In Our Duffel Bags

Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War October 15, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Title of Review: "Vietnam Was The Steady Whop, Whop, Whop of Incessant Choppers, Rain & Artillery Firing It's Version of Pain For Victor Charlie" At last, a book has come out that contains more than punji stakes, claymores, sampans and napalm sorties. Sure, a gritty war story of the hardships experienced by a soldier, marine or airman can be a gripping page turner. However, if you read enough of them eventually one blends into the next. Once in awhile a new book comes out where even those aficionados who know the most esoteric in that particular subject matter will read a new offering and be spellbound with fresh information. "In Our Duffel Bags" is one that does exactly that. If you check the literature for an existing memoir that details a soldier's experiences in the last American non-volunteer army who served in two major conflicts simultaneously, your findings will be scant. You might be wondering what those two major conflicts could be. The answer is the Vietnam War of 1964-1973 overlapping the Cold War of 1946 to 1991. This memoir draws parallels: the conflict in S.E. Asia was fought with search and destroy operations, free fire zones, and heliborne combat assaults. Equally if not more volatile was the situation in Europe, fought with super power coalitions, espionage, proxy wars and propaganda. The latter one all sides shuddered at the stakes involved, the possibility of nuclear obliteration. How important was Vietnam to America in relation to the Cold War? Consider this; while most Americans paid very little attention to the daily occurrences in Vietnam other than listening to a television rattle off the nightly 6 P.M. KIA and WIA figures, the "other war" had an entirely different, more prominent effect. The authors of this book, while trying to escape the raging war in South Vietnam inadvertently wound up with a front row seat where the forces of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO Alliance played a dangerous game of brinkmanship. All Americans would be touched from the end of World War II, when English author George Orwell coined the term "Cold War," to the crumbling of Berlin Wall's in 1989. Vietnam would reach America's citizenry by virtue of being the first "television war." But other than those directly affected, the 8,000 oceanic miles from America to South Vietnam accented its minimal intrusion into public conscience. Conversely, at one point during the 1950's all of America was subject to air-raid drills, elementary school students were hiding under desks and families built personal bomb shelters. Although this level of apprehension subsided after the Cuban Missile Crisis, movies such as "Planet of the Apes, Dr.Strangeglove and The Day After" reinforced national awareness. Richard Geschke and Bob Toto were part of the 80 million children born during what was deemed the "Baby Boom." This was a group that from 1946-1964 grew up with Vietnam, John and Robert Kennedy, Woodstock and the Apollo 11 team of Armstrong and Aldrin landing in the "Sea of Tranquility." While Geschke and Toto uniquely experienced both wars, they also were participants in the last phase of the Vietnam conflict which became a fervent American quest to disengage itself . With the Anti War Movement fueled by a succession of events starting with the 1968 Tet Offensive and continuing on with President Johnson deciding not to run for reelection, the riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention and the assassinations of both Kennedy and King, the " Domino Theory" became an anachronism. The Cambodian Incursion and resulting deaths at Kent State, My Lai, and the most damning, the "Pentagon Paper" leakage resulted in an unstoppable national obsession to desperately extract our troops and simply forget about Vietnam. Containing Communism had now become an anomaly, These are the basics of what the authors would also witness in S.E. Asia, a program called "Vietnamization." This novel word came from President Richard Nixon's Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird. Henry Kissinger, the President's National Security Adviser and Secretary of State wrote a book in 2003 entitled "Ending the Vietnam War" explaining the word's origins. He revealed that in a National Security Council meeting that took place on January 28, 1969, the topic at hand was making the Vietnam War a conflict strictly fought by Asians minus any involvement of U.S. ground combat forces. Henry Kissinger wrote that during this meeting Melvin Laird remarked: "What we need is a term like "Vietnamizing" to put the emphasis on the right issues." Nixon immediately liked Laird's word." The term was promptly put into use, and both Geschke and Toto, freshly uprooted from a 18 month tour in West Germany would witness what would develop into an American exodus and a complete take over by the South Vietnamese of all