Command Post

Command Post

I took this photo of my partner and myself at my first duty station to keep my mind from dwelling on all the fears I had that evening. This was a command bunker on the Quang Tri airport perimeter and I had an eerie feeling something was going to happen that night, and it did—about an hour after this was taken. It was during the beginning of the infamous Tet offensive of 1968 and only my first week in country--I was more than a little nervous. Less than thirty miles south of us in the city of Hue, some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting of the entire war was taking place. Intelligence reports had come in to us that morning warning of substantial enemy buildup in our area and of a very good chance we would be hit. Our lines were weak and we were considerably undermanned. Most of the experienced "grunts" (infantry) had been sent up to defend against the surprise attack on Khe Sanh two weeks earlier leaving the perimeter security to mostly new arrivals like myself. We had spent the daylight hours frantically strengthening our positions as best we could and now as the darkness of the evening engulfed us, on full alert, we waited.... more