Sports in Vietnam

I served in the U,S, Army in 1965 through 1967 in two combat units. The 196th Light infantry Brigade, and the 4th Infantry Division. I was drafted during summer break while attending the University of Connecticut. I didn’t question my induction as I felt it was my duty to serve.

During basic training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, my fellow inductees, including myself, always did the best that we could do when called upon to perform the tasks at hand. When Spring finally arrived in 1966, the 196th Brigade decided to have a post track meet. It probably helped with the moral of all the soldiers as it was the eighth month of training we were going through waiting to see where our upcoming deployment would take us. We were constantly told we were heading to South America for “Police Action” in the Dominican Republic.

“Would anyone care to buy a parcel of land in the Saharah Dessert cheap?”

It so seemed that everyone was in great shape as it were, why-not? We were constantly being trained physically as well as mentally. I was chosen to throw the javelin because I threw the hand grenade far beyond the limit of the range of the field. I was fortunate to place first at the Battalion meet and third overall at the post meet.

That experience prompted me to continuously further my training physically while I served out my tour in Vietnam.

When July of 1966 arrived we finally received our orders for our deployment. The 4000 of us were heading to build our combat  base camp at a place we never heard of, Tay Ninh, Vietnam. Now things were getting serious. The first month while there, we built the Tay Ninh base camp. We also began “Search & Destroy Missions”, “Helicopter Assaults”,  and “Ambush patrols”.

As to “Sports in Vietnam”, 90% of the time an infantry unit was serving in the jungles chasing “Charley”.  We never got the chance to participate in any games or sports. Our physical activity amounted to humping the jungles and digging foxholes. I would also include performing hundreds of push-ups when the time allowed.

84% of those that served in Vietnam were behind the lines and most had the opportunity to enjoy team sports.

It wasn’t for me to be had.