Within days of moving to Pleiku I was lucky enough to have Guard Duty, one night. It had been raining all day long and the rain would continue through the night. I was in a guard tower to the west of the front gate, for both of my shifts. I remember being very thankful that the tower had a roof and that it did not leak.
I was getting off of my last shift at 0200 hours of a very uneventful night. I was tired and really ready to go back to the guard shack and get some sleep. There was only one thing I had left to do. I had to walk through ankle deep mud to the truck waiting for me. Actually, soup would be a better word than mud. I was being very careful because the mud was slick. Just being in country a little over a week, I was also wearing regular combat boots, with smooth soles. I approached the truck and went to grab the side of the truck and climb into the back. As I reached for the side of the truck, my foot slipped into the ditch along the side of the road and down I went into the ditch.
I was covered from head to toe; even my face was covered with the mud. As I got up, saying a few choice words. I looked into the back of the truck expecting everyone to be laughing. They all just kind of had a stunned look on their faces. I really think they were not laughing because "I had a loaded rifle in my hand". As I got into the truck I could not believe what had just happened. I just could not help but laugh and then everyone else in the back of the truck started to laugh. We laughed all the way back to the guard shack.
I could not leave and had to spend the rest of the night in the guard shack trying to sleep. I was however very happy in the morning after being released from duty, when I found there was some water left in the shower.
I went to the supply room and asked Specialist Durbin if he had any jungle boots in stock. Size 8R, Please! You know the ones with the “rough soles?”
