REMF
A collection of short stories about serving in the rear in Vietnam
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
This was it. My new home. My transient days were over. I entered the hooch for the first time. In the front was a small commons area with table and chairs and a bar and a refrigerator with a black and white TV on top. I met some more new friends.
“Hey, a newbie!” I was greeted enthusiastically by Doug Brawley, who in time would become a dear friend.
Suddenly, the TV picture caught my eye. I did a double take. There on the screen, broadcast from Saigon on the Armed Forces Network, was a tape of the National NAIA Track and Field Championships from my home town – Billings, Montana. Billings had bid-on and landed the event. Among the competitors was Bruce Jenner, who went on to win an Olympic decathlon.
So here I was. Three minutes inside my new home looking at my real home back in Montana. The TV cameras panned the area back home that was so familiar. I could see the Rimrocks, a long sandstone bluff on the north edge of town where Connie and I had fogged up the windows in my car on more than one occasion. A pang of loneliness went through me.
Jim Connors led me down the center hallway to the cubicle that would be mine. My roommate, George Weaver, wasn’t around. Jim continued out to the back of the hooch to suntan while I put some stuff in my locker and settled in a bit more. I laid back on my mattress, put my hands behind my head and stared up at the exposed rafters in the ceiling.
“Now what?” I wondered
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
In October of 1967, Rick Smith was a college journalist covering a huge Vietnam War protest march at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Three years later he was drafted into the military – as thousands were – and found himself on his way to the war itself. This is a different story about having served in Vietnam. There are no tales of battlefield terror or glory. It’s as much a love story as a war story. Smith was stationed behind the front lines in Vietnam – in the rear echelon. His touching tales of brotherly love and personal love reveal a different perspective of Vietnam. His heartfelt reflections of passing time provide an entertaining journey into life in Vietnam behind the front lines. His honest commentary about his experience – then and now – may make you laugh, cry or think.
About the Author
Rick Smith has enjoyed a life-long love of writing. He studied journalism in high school and college and served as a Public Information Specialist while in the U.S. Army in 1970 and ’71. After the service Smith entered the business world, working for 25 years as a corporate partner with Universal Athletic Service in Montana. His role in advertising and marketing provided him additional writing experience. In 2001 Smith and his family moved to Cave Creek, Arizona where they reside today. He and his wife Connie operate a small cleaning business, which has provided him more time for recreational writing. REMF is his first published work.