by: Don Poss
© 1996

Đà Nẵng Growl Pad - K-9 Flower Children

By 1000 hours, it was 117 degrees and too hot to sleep inside the tent--even with its sides rolled up. Too hot even to be pissed that someone stole-back our mosquito-nets. The mosquitoes were feasting on too-tired-to-swat Airmen laying in pools of sweat on litter-cots. The tent was coated with red-clay from C-130s warming their engines at high-RPM ... and so were we. Finally ... dozing off ....

A newly in-country Sergeant decided to take-charge of the Vietnam Beautiful project, and knew that what was needed most were flowers planted around the new K-9 kennels office by the water tower. What was needed secondly, were bodies to plant the flowers. Sarge had "acquired" several one pound bags of flower seeds from somewhere (he claimed via mail-order), and came storming into our tent compound and woke up several of us that had just got off duty. He dragged our do-wah-ditty-ditty butts to the kennels compound---TO PLANT FLOWERS!

Sarge chewed us out for whining and sniveling and blamed Vietnam being so ugly on us. He gave us the big threat that if "those-there-flowers don't get inta-the ground" we would be sandbagging around the perimeter 'til DEROS freezes over! The flowers got into the ground all right. We dug one hole about two feet deep and dumped about ten pounds of seeds into it, along with a couple of butt cans of cigarette butts. We actually got into the spirit of our mutiny and were so punchy-tired that it somehow seemed hilarious! We then took turns watering the plant-hole for good-luck.

We dug a lot of little flower-type-holes around the office building, planting a crumpled butt in each. Sarge was actually impressed and told us what team-spirited-doggies we were and how grateful the Vietnamese people would be by our generous actions, and, "don'cha feel better for doin' your part, you's guys?" Sarge was right--we did feel better!

Surprise ... no flowers ever grew around the building!

Airmen Don Poss, Gary Eberbach, Gary Knutson, and Tom Baker had the last laugh ... for once.

"Must be that-there commie Viet Cong soil, Sarge."

Sarge had the last laugh at Đà Nẵng Photos (#3), by Robert Kendrick