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Date Posted: Tue, March 27 2007, 6:56:56
Author: Harry Larsen
Author Host/IP: 130.76.32.144
Subject: Re: Christmas Away From Home
In reply to: Jim Parkinson 's message, "Re: Christmas Away From Home" on Mon, March 26 2007, 15:27:23

Your mention of your buddy falling into a hole sounds familiar. It must have happened thousands of times across the country. No one ever thought to set up a barricade to prevent such accidents. Besides, it was SO dark there at night you couldn't see anything on a moonless night. Of course, being in a battery, we always had a generator running all night long to keep power on to the perimeter lighting and for the fire direction control center where it was needed to plot and calculate targets.

I never drank much while there. Maybe a beer or two at the most. I was older (23 when I enlisted) and had already had my youthful experiences with alcohol. I was into staying sober and clear-headed at all times. Part of me insisted that I make it home in one piece without suffering any "accidents". So, I never walked a straight line, but always zig-zagged every few steps and I always planned a route that would either give me cover between buildings/tents or where on the route there was a convenient hole surrounded by sandbags.

I remember New Years eve, too. I had barely gone to sleep when our battery erupted in small arms fire and I heard a lot of hootin and hollering. I didn't join in because I needed my sleep. Besides, I always preferred writing letters to cleaning my rifle during slack time. The din lasted for fifteen minutes or so and then sporadically after that for an hour. Good thing no one was flying around at the time--would have been hazardous to helicopter health. We were short on pop flares for the next couple of weeks or so. I wonder what that expenditure of arms costs Uncle Sam every year?

Semper fi,

Harry

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