their own military responsibilities and operations. However, all of these occurrences were forty years ago, and like most Vietnam Veterans experiences, these memories were buried in the back of Geschke's and Toto's minds. What changed this? A dream of Geschke's! Let's backtrack a little, and explain the genesis of this memoir. Dick Geschke was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated in the ROTC program from Kent State University in August of 1969 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. While he claims he could have become a teacher thus being granted a deferment, he acted on his desire to gain experience in leadership as well as pure curiosity. Certainly a peculiar time to be inquisitive, 1969 held perils quite unfriendly for an American stationed in Vietnam. Geschke was ordered in November to Fort Benning, Georgia for Infantry Officer Basic Course. There, placed into class "IOBC 10-70," he would receive ten weeks of training all geared towards placing him squarely in the gun sites of the North Vietnamese Army. In January of 1969, Operation Dewey Canyon began. This was a major operation by U.S. Marines in the Da Krong Valley between South Vietnam and Laos. Now, the U.S. was breaking the "Rules of Engagement" and illegally entering a supposedly neutral country militarily without its permission. In March, President Nixon authorized "Operation Menu," the secret bombing of NVA sanctuaries in Cambodia by B-52s. In May, 46 men of the 101st Airborne died during a fierce 10 day battle at the infamous "Hamburger Hill' in the A Shau Valley, near Hue. If Geschke didn't notice this, he must have wondered why his IOBC instructors continuously issued this warning during every lesson: "If you don't do this, you will die in Vietnam." Nevertheless, after arriving at Fort Benning and settling into his assigned barrack, he noticed a fellow second lieutenant struggling with his baggage to find his quarters. Dick felt sorry for him and went to help Bob Toto, a Massachusetts native. This resulted in an unbreakable relationship that 42 years later continues to last, with the co authorship of this book as evidence of its durability. While Geschke and Toto were trained at Fort Benning with the old M-14 rifles, despite the fact that M-16's were being used at their intended destination, it is interesting to note Christopher Ronnau's comments about this rifle while in Vietnam. In his book "Blood Trails, he made this disturbing remark:" "More than a few grunts in the company had already experienced problems with an M-16 jamming in combat situations and thought that we should be using AK-47's or something more reliable. Because the Brass couldn't contradict the official party line publicly, most of them favored the M-16. It would have been easier to teach a pig how to fly than it would have been to undo a multimillion-dollar contract between the Pentagon and the arms industry." In regard to the war per se, Geschke mentions that as 1970 approached, the nation as a whole was divided. The My Lai Massacre made headlines, and while Lt. William Calley was being held at Fort Benning awaiting his trial, the two authors saw Calley walking with his entourage to the dining hall. The Army's plan for Geschke and Toto was to serve at a domestic station for 6 months and head straight for a 12 month tour of South Vietnam. However, Geschke and Toto were enticed to sign up for an Army program called "voluntary indefinite," a "bait and switch" program that they would 18 months later call a "time bomb." The deal was that by signing up, they were guaranteed a 1 year assignment to anywhere that there existed U.S. Army infantry units. Geschke's tour of Europe would last from February of 1970 to August of 1971, with 14 of those months spent with a line unit at Graves Kaserne, West Germany. Both Geschke and Toto spent one month in Fort Bliss, Texas at the "Redeye Missile School" and then shipped out to West Germany. Gescke wrote: "It was our hope that during this one year span, Nixon would withdraw combat forces and our tours would be completed in the non combat zones of the friendly confines of West Germany. However, he had not counted on inept, vindictive commanding officers standing in the way of fulfilling his hope. It was at this point that the two authors separated, as their only time together was while at Fort Benning and Bliss, and for a brief period in Panama, after their little gamble of "vol indef" did not pan out as expected. Once in Europe, Geschke actually wrote a profile of different officer types that existed in the zone of West Germany, such as ROTC, Officer Candidate and West Point Officers. He mentions that aside from confidence, leadership qualities and knowledge of all facets of their commands, these leaders needed to possess "a large ego with a noted military swagger." There are situations where this can be a negative trait, as it worked against one military commander noted for this. In Bud Willis's book "Marble Mountain," the author