Carl S wrote:
The book is well worth reading, and it was one of the first anti-war novels written, with humor. If you have ever served in the military, especially the Army, you will identify with several of the characters in the book, especially the antics of the trading that goes on in the military. During the Vietnam conflict, I was the company commander of a signal company supporting the 1st Air Cav in An Khe, and our trading commodity was electrical power which we traded for all sorts of goodies from various officer and non-com clubs on base. We were always well stocked up with good beer, whisky, and steaks: you always had to pay your bill for electrical service!
The book is well worth reading, and it was one of ... (
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At Ft. Gordon, GA, it was referred to as the "Clerk's Mafia." In Saigon I was at an Info Office that was overstocked with Polaroid film for some reason. I had a friend at Long Binh who worked for the sgt who was in charge of the gear taken from GI's going home. He was hungry for Polaroid film so we traded for bags full of poncho liners which were a scarce commodity in Vietnam at that time. We then took them across the base to an Air Force film unit and traded them for huge amounts of Kodak High Speed Ektachrome. The clerk there said he was sending the poncho liners home to his wife to line his finished basement! I can't imagine what that looked like! We all got liners as our EM quarters in Saigon were air conditioned but there were no blankets. Poncho liners were ideal as a blanket in those circumstances.