A Seabee in the 'Nam, 1969 -- at the really sharp tip of the spear!

The word "Vietnamization" was coined to encompass the whole of training the Vietnamese to be self sufficient in a military way. How did the Seabee command interpret and execute that? At first with stealth.

In late December 1969, we grunts didn't even know what the word meant, it was just making its rounds in Washington, but this lowly little E-4 Builder was called into the commander's office, and there with the commander was my company Senior Chief and other Chief Petty Officers.

I was to be sent on a mission they said, one that would allow the Seabees to recoup their investment in me. I had finished first or second in my "A-school" specialty training class, and I had higher entrance test scores than anyone else in other things-- including for the Freshman class at Annapolis (I had been offered an appointment to Naval Academy Prep School-Bainbridge but had turned it down) -- and I also spoke Vietnamese. The plan? Send me out to the boonies where the Vietnamese had gathered up 500 or so farmers, and teach them how to function as an equivalent to a US Navy Mobile Construction Battalion. Build shops, consult with their officers on organization, whatever needed to be done to create a unit of "Vietnamese Seabees." Who else was going? No-one, just me. No provisions for food or shelter, fend for myself, and what the Vietnamese wanted to share.

GULP...OK

The next morning I was met along with all of my belongings by a driver who took me to the outskirts of Tam Ky, South Viet Nam, in a heavily armored and sandbagged vehicle. He dropped me off in a large circle of concertina wire and said "Bye bye" and he was out of there! I found a Vietnamese who looked like an officer, and we started our task. The U.S. Navy logistics group had dropped off a bunch of bip shipping containers loaded with tools and equipment.

Our Concertina "line" also included an LZ (landing zone), one specifically used by Hueys that were painted silver and bore the markings "Air America". No kidding, but back then I didn't have a clue what that meant! [editor: "Air America" was the cover for classified CIA operations]

Me and the Vietnamese were expected to also provide perimeter defense for this LZ, something we did more than I would have liked. In fact, I was disappointed one night after we had been "hit" when the Vietnamese officer in charge called me into his bunker and told me that he would prefer that I didn't man the line anymore, wouldn't look good if he had to send me back in a body bag!

After a while, we needed more military structure, so an Army E-6 sergeant showed up to help for a week. I kidded him about him "volunteering" for the assignment and his response was "for this I'll automatically get a Bronze Star". Hmm, different Forces use different motivation tricks and that was his motivation.

Anyway, I completed the assignment, had the 82nd Vietnamese Engineers up and ready, functioning as they should, shops producing value added "stuff" and it was time to return to my Battalion. No hype, nothing much else, new day, new job, life went on. It was the Seabee way. In fact, when I sent word that my assignment was completed and ready to return, did they send a driver? NO, find my own way back, couldn't spare a driver! 30 miles along route QL-1 hitch-hiking. Was that dumb or what?

The conclusion? The Vietnamese, and not my government wanted to award me a medal. I found myself mysteriously and retroactively assigned to a Detail Kilo, one where a group of Americans from my parent battalion had helped these same Vietnamese Engineers rebuild bridges at a later date. I never met anyone who was part of Detail Kilo, to this day wouldn't know them if I fell over them, but hey...I got my Medal.

An interesting twist to it all? Now nearing retirement age I asked the National Personnel Records Center to update my DD-214 records and provide a copy. The response? "Records fail to show that you are entitled to the Vietnamese Technical Honor Medal". Gee, the original transmittal letter was on USNMCB-7 letterhead, signed by the CO with congrats. Makes me wonder all these years later what the exercise was all about.

Guess that I was the prototype and if I got wasted, it wouldn't be a blow to the initiative, just an "oops." Seabees always did this sort of thing in stride, never questioning, never complaining. We never thought of it as Special Ops, or even remotely related to what "Air America" came to mean. Guess that's why most of us have managed to carry the "Can Do" attitude throughout life.

George R. Mills,
Builder, Second Class, USN
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion-7

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