relates a story about "The Little Giant," General Victor Krulak. Upon realizing his name in Mandarin Chinese was "Chu Lai," Krulak named the area after himself. He excessively possessed the "military swagger" that Geschke referred to, even carrying a "swagger stick." The story in "Marble Mountain" is about Brooke Shadburn, Krulak's personal Huey pilot assigned to transport him about South Vietnam. Bud Willis asserted: "Shadburn told us Krulak has a collection of swagger sticks. He carries a different swagger stick with him each day. Swagger sticks were discouraged in 1959, and are considered by most Marine Officers to be the epitome of attracting attention and intimidating others. One of Krulak's favorite sticks is a riding crop, commonly used to whip racehorses down the stretch. When he talks to Brooke, he sometimes unconsciously taps him on the shoulder with this riding crop. Unbelievable!" What follows is a fascinating development of what it was like as an American officer with the tense background of the Cold War, ever present. While in what Geschke called "Training in Hitler's Playground, he mentioned the poverty suffered by East Germans, drug and alcohol abuse, favoritism, carousing and womanizing antics. Nevertheless, the stark reality of his presence in the Seventh Army set in. American forces were outnumbered by Warsaw Pact troops six to one, and if attacked by them, he asserted: "We were mere cannon fodder and pawns in the grand Cold War Strategy of Armageddon. American tanks, should Soviet forces go on the offensive, were directed to point their guns and fire East, but flee West. This attitude is corroborated in Flint Whitlock's Historical fiction account of his tour of duty. Similar to Geschke and Toto, Whitlock wanted to serve his country, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant through the ROTC. He entered active duty in December 1964. After attending the basic Air Defense Artillery officers' course (ADA) at Fort Bliss, Texas, Whitlock earned his jump wings at Airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was then posted to a Nike Hercules battery in Baumholder, Germany. After two years in ADA, in 1968, Flint was transferred to South Vietnam, arriving one day before the Tet Offensive in January, 1968. He served for six months as a supply specialist at 1st Logistical Command Headquarters at Long Binh, northeast of Saigon, before being transferred to the 14th Inventory Control Center at the same post. As Dick Geschke would discover, inventory control and transfer would be a critical element in Vietnamization. In his book "Internal Conflicts," Whitlock uses his protagonist, Peter Luton, to explain the anxiety that all American troops faced in West Europe. Training to man the "Battery Control Center" that launched missiles aimed at the Soviet East German border, he was being taught by Lt. Stiles, his commanding officer. Whitlock penned the following: "The green, sweeping line of the radar scope illuminated Peter's face with an unearthly glow as he scanned the blips that brilliantly bloomed as the sweep passed over them , then faded to nothingness until the next sweep. "That's commercial traffic around Frankfurt, said Lieutenant Stiles, the Battery Control Platoon Leader, as he pointed to a half-dozen slowly moving blips. "Down here, that's military traffic around Ramstein Air Base. And over here is Weisbaden Air Base. Peter noticed a diagonal, jagged line that had been drawn in red grease pencil across the upper right-hand quarter of the round scope. "What's this line?" "That's the border between East and West Germany," Stiles answered. "Every so often, we'll see a dozen or so blips in formation heading our way-probably MIG's-but they always turn back before they reach the border." What happens if they don't turn back?" Then, Pete, "Stiles said, the proverbial balloon has just gone up." Peter gulped. World War Three would be minutes away would be just minutes away if ever those advancing blips did not reverse course and re-cross the red, grease-penciled line." Bob Toto was assigned to the "Berlin Brigade" to be a central accounting officer. He had it "too good." With his own fully rigged apartment, the social milieu at that time offered an overabundance of single, aggressive females. This was a result of an overabundance of German WW. II deaths. Although they never were together in West Germany, events were about to conspire, reuniting the two. Vietnamization was affecting American combat units in Europe, with 90% of all brand new equipment going to S.E. Asia, earmarked for the use of the Army Republic of Vietnam's use. Toto and Geschke would soon follow. In May of 1970, Geschke was assigned to a mechanized infantry platoon of the line. His commanding officer was constantly disappearing to the Bavarian countryside with his fraulein for days at a time, with everyone covering for his unexcused absences except Geschke. Animosity developed between the two, and this commander in an act of vengeanc