Dispatches from APO SF 96289 - 1970

The only things I saved are some scruffy old pictures, full of scratches and the deeply ground-in red dirt of III Corps, taken with an Instamatic whose lens was equally full of scratches and deeply ground-in red dirt. The lens, even when pristine, had no hope of really focusing on its subject, but the camera was tough enough to survive several days of life in a ruck or the cargo pocket of jungle fatigues. Troopers of D Troop, 3/17th Air Cav usually got a camera, by hook or by crook, to take some snapshots for the few people at home who cared. I was no exception.

I took these photos in late 1970 to reassure my wife of one year that things were not as bad as they seemed. For example, I was trained as an 11C40 mortarman, and we hoped I would sit at a nice base somewhere, passing the time lobbing mortar rounds off into the boonies. Since that dream didn't come to pass, I had to explain the gun jeep.

I tried to explain to my wife that this was my gun jeep with the experimental XM-509 pants hanger
deployed.I also told her that using the jeep was better than walking. She was unimpressed.

I remembered that she had been greatly impressed by the firepower demonstration at Fort Benning, particularly by the backblast demonstration of the 106-mm recoilless rifle. So, I sent her a picture of my 106.

SSG McIntyre of the 1st platoon tried to make the gun as pretty as possible.
My wife wrote only that she didn't like the big noise it made.

I knew I had to put the situation in the best light possible for her, given that waiting at home was probably worse than serving in the field. So, I sent her pictures of life as we knew it.

For example, we did get Thanksgiving dinner, with most of the trimmings.

And Marvin Hughes (right) and I showed the Christmas spirit.

We got mail fairly regularly.

Sometimes, we got to go on helicopter rides.

And sometimes we traveled in a motorcade.

I was among friends she knew -
Sgt. John Nyikos (second from left), with whom I had trained as a shake-n-bake at Fort Benning,
and Dave Emerson (third from left) and John Alexander (fourth from left), whom I had trained at Fort Polk.

I apparently trained John Alexander well. Here is his combat fashion statement-
the Delta Troop maroon beret, accessorized with an M-60.

I made new friends, like Can Do, a barber and ex-VC sniper who was one of our Kit Carson scouts,	And Tran Van Duc, Kit Carson scout, ex-NVA mortar and rocket officer and one of the most intelligent men I have ever met.

First Platoon's Lt. Johnson was the first officer I served with in combat. It didn't take me long to learn what second lieutenants do best, so I took a picture of the LT doing it.

The pictures were true, but the story they attempted to tell my wife was not. The pictures did not tell the story of Delta Troop's Vietnam. I have borrowed a picture from fellow Delta Trooper Sgt. Jerry Smith to explain why the pictures I sent to my wife told a story that was not true.

Rick Dormeyer Enjoys Lunch at Fire Base Jay.
From the Jerry Smith Collection

The reason that the story I told my wife wasn't true is that life in the field really sucked:

I later found out that my lie was transparent, but still OK. It became a convenient and mutually agreed reality between us for a year. The time to clarify reality and establish Vietnam as a part of our experience was for the future.

I guess we did OK with it. We celebrated our 36th anniversary in 2005.