My First Day in Downtown Saigon

First Tour

The next day I was taken back to the headquarters compound to get my duty assignment. Back at Admin, I was told that since my MOS was 97C, Area Intelligence Specialist, I was being assigned to the Combined Intelligence Center where I would be doing studies on WET, weather, enemy, and terrain.

The First Sergeant took me aside and told me confidentially that no one knew what a 97C's job was, so they had just assigned me to an open position that seemed somewhat related to the name. He also told me that the entire unit had arrived by ship and that the officers and most of the enlisted men, himself included, had had only minimal training in Intelligence, except for those with 97D MOSs. He added that a lot of people fell through the cracks and I was one of them.

Since there was no transportation between the NCO billets and my workplace which was on Tan Son Nhut airbase, I was being assigned to a room in downtown Saigon. There was a group that also worked at the Center and traveled by three quarter ton truck each day. I could go with them.

They found a jeep and a driver, an E-4 who was happy to get away from the compound. He first took me to the airport and waited while I report in at the Combined Intelligence Center. It was in a large wooden building near the edge of one of the runways. They took my orders and told me to report back in the next day when I would actually start work. I also met the E-7 who drove the truck and arranged for transportation starting on the next morning.

The driver then took me to my billets which were on a back road in the center of town. It was an old hotel and my room (Yes, I had a room to myself) was on the second floor and had a view of the railroad yard. I realized that I was actually in a war zone when I noticed that all my windows had tape on them to prevent a lot of flying glass in the event of an explosion. I should also note that I was not issued a weapon.

The driver hung around as long as he could but finally left. I settled in, again taking only a few minutes. I had been told that I would get my meals at a larger hotel out on the main street, so I went out to find it. I had to pay for my meals but I got an allowance that more than covered the amount. It even covered some of the beer that I drank.

As I was eating, an E-4 from the Air Force came over and sat down. He said his name was John Flyguy (remember all the names, except mine, of course, are fake news, a term we are seeing a lot lately). We hit it off and he asked me if I was free for the rest of the day. I said I was. He had a car and wanted to show me around town.

After driving around for a while, he pulled into an alley and then went through a gate and we were in a large walled-in property. There were two buildings and stretched between them was a large sheet of plastic. This created a dry space which was occupied by a pool table. He said he often came here to play pool because the table was usually unoccupied. There were many roadside pool tables around but they were almost always in use by groups of young Vietnamese men.

We started to play and a few young women came out of one of the buildings. We ordered some beer and went back to the game. We were quite evenly matched so the competition was fierce. I was enjoying myself for the first time in a couple of weeks. The young women hung around flirting with us and bringing more beer. Both were nice.

Eventually, I had had enough beer that I needed to find a toilet. John directed me to one and, as I walked by an open window, I glanced in. Inside there was a completely naked woman with a GI on top of her. She was casually eating an apple but looked up and waved to me. A bit shocked, I did my business and returned to the pool table. I expressed my surprise to John. I had not realized this was a whorehouse, a veritable House of the Rising Sun. He said that he came here often but only to play pool and to drink their cheap beer. He thought that most of the women had VD so he would not use their services and suggested that I should not either. I didn't.

On the way back, John told me that he was shipping out in about a week and that he would gladly sell me his car for just a few dollars. I declined the offer.

I did not see John again because our working hours were different. Nor did I go back to the House of the Rising Sun.