Chapter IV
After a couple of days in the
Qui Nhon transient barracks, our company's
equipment was unloaded from the ship and was ready to take to
Pleiku. I was assigned to drive the supply truck, a fine Duce and
a half.
/
/
Being a 4th Echelon Maintenance Company, we had a lot of equipment and the vehicles to haul it in. Those that did not convoy with us, went by air.
I remember that morning. My shotgun and I checked out the truck and loaded our rifles and ammo. I also had a .45 I had borrowed from my bud, Sam. It had a full clip, one in the chamber and cocked and sat on the seat, right next to me the entire trip. There was no way I could drive and shoot an M-16, hence, the .45. While I have been a non-violant person for most of my life, that does not mean I'm a pacifist. I had my mind set that anybody that got on the driver side runningboard was dead. I thank God no one did.
We also had a cooler full of ice and soda for the trip and (since I read Tarot cards at the time) I had the
Death Card riding
on my
dash. My shotgun was a little troubled by this but I told him I
would rather have Death inside, where I could keep an eye on him.
We had so many vehicles that we were a convoy unto ourselves, along with two gun ships in the air, a 5 Ton pulling a dragon wagon with mechanical turret sporting quad 50's and a couple of 5 Ton cargo trucks with 50's on them. I think the Army wanted us to get to Pleiku in one piece. There may have been more support, or there may have been less. These are the numbers I remember.
The trip was long, hot and uneventful. I had no problem with the "uneventful" part. I remember a few
things about it, though. I was glad I brought ice and soda with us. I was very glad we didn't get hit. I
remember shifting gears a whole bunch of times. I remember the two passes pictured below (even though these were taken on another trip):
THE TOP OF AN KHE PASS
---------------------------
THE TOP OF MEN YANG PASS
