Show Vietnam being shot at You could not call for artillery without having the local village chief approve firing “It was very obvious to all of us that you might as well put your time in and get back home in one piece because there wasn't anything else that could be accomplished" he said After surviving the jungle Brown was asked by Schwarzkopf to be the general's aid Brown did this for a few days and found himself another job Schwarzkopf approved it Brown's next job was withabrigadc lie was a secure radio operator for a few weeks an advisor for the South Vietnamese Army stayed in Brown's bunker and Brown relayed messages from US advisor back to Amcrical headquarters Next Brown was an Amcrical brigade liaison lie worked at tactical operations center for a brigade Every day he made a trip to the Amcrical division headquarters and attended briefings and took notes Then he would go back to brigade and brief his colonel and brigade staff because the colonel could not attend tlwisc meetings Brown was also an S3AIR Airforce he would plot various old Marine found out he had orders to go to Vietnam The war had been raging since I96S and had really picked up since then Now in 1970 it was in full swing Serfustini from Buffalo N Y had enlisted when he was 19 after dropping out of the University of Buffalo after his first swimming season He went boot camp and was stationed in Cherry Point for three years before he got his orders to go to truck) “I was wary when I first got there but I imagine it's just like any other profession where danger is present like coal mining It'sjustajob The most nervous time for me was when I was working The Viet Cong didn’t really want to kill me They really wanted to destroy the airplanes so when-t- o ever I was working on the airplanes I knew I was at a pretty big risk According to Serfustini Vietnam was beautiful “I remember my impressions that it was a beautiful country It was lush and green and I thought ‘geez this place could be a Disneyland if they’d get rid of the war' China Beach was just gorgeous" There’s no place like home! Just ask Serfustini “Distinctly I remember the plywood huts wc lived in People had them outfitted very nice in the windows and parachute Some hung doth from the railings Wc slept in little cubby holes that were built into the wall It scented like stereo gear everyone had tlieir own high-tec- h you could buy them really cheap overseas There were no taxes And everybody had a lot of money from the combat pay" “I remember some kind soul built a handball court I played handball all (lie time" Serfustini tic-di- es r quipped Was it dangerous? "Wc were rocketed several times We were hit right in our living quarters killed one injured a few including a traumatic amputation of one guy's arm at the shoulder" he -- What kind of experiences did he have? “I taught English as a second language to the Vietnamese people They’d truck us into town to a place called An Sang It was a missionary school They’d dress up for school and we'd talk to each other It was fun a great way to meet people These Vietnamese were about high school age so they weren't much younger than I was “The down experience is that I really got to sec what the ugly American was They were rude they were disrespectful of the local people and their culture I recall myself feeling about taking pictures in Vietnam because most of the people I was taking pictures of weren't earning enough money to buy that camera in a year “It was poverty Very few Americans had respect for that They would make fun out of the Vietnamese because they had to build their houses out of cardboard and then they'd take beer cans and pop cans that they'd gel from our garbage dump and flatten them and cover their homes with these cans Kind of like a shingled effect These people were living in beer can shacks - they called it Dog Patch Americans thought that they were the only ones wlm were doing things right like our culture was the only way "The Vietnamese people wc taught in school treated us like friends Rut the people wc would meet on a casual basis were different Not because I think they disrespected you but because you were so damn big compared to them These people weighed 90-- (X) pounds Wc were big we had money and we had to pack a weapon Imagine yourself being with people who arc all 8 feet tall carrying guns how would you treat them? Basically the same way they treated us" Serfustini bombing operations It was tactical bombing “That was kind said of fun You got to fly in (he How about the weather? "I thought the weather ' and the of was really pleasant It wasn't during the rainy planes go on some missions with them for six season it was wariff and comfortable d months" he said Brown came weather all the time" home in Fall 970 having never And the