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Forty-second Job of Bob - In-country cultural writer: Laos, Viet Nam Part IV - "Many tricks," in 'Nam, "And don't say, 'Nam!" - Date with fate post 75
This entry was posted on 11/16/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob, Fate Fairies.
I had heard lots of innuendo and commercialized warnings concerning safety for travelers in present day Vietnam. Poetically, in three lengthy visits to the country in the mid-2000s, I never had any significant problems. But, you must understand my station in life of viewing Vietnam at the time. The country had recently opened up to tourism. The young Euro-travelers did not see the country like Americans. And, we Americans don't get six weeks of vacation a year to slink around the World to find ourselves. If we do get a week off, it ain't going to be spent in..., Vietnam. And of course, we had endured a 40-year hostile relationship with Vietnam. Fifteen of those years got almost 60,000 Americans killed.
The consummate question from people I know and meet is usually, "Don't the Vietnamese hate us Americans?" Then to, I had lived through most of those aforementioned 40 years. I had been in the military at the end of our American Vietnam war era. So, long story short, I was a bit nervous to go there.
In the course of my graduate work at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, I was studying communication and journalism. Focus is important. I used my experience in life to reconnect with Vietnam, and apply it to graduate work. That more academic approach did not necessarily diminish any anxiety about my visits to the country.
I learned rather quickly, the Vietnamese seem to have a collective awareness that if you rip off tourists..., they won't come back. That does not mean there was not a game being played. If you stay on the well-worn tourist paths, you will be hounded by street venders, hustlers, and hookers. The government in Saigon even set up the Tourist Protection Police to address the situation. Be that as it may, my shtick has always been to find the back roads. Immediately I noticed the working Vietnamese off the beaten path basically ignored me.
But, I and then Heide on subsequent visits, had to cross the well-used tourist trails from time to time.
There is a hotel in downtown Saigon that exchanged Dollars at a good rate. We hopped one of thousands of beat-up cabs for a Dollar to ride to the hotel. The driver pulled up at a busy drop-off spot. I instinctively swung my door open. A confederate of the taxi driver, I later surmised, sped up his car to try to hit the open door. The con would have been, I would have to pay the damages. It is just the way it works in Vietnam. There is no such thing as insurance in Vietnam. Luckily, I pulled the door back just in time.
A valet who watched the incident from the hotel foyer ran out to usher us into the hotel. As we thanked him for opening the hotel door for us, he smiled a bit and said, "Many tricks..., many tricks."
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On our second trip to Vietnam we rented a motor scooter near Nha Trang for a Buck and headed out to the boonies. Along the South China Sea, farmers harvest salt from the sea. We began to pass huge piles of white salt along small trails that checkered through shallow seawater fields. Of course, we got lost.
I remembered the pictures of odious jungle trails from the war. We stopped along a path and looked at a hopelessly useless map. From a solitary cement house surrounded by water came a man across a rickety wood foot-bridge. He wore torn work cloths and had a full, clear bottle in tow.
"We are going to die," I told Heide.
"You drink," the man said and smiled. He shoved two dirty glasses at us. I guessed it was some homemade brew. I could smell it from three feet away.
"I don't drink alcohol," I said. The man looked puzzled and shoved the glassed closer.
"He does now," Heide said chugging down half a glass and shoving the other at me.
"One more," the man said, refilling our dirty classes.
"Drink!" Heide said shoving the second glass at me, "I don't want to offend this guy's hospitality in his world. And, I don't want our relatives to realize we are the last two Americans on "The Vietnam Wall."
We departed our new-found ally - he stumbled back into his stone house apparently satisfied he had honored his salt farm by being nice to rare travelers.
In about three minutes down a narrowing trail. I stopped again. The home-brew was kicking in. What ever it was it was strong as gasoline.
"Which way?" I slurred my question.
"Fuck it," Heide said, "Go down that damn trail there."
We headed into the thick bush adjacent to the salt fields, the scooter weaving like being driven by a four-year old.
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One of the oddest encounters I ever have had was meeting a former American Vietnam veteran in the city of Hue. He had married a Vietnamese woman and now lived in Vietnam. This is not isolated. I ran into literally no American tourists but found several former American soldiers and former Australian veterans of the Vietnam War either living in-country, or making extended visits to the place that had changed their lives forever when they were so very young so long ago. At some point, I took a bit of a look at my own motives for really visiting the country. In the end, it was cathartic.
But, the fellow from Hue had read a couple of my dispatches that I sent out to several people back in academia. I had put him on the list.
He emailed me and wrote, "Hey Bob, don't use the term 'Nam. Only veterans that actually served in-country should use that term."
Oh boy, I thought. The ownership of "re-tooled words" and their meanings by certain groups was alive and well.
My pal from Hue notwithstanding, one of my most important life's physical journeys as well as psychological journeys was finally visiting...
...., 'Nam.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Specialist Jakob James Roelli, 24, Darlington, Wisconsin, died on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 in Jawkari, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. Specialist Roelli was one of two soldiers killed when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, out of Fort Riley, Kansas. Specialist Roelli was a member of Special Forces which is often referred to a the Green Berets.
The Wisconsin State Journal noted Jakob Roelli was born on July 30, 1987, in Darlington, Wisconsin. He grew up on a farm near Darlington and graduated from Darlington High School in 2006. While in school, Jakob played football, ran cross country, wrestled, participated on the forensics team, and acted in school plays and musicals. The State Journal went on to say Roelli was a four-year member of the school's Odyssey of the Mind team, in which students compete in creative problem-solving exercises. The Darlington team won the state competition in its division in 2006. The paper also went on to mention Roelli spent a year at UW-Oshkosh.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Roelli is remembered as a good singer, good actor, and "just a fun-loving kid." He had studied business and pre-law at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh; after a year of college he joined the Army.
Erickson Funeral Home in Darlington lists Roelli at the rank of Sergeant as does the Monroe Times from nearby Monroe, Wisconsin. At the time of his death Sergeant Jakob Roelli was survived by: his father Richard Roelli; his mother Dawn (Gill) Lacy; his brother Matthew (Eryn) Roelli; one niece Olivia; his fiancée Caitlin Pixler; uncle Greg Roelli; aunt Kathy Roelli; aunt Julie Gill; and, his maternal grandfather Robert Gill. Sergeant Jakob Roelli was laid to rest at Union Grove Cemetery in Darlington, Wisconsin.
Army Sergeant Jakob Roelli was the 36th Wisconsin military service person killed in the war in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
103,472 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003 (actually documented).
10,125 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,485 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1833 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
966 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011.
32,224 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
592 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Iraq since Spring 2003.
14,793 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
192 Wisconsin military service persons have been wounded in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
36 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin military service persons have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since September, 2001.
150 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
22 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since September, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org .
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