We All Want to Change the World by Tom Waldman

Author:Tom Waldman [Waldman, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor Trade Publishing
Published: 2013-05-14T21:00:00+00:00

7

LET’S LIVE FOR TODAY

Robert Hodierne dropped out of college in 1966, the end of his junior year, and purchased a one-way ticket to Saigon. Hodierne had been intrigued by an advertisement in a photography magazine directed at those who were “young and hungry and wanted to be rich and famous.” Although the notice read like a Hollywood casting call, the company that placed it was actually looking for aspiring reporters and photographers to cover the war in Vietnam. It worked for Hodierne. He wrote a detailed letter in response, sent it to the given address, and then waited in vain for his assignment.

Disappointed yet undeterred, he decided to try a different approach. If the company wouldn’t get back to him, well then he would go to them.

Hodierne bought that one-way ticket to Saigon, and when he arrived there he headed straight for the office of the photo editor for United Press International. He placed his original letter on the table, and demanded an explanation for UPI’s failure to respond. The photo editor claimed ignorance, but he liked Hodierne’s attitude, and offered him a job on the spot. It was the beginning of a long career in journalism for Hodierne, including many years as national editor and deputy bureau chief for Newhouse News Service. Today he is senior managing editor of Army Times Publishing Company.

Reflecting thirty years later on his hastily arranged trip to Saigon, Hodierne said he must have been “fuckin’ nuts.” But it sure seemed like a good idea at the time.

He worked in Vietnam as photographer and reporter for UPI and its chief rival, Associated Press. He recalled that in 1966 the American ground forces primarily consisted of enlisted men, both older and more seasoned than the typical draftee. Hodierne recalled that at the time the American side seemed confident of victory and well prepared. “It was a time of relative innocence over there,” he said. “We still thought we were going to win. America was going to go in there and kick some Vietnamese butt, and that was going to be it.” The war effort had not yet disintegrated into the chaotic, freaked-out scene depicted vividly in the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. “Drugs were not in widespread use among the soldiers,” he said. “If there were any drugs being used at all, it was pot.”

When they were not out in the field, the troops went in search of diversions, as troops have probably done since the beginning of warfare. They partied in Saigon’s clubs and took short trips to safe areas around the country. They also listened to rock and roll at every available opportunity. In those days, the local U.S. Army PXs sold top-of-the-line Japanese stereo equipment at incredibly cheap prices. The soldiers bought as much of it as they could afford, thereby earning the distinction of being among the first groups of American consumers to satisfy a voracious appetite for Japanese-made electronic goods. “You’d go into these tents and there would be these huge speakers, reel-to-reel tape decks, pretty good systems,” said Hodierne.

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