food? “There was always plenty to cat said been wounded in battle Da like Nang you Being stationed at a big place “Everybody just couldn't wait to get out There Back in America Brown went ate belter than the guys in the field because they'd was a real sense of depression There was an Phil's first Christmas away from horns to Fort Riley Kan lie was a have to pack it on their backs But even they got extreme mistrust of authority which to me I'm and teacher trained officers going to Vietnam ice cream helicoptered in every once in a while “Dear John" letter while he was still in boot camp still afraid of to this day This feeling manifested After his time was up Brown went to Hawaii so he went to Vietnam without any attachments Wc ate pretty good if you like that kind of food itself in drug and alcohol abuse People weren't with his wife who brought home movies of their “We worked in shifts from 7 am to 7 pm and everything was always fried - everything had to stoned or drunk every night but for those who did from 7 pm to 7 am I was in charge of the shop two children (Brown's wife had second daughter be cooked in huge quantities and very quickly there was no sense of moderation when they did “I enlisted because I wasn't sure about this war while he was in Vietnam) The couple came home that handled electronic counter measures equipit You divided them into juicers and dopers It in to Utah and spent some time at a cabin Sundance ment" Serfustini said “Wc would fly was their form of escape" he 'tT1 our aircraft and use our equipment to where they had a family reunion said indicaRYU and his blank their radars and other to out lie went "I was part of the troop withschooling completed I le received a job in Colorado at the University of tion systems that they had in the North drawals that Nixon instituted Serfustini describes a typical day “A In July 1970 they pul us on a Northern Colorado After (hat he came to CEU Brown now has six children boat and floated us up to Japan day might start with a private having to -lake out the cans of waste from the “I don't have any contact with my friends from That's where I spent nine ol ihc best months of my life Nam anymore" lie said “A lot of (lie friends I latrines They were two stories tall so that the flies and everything that would “I thought Nixon and went over with died" the close weren't bottom around How did Brown feel about the Persian Gulf hang Kissinger had done a pretty good War? “Even lliough we were getting news stories to you But they’d pull out the cans at job of extracting us there Bekerosene with them cover bottom wc War Persian the Gulf the on cause I remember when my and start the whole thing on fire every never saw the fight Wc never saw the bombing squadron was withdrawing the that In aroma the was That what was VC had excellent intelligence knew never wc morning happening exactly in on the way Vietnam there were reporters everywhere The greeted you (he morning They knew when we were withIt was breakfast The to the war how was were pretty gross going drawing so they sent us a couple judging people T work our “We'd he of rocket attacks for a going Gulf War was just handled so much better" day by finding begin out what missions had flown the night said away present I suspect that had find which out We'd before the US announced that wc were The see to planes Brown went to Washington DC for helmet Substituting popcorn popper and Wall “That was an emotional lime for me" he were up and which were down going to pull out a large scale I would Then were what the and wall and the statue the touched said “I was problems they would have really infuriby I I I what sec wanted to was going on The more ated the VC feel that Nixon was just buying us then I found out that one of my friends from I I learned it it about and learned more saw the was time friend knew the had died" (Brown Bountiful “We’d go to work then we'd have a break for that it was a terrible mistake I remember saying “It was an experience that made me a wiser wounded he lost both legs and an arm but he was I lunch Thcmcsshall was in the living quarters that wanted to get home alive and in one piece unaware of his death) "That was really hard" pcrsonandforthatlgucsslshouldbcgratcfulbut which was about two miles from where the air- - because I didn't want to leave any body parts over there are belter ways to gain wisdom I did fall in John Serfustini love with East Asia though and it impacted what planes were so we'd hop onto a Mg truck called a here because it just doesn't look like it would CEU director of public relations ee Vietnam page 10 like lie a a or cattle to y said (nick amount of 22 when the (kind garbage NC anything" yearIt was in Cherry Point 1 7-- short-sleeve- 1 lift ‘ m&K fv minulc-hy-minu- le Six-B- kvr a pa |