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time table

It's funny, when you finally get aboard the troopship, you just
don't really believe that you're going home. Like everybody else, I
counted the days - marking them off on a small card-calendar, the
kind that drug stores and banks give out around Christmas. Marking my
x on that damn card was the high point of my day. When we were in
heavy fighting sometimes a day or two would pass before I'd have a
chance to pull the thing out. I sort of had guilty feelings when I
crossed off more than one x in order to catch up.

The importance of a card-calendar doesn't impress you too much,
does it? But to me, it was sort a last link with reality. The first day
you get to Da Nang the C. O. whips this super-pep talk on you -
patriotism, gung ho, the outfit - the same type of thing they hand you
in basic training. Later, at the front this colored sergeant gave us a
different perspective. He pOinted into the dense jungle, and said,
"See that, out there? All you do is go out and try to come in with
Some of your ass left." Yeah, come back with a little of your ass left.
But it's all over now, and I've still got the damned calendar in my
wallet.

The troops on the ship seem quiet. I always pictured homecomings
as John Wayne affairs. But I guess we all can't believe that we are
still alive. This ship is so clean, uniforms, good chow _ all a little
strange getting used to again. Times passes quickly on ship. Out
there, sometimes you felt like there were no divisions of time _ just a
prolonged hell.

The arrival in New York was a bit strange. There was a tugboat
strike at the time, so we only had this small Navy Cutter to try to get
us into our Slip. Well, the wind Shifted and we rammed the damn dock
and almost wrecked the entire area. After things got straightened out.
we finally got our gear assembled on deck. By this time. it was sno~-
ing like hell. As soon as I stepped off the gangplank, this cabbIe
pulled up and asked me if I needed a lift. I sort of just collapsed onto
my duffel bag, and tried to gain control of my emotions .. With the snow
all over my face, and my arms full of gear, I replied that yes, I needed
a lift and got into the cab.

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