Bob Grossman enlisted in the Army in 1969 at age 18. After basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and AIT at Fort Polk, he was sent to Vietnam where a high school friend got him assigned to D Troop, 2/17 Cav (Airborne). Grossman moved into a hooch at Camp Eagle, learned to rappel, then moved into a tent after dodging a garbage truck that crashed through his hooch. He relates a series of amusing, hilarious, heartbreaking, and disturbing experiences with the insights and candor of a Missouri farm boy. He shares his thoughts on bullet magnets, hydroxychloroquine, leadership, betel nuts, grenades, and bad haircuts. He comments on different kinds of missions, drugs and the “heads” who used them, boxing, Marines and Rangers, and blowing up latrines. He remembers parasites, and showers, and medevacs. And he remembers coming home, “I come from a conservative state, from a conservative county. … Mom, God, apple pie, my country first … That’s the way that was. … I drank some beer with the guys.”
Key Words: Fort Leonard Wood, AIT, Fort Polk, Pea Ridge, dying bug, Big Red One bunker, Screaming Eagles, Camp Eagle, Camp Evans, the Pig, hydroxychloroquine, RTO, Patton, Donut Dollies, Rung Rung Valley, ground radar, Starlight scope, Pink Teams, grenade, medevac, Long Binh, USS Sanctuary, Da Nang, Phu Bai, betel nut, Hac Bao, Kent State
Key Names: Gary Cooper, Kenny Calvert, Bruce Thurow, Elizabeth Eya, Bill Clinton, Bill Ayers, George Bush, John Kerry, Dennis Manning, Joe Biden, D. Morris, D. Gamertsfelder, Glenn Davis, Doc Funk, Diego Garcia, Sergeant Stanley J. Cruse, Command Sergeant Major Johnson, Clarence “Boo Boo” Hudson, Sergeant Charles W. “Charlie” Brown, Jason Robards, Frederick Douglass, Shivers, Ridgeway, Coy, First Sergeant Larry D. Buchanan, Stephen M. Kalipolis, Frank Bowie, Gary E. Hoffman, Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Molinelli, Sergeant Robert P. McCarthy, Staff Sergeant Jerry R. Trew, James J. Speicher, Donnie “Robbie” Robinson, General Giap, Ho Chi Minh