Duong and Chung wholly, so be counted on Kha and Cu to counter the influence by the other group.
Chung and Duong were not silly, having earned their lives at extreme odds. As a result, dissension rose at alarming rate. Then Laywer Th. and some other came to Cat Lo from Saigon (they were afraid to be called up to Thu duc Training Officver School), Duong introduced a cronner who had just got degree in electrical engineering. Everybody wanted to prove his influence in this camp. Ironically all were more enthusistic about fighting each other than fight the Communists.
This would not surprise anyone accquainted with the political atmosphere in South Vietnam. The Nationalists were quite prepared to swallow each other, even in the free face of the Communists threat.
After discussing, we found these points:
- The people consisder American gifts as charity. They don' t like it.
- The people don' t think the PA men' s amateurish activities will do them good. The fear of Communist reprisals are very widespread.
- The people are not impressed by the shoddy behaviour of some instructors to the female cadres. They do not trust these lecherous creatures.
After pointing out the above things, San turned to the Boss,
" We are all young and inexperienced, so we count on you as a father. A father always forgive his repentant children. We give our word to correct ourselves and improve our efficiency ".
I was really fed up of all this. Now I did think I couldn' t care less. Frankly I did not see any chance in this amateurish program which called PA. This was the first point. Secondly, the chap so highly praised by San did not have the calibre of a leader. Thirdly, the presence of foreigners (like Captain Dowell in this last exercise) could only damage the program in the eyes of the people. I was depressed and angered. That night when I came back to my room, I loudly insulted everybody and everything, especially bitter about San' s calling the Boss as a father on behalf of the instructors. What did he do that for ? Simply because of his salary of ten thousand piasters a month. I found his behaviour so disgusting I called the storehouse keeper and said to him.
" I have to tell you this. Remember not to hand out anything tomorrow, no shorts, no underpants, no toothpaste tubes. San deserves to clean his teeths with cresyl only".
A few days later, I asked the Boss to terminate my appointment. The application was refused. I went to Saigon and stayed a fornight, ignoring all regulation (or the law if you like). One day I met Kha Lun on Bonard St. He said to me,
" I understand your feelings to that damned bastard. But I beg you to stay with the school. This time I come to Saigon to recruilt additional instructors. I bet none, including Tây Đôc * can afford to bother you, even Chung. ' We came in Café Kim Son. Sipping coffee, we looked out to the Bonard St. Kha Lun said,
---
* Literally, the gorilla. A nickname of Duong, songwriter. (TR)
" The Boss was not angry with you. He knew you liked straight talk. He did not mind your insulting San as he did not like San. I have something to tell you. The future of the PA program beckons very rosy. The Boss is going to take over the command of the others camps, namely Ridge and Seminary camps. The Yanks no longer want the Aussie, Lt Colonel Hitcock -- this damned Auusie is only good at training cold-blooded killers. The view of the American Embassy is that the APA man did much better than PAT men, nicknamed (after their coat of arms) the Dagger Aimed At Life men, because the former are more thoroughly equipped politically.
In March, 1965, the APA team in Chuong Thien Province scored many victories because they really lived and worked with the people. At their plea, the villagers appealed to their fathers, husbands, and children still in the ranks of the Viet Cong to return to the Govern-
ment at Kien Luong. The APA fighters also seized a lot of weapons in a series of clashes with the Viet Cong. Our men's morale was very high. The American advisers attached to Chuong Thien had sent congratulatory telegrams to the Boss.
I a report by Captain L. the province team chief, it is stated that a RD platoon (more then 30 members) had routed a company of Viet Cong regulars on opeartion. Wehad only two wounded while the enemy got fifty killed and lost a lot of weapons".
What Kha Lun said was true substantialy. In some other clashes with the Viet Cong things did not seem so good to our side.
Kha Lun turned to me,
" What do you know Thanh, the electrical enginners? Is he very keen on political manoeu-
vres? By the way please treat the news about the Boss as top secret, will you?".
I said,
" OK,, then told him about Thanh, I knew him as a crooner. He lived in the Viet Cong held area until 1955. He really had a flair for political manoeuvres. Do you not know that urged the Boss to employ Pham Duy? The day Pham Duy sung for the trainees, they clapped their hands like mad, but the Boss paled because he thought song like 'Rain on the leaves' would have adverse effect on the morale of them. The other day the Boss asked me, " what to do about Thanh' s recommendation? As a matter of fact Pham Duy could only spend a couple of days in the camp, he had to stay in Saigon because of other engagement, and he only agreed to serve as a first rank instructor".
Kha Lun interruped me, saying,
"What did you say/"
I replied,
" I told him tro ask your opinion".
He patted me on the shoulder, smiling,
"That' s very good, boy. But I am against Pham Duy. We have a real war to fight, and pacifism just does not help. We will together this Wednesday, there is a fight at 7 AM."
In those days, the road from Saigon to Vung tau very insecure. The Viet Cong blew up seven bridges in a single night the previous month. Our morale was pretty low. We also knew through the foreign press that the Viet Cong had gained control of many additional villages and a second Geneve type Conference was iminent. We thought we were finished this time. But our forces denied the Viet Cong a decisive victory. Wewere jubilant to hear the Saigon Vung tau road was opened again. Every affernoon, around 6 PM we could read dailies deilvered by bus.
Australian adviser Dowell returned following the inspection tour of high ranking offiicials from the Embasy in Saigon. There was widespred speculation that he had misused many hundred thousand of piasters. Another rumour said that his Vietnamese wife played a major role in this 'enterprise'.
