THE NAVY ADVISOR IN VIETNAM

this is the vietnamese navy headquarters in saigon home port for all units of the vietnamese navy fleet command nearby is the naval shipyard saigon built by the french in the 1880s the shipyard was occupied by the japanese in world war ii it currently plays a major role in maintaining the effectiveness of the vietnamese navy at the north end of the shipyard is the building which houses the offices of the fleet command it has at its disposal more than 50 ships and other support craft all american-made on any given day fleet command units can be seen here between patrols others are deployed to the coastal zones or in the delta an lst a pce patrol craft escort an lsl landing ship support large a pgm motor gunboat and other craft if you're assigned to the fleet command you'll be advisor to one of these from saigon ships and craft of the fleet command are deployed to coastal zone commanders in the four coastal zones the coastal zone headquarters are located at danang natrang mong tao and antoi other units operate from the third riverine area headquarters at saigon and the fourth riverine area headquarters at kanto and from the rungsat special zone headquarters at nabe this pce is engaged in a gunfire mission in support of a village south of da nang ships of the fleet command are used ever more frequently in this type of operation you've been out of saigon 20 days on this deployment the pce has been patrolling an 80 mile strip of the first coastal zone now you're disrupting some viet cong activities ashore you found the gun crew quite able maybe needing help with the fuse center or a little pointer here and there but getting the rounds off fairly well a training program to make them even sharper wouldn't be hard for you to arrange with the skipper's approval your principal mission is patrol to prevent infiltration by the vc or shipment of supplies to him that means stopping as many of the junks trawlers and sampans as you can and searching them you can't stop them all there are just too many but the commanding officer of your ship will concentrate on areas where the enemy is thought to be active and search as many as he can this is a typical incident the search of a junk laden with ice and vegetables in the gulf of thailand legitimate fishermen or traders will have identification papers they'll be examined for possible forgery experienced searchers know pretty well where to look for contraband amid the cargo under the floorboards in the bilge if anything suspicious is found the men will be taken on board for delivery to the provincial authorities if they're cleared the co will send them on their way after passing out psychological warfare material and thanking them for their cooperation chances are that your quarters aboard ship will be shared with a vietnamese officer it gets pretty hot in these latitudes you won't spend too much time down below rice seafoods and vegetables are basic to the vietnamese mess you'll have tea or beer along with the meal your counterpart speaks english fairly well the other officers perhaps less well the co will translate for you if necessary some of them will have served aboard our seventh fleet ships as part of their training others will have seen duty with the french and some are ex-merchant marine sailors for the most part they like americans and are glad to have you aboard today we have lesson nine we have the following words most vietnamese have a desire to learn english if you offer to teach when ship's routine permits you'll get a lot of takers instruction books from the vietnamese american association make your job easy for you it'll be mostly a matter of correcting pronunciations or explaining simple sentence construction for the vietnamese it's a lot of fun and they'll be practicing their new english words on you from then on good now the weather is fine very good you'll be involved from time to time in civic action or psychological operations today you're going ashore with your counterpart to visit an isolated island village do not underestimate the importance of this part of your duty all over asia for millions of people life is a struggle for existence any helpful action however small it may seem to us is a blessing to them a wide variety of materials may be distributed in a mission of this kind in this case the items ranged from cooking oil for the women of the village to soft drink flavoring for the children and psywar posters and pamphlets at the same time a vietnamese navy corpsman may set up a small clinic and do what he can to help the villagers with their medical problems they seldom see a doctor so this vietnamese sailor is a welcome visitor your counterpart speaks briefly to the villagers telling them the government is determined to throw the invaders out of the homeland he asked the people to keep faith with their government to resist the viet cong it's a big day for the village they won't forget it in a long long time when you're on patrol you'll probably visit zone headquarters about once a week the routine generally is six days at sea and two days alongside to take on fresh foods and fuel this is danang headquarters of the first coastal zone in port you'll continue to check regularly with your counterpart and assist in any way you can especially when it comes to planning your next operation in a gunfire mission in support of land operations your responsibility is crucial you're on your radio acting as the communications link between the sector and sub-sector headquarters and your ship commander a spotter on land or in the air gives you the spots pass on to your computer yard monsters you