Saigon Supply
Steve Nagle
12th CAG 71-72
The
military seemed to always have strange ways to keep military personnel
supplied. In a “war-zone” supplies that
were critical never seemed to get to those in need. Stories of wool blankets being shipped to the
tropics were all too common.
As
a crew chief on a (OH-58A ) my performance was based on something called
“Fly-ability”. If your ship was unable
to fly the readiness of the unit was at stake.
Especially
during the monsoon season we had a challenge keeping tail rotor bearings from
keeping the ship red x’ed.
The
exposed bearings supporting the tail rotor shaft were poorly designed and
failed more often than we could keep them in stock. Many of our aircraft sat waiting for
parts. Supply said they were being
shipped to units more in need.
Bob
Brown was our flight line tech sergeant.
He was in the middle of his second or third tour in country. I think he
had received a “dear John” letter somewhere along the line and decided to
stay. He had a girlfriend off base. He
always seemed to have connections. A
four ton air conditioner appeared in his hootch one day. His room was kept around 55 degrees! But
that’s another story.
One
afternoon Bob asked if I wanted to go on a little trip. He stopped at the flight line and I helped
load ten cases of Budweiser beer in the back of our flight line Jeep.
We
waived at the MP’s at the gate as we rolled out on Highway 1 going Southeast
towards Saigon. It was about a
thirty-five minute drive. I was driving
and remember slowing down to make a left turn.
I stuck my left arm out as we had no signals and we were in heavy
traffic. I felt a tug on my arm to see a
young teen aged boy we called “Cowboys” running around the corner with my Sieko
watch!
Bob
directed me down some back alley and told me to stop. I was to wait in the Jeep. He disappeared into the back of a noisy
bar. A couple guys came running out to
help unload the beer.
It
was getting towards dusk and I was sure uncomfortable thinking we’d be out in
this neighborhood at night. Bob came out
with a box which he threw in the back seat.
As I let out the clutch to engage the gears, I heard a “thing!” noise
under the Jeep. The Jeep did not
move. We crawled under the Jeep to check
things out. The universal joint had
broken and the driveshaft was laying on the ground! Bob got real excited. We really did not want to be stuck there
especially with night fall closing in. I
reminded him that this was a 4X4 vehicle and we should be able to drive
home as long as we put the Jeep into four wheel drive. I shifted the transfer case, let out the
clutch and we started moving. We threw
the old drive line in the back seat and headed home.
As
we started home I asked Bob what that was all about! The beer and the box “trade”. He reached into the box and pulled out
fifteen tail rotor bearings. They were
still in the sealed Military packages!
Within
two days we were 100% flyable. Nobody
asked questions. Our sister units could
not understand how we were able to requisition and receive parts so quickly.
Welcome to the “Black Market”!