Military Passenger Terminal - June 1967

Steve Hughes, on July 10, 2008, said:

I sure do remember my first day in country. It started in Cam Rahn Bay. Waited for a good part of the day for a flight to Phan Rang. What an eye opener, saw guys that had spent a lot of time out in the field sleeping on top of their duffel bags, you know just keep their possession safe. A lot of fresh faced kids and seasoned solders. I was one of the kids, 19 years old and just stepped into THE REAL WORLD of life and death, what an eye opener that was.

Flying into Phan Rang was a thrill ride to say the least. Just flying along and the plane seems to drop out of the sky, to make a very quick landing. Then I learned that plans could backup.

After the C-123J shutdown and the ramp was lowered, we all walked off. Now here I was in Nam and had no clue where I was and where I should go. I ask a SSgt. where I should go to check in. He told me to go over to the bus stop and get a ride to the other side of the base and check into Headquarters, but since it was Friday I would have to wait till Monday. So I got on the bus and found transit housing for the weekend.

After I got a bunk for the weekend I went out to find the mess hall. Now this is a trip.

While I was standing in line I heard someone call my name. I started looking around to see who it could be, and low and behold It was Sgt. Rodriguez from Lowry AB in Co. He and I worked together for over a year out there. SSGT. Rodriguez worked in Packing and Crating, I worked in the Transportation side of TMO. I have to say that I was one of the lucky ones, strange place, strange land and I ran into a friend. He took me under his wing and I moved into the TMO barracks that night. This was the start of my life in Vietnam.

PS

SSgt. Rodriguez was married to a Lady from Ireland. He used to ask some of us to Listen to tapes that his wife had sent him, what a laugh, no one could understand what she was saying. He loved it. This man was the first and only Spaniard that I met that had bright blue eyes and red hair. I'm here to tell you this kid was growing up, in a hurry.

Also the sarge made Tech while he was there.

steve russ, on May 11, 2009, said:

Like Steve, I vividly remember my first day in country. Also flew into Cam Rhan around 9 pm and had to wait for a flight to Happy Valley. My friend, Bruce, from Seattle (and Lowry) napped out on a picnic table at Cam Rhan waiting for the snack bar to re-open at midnight after a cleaning. I awoke to the strange sound of foreign voices and saw a group of Vietnamese (ARVN) troops standing around me. I thought I'd been captured already until I saw their US Army advisor nearby. Welcome to the Nam!

I also remember the weird french fries the snack bar made. Basically mashed potatoes, squeezed thru a can with square holes in it, then fried. Hey,it was the closest thing to FF's we were going to get!

One other memory most of us had on arrival, I'm sure - the rediculous heat and arriving in summer class A's! At 9pm, we're getting off the plane loosening our ties (nothing like wearing a suit to a combat zone) and old timers walking around with field jackets and flak vests, trying to stay warm. I left 10 months later around the same time at night and was one of those guys sitting in the MAC terminal wearing my field jacket with yellow VO short-timers ribbon attached chuckling at the newbies wiping the sweat from their eyes!