Phoenix 13 by James Darryl;

Author:James, Darryl;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Military / Vietnam War
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Published: 2020-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Midnight Requisitioning

Virtually every military unit had a character in it who was especially adept at acquiring desirable hard-to-get goods through purchases, trades and midnight requisitioning. Midnight requisitioning was a kind of military borrowing where one unit stole something from another unit. The practice was generally acceptable to the military powers-that-be as long as a few rules were followed: (1) the theft must be benign to everyone and not done for profit; (2) the borrowing was not recurring; and (3) the goods borrowed were more or less surplus to the so-called aggrieved party.

All of the plywood the Division Artillery Air Section pilots used to build their recreation room was acquired from the Navy Seabees through various trades and some midnight requisitioning.

Div Arty Air’s trader and chief of midnight requisitioning – aka grave-robber – was Sergeant Jenkins. Some of Jenkins’ trades had become legends. His mother-of-all trade was the acquisition of a Huey-load of live lobsters. Jenkins traded two flight jackets, two AK-47s, a bloody NVA flag (made and bought in the local village and decorated with chicken blood) and ten cases of Coke to the Navy Chief in charge of a lonely radar station billeted on a small island off the coast of Chu Lai. The chief in turn traded the Coke to the villagers for the lobsters. The lobsters were placed in hand-made bamboo cages that were stacked four high in the C & C Huey. The critters were probably scared to death on what would be their first and last helicopter ride. They arrived in great shape, anxious to jump in the hot water and be eaten.

Jenkins’ monster trade allowed the Div Arty pilots and crew chiefs to have quite a feast. It was a big party. Pilots from sister flight units filtered in. Two non-rated majors from the hill above called ‘Silk Stocking Row’ even ventured down into Div Arty Air territory to partake of the feast. Later their Commanding Officer, Colonel Jones, heard about the soirée and asked Captain Fuller about it. A few days later, the colonel asked Fuller if he might be able to get the handy Sergeant Jenkins to obtain lobsters for one of his senior officer calls. Fuller told him he would be glad to relay his requisition request to Jenkins.

Trades were by far the best ways to obtain things in the military. In contrast to trades, midnight requisitioning could become embarrassing, and sometimes it could become a serious punishable offense. It required experience and finesse to do it well. The key consideration in midnight requisitioning was never to get caught, and if by chance you did, then have a clever explanation.

One recent incident of Div Arty Air grave-robbing backfired awkwardly. This incident involved Div Arty’s colorful, mature Lieutenant Baker, affectionately known as ‘Pops’. Ol’ Pops was quite a character. He was older than dirt, but didn’t act like it. The man was always cutting up and acting goofy. He was fun to be around and the brunt of many jokes. Pops was beloved by his peers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.