"What now,
Lieutenant?"
is a question all Soldiers, and especially all
young officers, can identify with. As
young leaders of Soldiers, lieutenants from all
wars are the brunt of many jokes about their
inexperience and questionable abilities.
Despite their relative youth, these young officers carry the weight of responsibility on their shoulders, especially when serving in combat. Decisions made by a lieutenant in his 20’s could mean life or death and mission success or failure for the Soldiers entrusted to his care. Probably never in their later lives do they have such responsibility. This highly personal memoir by Bob Babcock will give you an insight that all leaders can identify with and a detailed account of one man’s experiences as an Infantry officer in Vietnam.
“Every now and then a work comes along that is so simple and refreshing in its originality that it immediately captures the spirit of American fighting men throughout the ages. Such is this work by Bob Babcock. What makes this work unique is that it is based upon his wartime writing as it occurred, without the softening of time and the refining of modern memory applied to past experience. In it you will find the thinking of a young officer as he struggles to take in all that he is responsible for while experiencing everything himself for the first time. It is an honest, unvarnished look at Soldiering in 1966-1967 and is as fine an example of the early American experience in Vietnam that one is likely to come across...”
LTC (Ret) Steve Russell, CO of 1-22 IN in Tikrit, Iraq in 2003-2004 A key player in the search for and capture of Saddam Hussein
Table of Contents:
Vietnam Statue Dedication, 1984 Writing My Story Glossary
I. Training at Fort Benning and Fort Lewis No Longer a “Leg” Training at Fort Lewis, Washington Farewell Parties at Fort Lewis Leaving Home
I I. Boat Trip to Vietnam and Early Days ThereBoat Trip to Vietnam First Week in Country
III. Tuy Hoa - Securing the Rice Harvest Tuy Hoa & Highway Security - 8/27/66 to 11/2/66 "What you Gonna Do Now, Lieutenant?" My Burned Face Relief of Bridge Outpost Bringing out the Downed Pilot A Night in a Whorehouse Another Leadership Challenge A Murdered Woman? Buffalo Hunters Babcock's Bastards - My Platoon Roster Pen Pals Relief of Plei Me
IV. Operation Paul Revere IV - In the Jungles Operation Paul Revere IV - 11/3/66 to 12/31/66 Trust the Dog “They Said What?” The Old Man and Old Woman Get the Body Count Michelle Ray’s Visit The Boa Constrictor “Hoboes” Survival of the Fittest Cavalry Charge! November 20, 1966 Thanksgiving, 1966 First Sergeant MacDonald's Bronze Star A Night in the Typhoon B-52 Bomber Attack The Dangers of Retreat Ceremonies Chapel Services on the Cambodian Border My Greatest Compliment “Puff” Hoses Us Down Bob Hope Christmas in Vietnam New Year's Eve, 1966
V. My Days as the Company Executive Officer Executive Officer Days - 1/1/67 to 7/5/67 White Knuckles from Saigon to Pleiku R & R Friendly Fire on Hubbard: A Tough Mission PFC White Lieutenant Dexter Mortar Attack on Plei Djereng April Fool’s Day, 1967 The Naming of Camp Enari Buddha’s Birthday The Crazed Sergeant The Montagnard Crossbow Coming Home Little Things Mean a Lot
VI. People Who Were Important to Me Sandy Fiacco Buck Ator Stanley Cameron Frank Roath Other Key People
VII. My Experiences Since I Returned from Vietnam After Vietnam My Speech at the Moving Wall, April 1986 Chicago Parade, June 1986 Bringing us Back Together After Thoughts A Special Chapter for Today’s Lieutenants Epilogue
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