This sooked the whole camp, beacuse he was generally considered as an upright person. He grumbled and showed extreme caution whenever best to be 'nice' to the American offi-cials who came to have a look at the expenditure records of the camp. The poor chap!
Women are never easy to handle, and leaders should bear this plain fact in mind.
As soon as there was the rumor that the Aussie Lt Colonel Hitcook would be shortly assigned to Pleiku and Captain Le would take command of all three camps, a beautiful girl named Thuong immediately drove a Jeep to Cat lo camp to contact Captain Van, the officer assisting the Boss.
Shortly before that I arrived late and they took $ 2000 off my salary. Apparently aware of my feelings he invited me to accompany him in a inspection tour of the camp. We saw Miss Thuong entering the room with a basket in her hands. The Boss said to me,
" Watch her, will you. Not long ago she had an affair with officer ... in the other camp. And now she sets out to flirt me. As I did not respond favorably, she now turns to Captain Van."
Captain Le smiled knowingly. He liked woman, but he tried his best to conceal his real feelings. Maybe because I was still angered for being 'fined' $ 2000 I was a bit severe to him.
" Miss Thuong is very nice, isn' t she? , he continued. Do you feel fine looking at her ?"
"All righ, Captain, I replied. May I ask you a question? Could youtell me what is inside her basket? Have a guess. If you can tell me all right. I promise to forget my being fined?"
"Are you still angered by me?"
"Not by you, Captain, but Xuan Sang *, who reported me my coming late. May I suggest you give the 'fine' to him. He is a darn spy, would you think? By the way, what is your guess?"
---
* or Tôi Toc Xoăn, or the poet of Cat lo camp. (TR)
" Don' t blame him. He just doing his job. You must blame me because he acted at my order. Well, I do not have a clue, to what is in Miss Thuong's basket. What' s it ?".
"That' s easy. She is bringing gifts to Captain Van. She has been suplying food to the other camps for quite some time, and now she is approaching Captain Van to get another contract for this camp."
Right then Tôi Toc Xoăn hurried to tell Captain Le that there was a phone call from Red-haired Adviser RED. Captain Le said goodbye to me while I was still standing on the dusty ground, thinking of the sort of secret deal with various influential officers. Whenever there were newly appointed officers arriving Miss Thuong and her friend Nguyet set out to suply them with love. Miss Thuong was responsible for Vietnamese officer while Miss Nguyet, much more bolder, catered for officers of the Allied forces. In most cases beautiful women got the best contracts, understandably. Even interpretors should be willing to run errands for their advisers' wives and make love to them -- these Viet women sometimes feel emotionally involved with their own people and subsequently find their white husbands too repulsive to go to bed with. Mind you, these 'favored' chaps should take pains to keep it a secret ! They must be darn good actors to please both the bosses and their wives! Knowing this, I felt only pity for the over bearing ways of interpretors like Tony Tuong.
Suddenly, I heard someone calling my name, I turned my back and see Toi Toc Xoăn coming to me,
" The Captain Commandant invites you to his room for a meeting."
When I arrived, I found all the teaching staff and the HQ personnal were present. The Boss announced the reason for convening the meeting. Once again he gave us a brush, for not working hard enough, for talking unscrupulously then he preceeded to give a lecture on the right behaviour. He particularly denounced some instructors like Kha Lun for lechery. But he pointed out a good thing about Kha Lun; he was very good instructor. He condemned the corrupt government. Lastly, he gave a few hints about some iminent change in the Political Action Program,
" As you have probably known, the Amnerican Embassy has summoned me for consultaion. They had high opinions about us. In the fiture, the boys in the Political Action will be thoroughly trained as our own boys in the Vanguard Political Action Program as far as politics is concerned. This requires a great number of instructors. I feel the cream of the present course will be able to do some instructing to help our overworked instructors. I strongly urge all of you not to cause any disunity among our ranks".
Now we knew Captain Le was going to become the Commanding Officer of all three camps. This meant that the 'Dragger Aimed At Life' men, administered the American Special Forces, had formally and officially acknowledged defend and the victors were the 'We Will Win Through Compassion and Earnestness' men. Yet paradoxically enough, there was nolove between the HQ and the Staff ! After this meeting, Captain Le gave his blessings to Kha Lun' side. This meant Kha Lun had outpointed San, Duong and Chung. Kha Lun was entrusted the task of recruiting over twenty additional instructors, who would give more strenght to his 'clan', he also interviewed all the prospectives instructors introduced by Duong, Chuang and Thanh. Thus the seeds of conflicts between the old timers and the new comers were seen. I foresaw Kha Lun would be used by Captain Le to get rid of San when he deemed it necessary.
I was in a bad mood these days. One day, a friend of mine who drove for the advisers on a casual basis said to me, that he would me quitting soon to come to Saigon. I ask him about his mate, the former chief driver in this place,
" Are Y. still in Saigon. He has become very rich, hasn' t he ?"
S. nodded. I invited him to go to pub near the camp to drink beer to mark this occasion.
S. was a very good man; he offered to drive me to the airport the times I flied to Saigon to supervise the printing of the school journal. We were drinking mates first , and real friends later. I ordered a 33 beer. Sadly looking in the direction of the camp, S. said,
"These days rubbish people could become rich with good to his mates. He has been working here pretty long. He acted as wonder he has become rich , after only a reasobablw short time".
"I was a good mate of you." I said, " Will you see hom when you come back to Saigon?".
"Sure, replied him, Now I has a big hotel in Saigon. At the moment he is building many new buildings. And all of this started with a couple of razor blades!".
THE PHONG
( to be continued)
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