Nice Cockroach One of the pretty average sized cockroaches that used to roam the trailers in battalion-sized formations. It doesnt really look that impressive in this pic. But, it was important to me at the time that we get a shot of one. Those are Mike Wilsons hands. He went on to be a famous cockroach hand-model in later years...or a staff sargeant, I forget. Same same anyway.

In our spare time we'd devise cruel ways to exterminate them. I remember dousing one in lighter fluid and setting it ablaze. Some fun, what? I remember the cockraoch stopped for a second, realized it was on fire and then took off running. Didnt seem to phase him too much. He disappeared under something and thats the last we saw of him.

Poolside w/ Mike Wilson
Mike Wilson, "Poolside". [ I have to assume that those are my 19yr old toes in the lower right hand side of his pic. ] It's always been a source of amazement to me that we were allowed this sort of luxury in the midst of what was going on around us in ICORP. Saigon, maybe, but we were 40 miles south of the DMZ!

Did we have this stuff cuz DET"J" came here so early in the war and were able to get some nice amenities setup? I guess that's so. We had trailers with air conditioning, a snack bar, a movie theater, a EM club, a NCO club, tennis courts, a chapel, a crafts thing, God knows what-all...

I'll never forget the look on the guys face I saw in the snack bar ( his eyes bugged-out of his head ) late one night after swings. He was with Graves and Registration, he was asking the same question I am now. "WHAT THE HELL IS ALL THIS?!?!?!?!?!?' 'HOW CAN THIS EXIST IN THE SAME SPACE AND TIME I EXIST IN"?

If I were really speaking to him telepathically, I'd have said, "Beats me! All I know is what I do ...and that is: send what look like some pretty important messages all around the world. I don't know where all this shit came from. I can tell ya' though, it's even better in Saigon!"

Mike Wilson actually in the pool
Wilson again, actually in the pool. Notice that the water is not blue, theres some algea growing. Luckily though, I don't see any turds floating in it.

I swear, a couple days after this picture was taken one (a turd) showed up in there and the pool was shut down again. Somebody said it was just a Baby Ruth someone had thrown in, and then someone else said, "YEAH, RIGHT"!!

Don't know for sure, I just remember that the pool experience was a short-lived one.


Hell, we had to go back to sunnin' ourselves between D-Row and the blast wall.
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