Engineer Memoirs
True, if we were planning to be there for ten years--and we certainly should have
planned to be there for ten years--some stuff should have been put in. But there was
a lot of stuff that should not have been put in.
This is just a logistician speaking. But it's my view of a mistake we made.
Q:
This is a period of some pretty significant racial tension in the American units in
Vietnam.
A:
I don't remember that being a problem. I don't mean we had no cases. But I didn't
sense that there was a real problem with race relations. I don't remember riots or any
incidents where we had a shoot-out between different people and so forth. We had
some very fine black officers and black NCOs and black enlisted men in our units. I
don't remember anybody making a big thing about it. I think integration was working,
as I remember it.
Q:
What about drugs?
A:
Well, this will ever be a mystery of my life because I've read so much about the drug
problems in Vietnam. We certainly had people on drugs. At least, we had accidents that
were traced to drugs. But I don't recall--and I will ever wonder if I was just ignorant
of what was going on--that drugs were a major problem in the 34th Engineer Group.
Let's be clear on the time. This was September of '68 to August of '69. I doubt if drugs
were any more of a problem than alcohol in the 34th Engineer Group. You always have
the drunks that cause problems.
Q:
The Army provides cheap booze.
A:
This is somewhat of an opiate that goes on. I'm not against drinking, but you get
problems with accidents and other problems that stem from drinking--fights and so
forth. I'm not aware that drugs were a big issue in the 34th Group.
Q:
We were talking about standards earlier. So you weren't distracted by this kind of stuff.
A:
That's the point. Having read about all of it since, then the question comes up, Jiminey,
do you mean to say that all this was going on and I never knew about it? There's no
way to tell.
I've seen quite a few of the people I served with on various occasions since. [Lieutenant
General Ernest D.] Ernie Peixotto, who commanded the 86th Engineers, and [Colonel
Clyde A.] Pete Selleck, who preceded him. My deputy, Dick Lawrence, I've seen since.
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