Walking Point: An Infantryman's Untold Story by Michael H. Cunningham

Author:Michael H. Cunningham [Cunningham, Michael H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

September 4, 1968

Life on Hill 69 was as pleasant as anticipated. It felt good not having to hump around in the boonies with a rucksack on my back. Boy did the guys stationed permanently on Hill 69 have it easy. They all had a job I am sure, but at least to me it didn’t seem like they worked too hard at their jobs. Everyone walked around in clean fatigues with neatly groomed hair and WITHOUT a weapon. This was natural of course. They were in the rear. It wasn’t necessary to carry a weapon unless you were on guard duty. Even so, this fact struck me funny. What if the gooks launched a sneak attack? Every-one in Charlie Co., except the machine gunners (M-60), kept their weapons empty. We didn’t want to ruffle the feathers of any REMF.

My first exposure to drug abuse was here on Hill 69, both with the guys stationed here and with members of Charlie Co. It was obvious who was smoking and who wasn’t. I say smoking because that is all that I ever witnessed, marijuana smoking. The guys that were “high” would walk around the hill, usually in small groups, and “groove”. Whenever I came upon one of their groups, they were always friendly. Especially the guys in Charlie Co. They would always offer you some. Even when I refused, they kept their charm and sense of humor.

They were, at least in their minds, literally floating. I didn’t blame them. Not one bit. It wasn’t my bag, however. All I wanted was some cold beer. Who would dare condemn these guys for smoking a little pot? All they were doing was escaping from reality for a short time. They weren’t harming any one. The only bad aspect that I saw of marijuana smoking was the way it broke down the guys’ sense of responsibility. I saw some guys, who were higher than kites, attempt to go down to the local “ville” and pay the whores a visit. This was a dangerous thing to do. We’d heard a lot of stories about guys going down to the “ville” and getting killed or else just plain disappearing. Whether they were kidnapped or voluntarily never returned we didn’t know. My attitude was that if they stayed on the hill and smoked a little pot, more power to them. They would soon be re-introduced to the stark realities of real life. Why bother them? I believe this was the attitude of most of the officers and non-coms also. They never bothered the troops unless they caused trouble. In fact, I saw non-cons and even officers smoke. Such is life in a war zone.

I believe the guy who enjoyed himself the most on Hill 69 was “Hiep”. Hiep’s story goes back a long way. Hiep was at one time a North Vietnamese Army regular soldier. Because of the language barrier, it was hard to get the full story behind Hiep’s life. However, through a Vietnamese interpreter we learned a lot.

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