Coffee Anyone? Đà Nẵng AB!

I arrived in Vietnam in Jan 1966, barely 18 years old as a Marine private assigned to Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 11, Marine Air Group 11. I was a 3071 aviation supply technician. Barely 18 years old and very naive about many things. Yes I had been through Marine training, boot camp and then on to Infantry training at Camp Pendleton, did the jungle training, etceteras.

I have always been proud to be a Marine and its a great accomplishment for anyone, anytime and anywhere. I will never forget the first morning in country as I visited our local fast food restaurant (mess hall). A couple of my seasoned escorts, because they knew it was my first day in country, decided to accept their own version of orders and guide me in just about everything from eating to drinking.

I remember thinking, what's going on, I can decide for myself what I want to eat or drink? Breakfast was normal except there was no selection of beverages ... you had water or watered-down milk or coffee. I definitely did not want to drink the chlorinated water, and watered-down powered milk was not acceptable so I selected the coffee. You have to understand we had those huge coffee peculators which look like they hold 25 gallons of coffee, a mess hall kitchen peculator for hundreds of men.

Now, I had never drank a cup of coffee in my life before this and when I drew the first cup it had a distinguishable green and blue haze on the top which I thought was normal. I returned to my new comparades, who by this time were just a hair's breathe from exploding with laughter, and I tried to drink that stuff.

I knew in a billionth of a second they would not let me live this down. No matter what I could not drink that acid. You see I had gotten a cup off the bottom of the peculator where all the acids compile and in this case it looked like they had not changed the filter in the unit for months -- and maybe never.

I received a lot of attention by all the Marines in the Mess Hall that morning and if you would have heard it you would have sworn that the additive laughter was a result of someone doing something magnificent during a rock concert where all the spectators react.

I reported to my unit, yes, with the help of my new brothers, and before I could do anything the OIC, a 1LT, asked me to make coffee. I said compliantly, Yes, Sir, and I informed him I had never made coffee before and asked how you make it. He said very briefly, rinse the pot, replace the filter and pour the coffee into the filter to the first line on the holder.

I followed orders and I was sure I understood completely. Normally it takes a 50 cup peculator about ten minutes to complete its process, however as the minutes ticked away I could tell, intuitively, that something was wrong. The peculator was hissing, and burping and looked as if it would explode at any moment and then all was okay as the red light came on, indicating the coffee was ready.

Marines are a straightforward bunch but sometimes if they are annoyed by something they will never let you know ... it's a macho thing. Well, the LT comes over and gets the first cup of coffee and looks at it for 2 or 3 minutes and then takes the top off the peculator He never said a word and went back to his desk and drank the coffee. I could tell something was amiss as every time he took a drink his  face would wrinkle up, he would look very serious for a moment  and he would smile ... yes, it was a contemplated sarcastic smile ... kind of like a go to hell look.

Just when you think things can't get much worse, well the inevitable shows up and everything does get worse. I had actually filled the strainer to the top line of the refill point so there was about six times the amount of raw coffee grinds in the peculator as there should have been ... within minutes several of my new buddies were complaining about how uncharacteristically strong the coffee was, but the LT just told them it was typical Marine coffee, so he gave everyone orders to drink it ... oh, I can't tell you how many other Marines took a mouthful and made an unseen gesture at drinking the rest of their cup.

Yes, that was payback for the morning's breakfast situation, however I was terribly embarrassed as I was probably the only soldier in Vietnam that didn't know how to make coffee. Believe me everyone wanted to know who the hell made that coffee! Marines never let you forget anything and for months afterward whenever anyone would see me they would ask how the coffee was ... light or heavy. I rather grew fond of coffee and have been an avid drinker ever since Vietnam.

Oh, yes, the LT never asked me to make coffee again. When some of the senior NCOs found out what had happened they gave me a pat on the back and said, that will teach them officers a thing or to about proper training ... I didn't know whether they were making fun of the officer or me ... you had to keep humor up in RVN or it would be a long, long-tour of duty.

Cpl Leonard Simek (3072) you know that means if you were there.