FLC Red Beach was Camp Books in 1968. Now days it is an industrial center, There are only a few of the original buildings left, including the original AWC#5 Shop. Camp Haskins was the Seabee base just down the road from FLC it to was at Red Beach. There in now a new Resort built on Camp Haskins called Red Beach Resort it was just recently built. Part of Camp Haskins is a Vietnamese Military Base. Did anyone know anything about the Hoa Kahne Children’s clinic ? It was turned into a mental hospital after the war. I was there in 1999 and talked with the doctors. They said the Danang area had a 600 % higher rate of mental illness and birth defects than parts of Vietnam where defoliants were not used (agent orange). Most of the water wells in the Danang basin area were lens wells , which is basically surface run off. Bet they were loaded with agent orange ! What do you think? Chiefguy, what do you think ?
I think I’d like to know how you know I was there. I may have mentioned it in a thread somewhere, but it would have been buried pretty deep.
An addendum: I put all that Vietnam business behind me a long time ago. It was not the worst experience I could have had, but certainly far from the best. I would have preferred to be one of those Tien Sha pussies than see friends and comrades chopped up. I can’t imagine returning there (or anywhere else in SE Asia) for any reason, but I guess some folks need closure of some sort. I have no ill-will towards the Vietnamese people and had a good relationship with my crew. But the heat, bugs and snakes: no thanks.
And please see my reply to your message. I’d like to know who I’m talking with.
I can see why you buried it deep.
Wow, thanks for contacting me. As I mentioned in my response, I was afraid you might be Mike Hogan, and I have no desire to talk to or hear from that moron. A lot of names that I had forgotten.
Chefguy, I always knew I would go back to Vietnam. I like the Vietnam people very much. I don’t know about closure, you sure wont get any buy going back !! I went back in 1995 with the VVRP and built 2 houses. I enjoyed it very much . Kind of like being a Seabee team again. So I went back every year after that working for different NGOs building schools, health clinics, wells. Spent more and more time there . Up to 7 months at a time . Did the financial backing for a construction millwork company in Hue. Ended up living in Hue but still go down to Danang once in a while. Own the 3rd floor of a house in Hue were I live when I am there . The last project I worked on was planting 5,000 acres of trees with the Ministry of Forestry . An interesting thing that I learned about the forests in Vietnam. Only about 20% were affected by Agent orange. 60 % were logged of to pay Vietnam s war dept. There are only 20% native forests left and they are now protected (more or less) . The wood (logs) that are brought out from Vietnam now is brought from Laos and Cambodia.
Very interesting and very impressive. You’ve done some good work there, ol’ buddy. A lot of guys go back there to try to find something they lost; perhaps their humanity. But you’ve been an agent for positive growth and are leaving a legacy behind that doesn’t involve death and destruction. I’m proud to have known you.
Most guys go back I think as a way to connect with the past to confirm that the war was real and they were a part of it. There was a time when you could make the connection with that war . But the country has changed so much that it is hard to find anything that you can identify. If you were dropped into Danang now,after having spent a year there in 1968 , you wouldn’t have any idea where you were at. There are a bunch of 40 story buildings know and the city extends all the way north to Nam O bridge. South of the city is golf coarse s and expensive hotels. . The people of Vietnam are doing well by themselves .They have a very robust economy and there are a lot of industrial centers there with manufacturing companies from all over the world. There economy is in much better shape than the USA. It has been a good experience for me to live there and work there and be a part of that change and to know that everything in Vietnam is OK . If you ask young people in the USA about the Vietnam war most of them have no idea what you are talking about. You ask a young person in Vietnam about the American war in Vietnam and they have no idea what you are talking about. The problem with this is that every generation seems to have to make the same mistakes because they don’t learn from the mistakes of the past.
Okay, as a (relatively) young former Seabee (BU2), I’m not trying to be a dick, but what is the question here?
There is no question. The thread is probably in the wrong forum, or possibly just should be in a message exchange instead of a thread. If it’s an issue, a mod will move it.
OK Builder second class West let me explain whats going on here. This is my first post on this web sight . I got here through two links from a military web site posting that was made over 9 years ago. Chefguy had posted just enough information (Navy, FLC,Red Beach, NSA Danang) That was enough information for me to believe that he was one of my friends from our days in Vietnam. Being as how he was an active poster on this sight I just kind of used it as a means of contacting him. So although you couldn’t read between the line to even see a question ! The question was to Chefguy. Chefguy are you one of my friends from Vietnam in 1968 and 69. The answer turns out to be that Chefguy is that friend !! So young builder 2nd class rather than call you a dick . My question to you is how long were you in the Seabees and where did you serve and when ? I have a soft spot for Seabee builders because that what I was!
Thanks for not calling me a dick! 
I was a Seabee for about 7 years. I was an AO3 on CVN-65 for my two-years of active duty from 92-94, then I went into the Reserves and found out about a program called CB Vet, where you could enter the active Reserve as a Seabee and keep your crow. I was with NMCB 25 and did my two weeks active every year with NMCB Four, wherever they happened to be at the time. I got out of the Reserves in February 2001.
Just wanted to butt in and say
I learned just about everything I know from an old SeaBee, W.C. “Champ” Turner, he lived catty-cornered across from me in west Texas and I did work for him as a teen. He taught me to mop the Navy way, and a million other things. He was in the CCC in the thirties and when WWII came around was considered too old so he became one of you guys. Ended up driving a bulldozer on Henderson Field. I miss that man.
I will butt out now
Cheers on re-meeting old friends
CAPT
Dont want to sound stupid but what is an AO3 and what isCVN-65 ? Why did you decide to get out of the reserve ? My younger brother brother did 16 years total and decided to get out just before the Irac thing got going. He was trained as a forward air recon in the Air force and I guess he saw the hand writing on the wall !! The reason I asked about how long it took to make PO 2 is that during the Vietnam war if you had half a brain you could advance real fast. I made 2nd class builder in 3 years and 6 months. My older brother was a Navy diver Hard hat and made PO2 in 1 year and 6 months. It used to piss the old timers off to have some young 20 year old with less than 3 years in end up as there boss when they might have 12 or more years in and only be PO 3. During peace time its hard to climb that ladder ! Capt Kirk , the Marines I served with used to call us Seabees - Marines with a PHD.
OS
Champ would have liked that, I wonder if they called them that in WWII?
CAPT
AO3 is an Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class (basically loading aircraft with bombs, rockets, guns, and missles), and CVN-65 is the USS Enterprise.
I got out of the Reserves partially because I didn’t have the time, partially because I moved and I didn’t like the local detachment as much, and partially because my new employer at the time didn’t support reservists and I would have had to use all of my vacation to do my 2 weeks active.
Moved from General Questions to MPSIMS. Without prejudice.
I think it’ll get more play there.
samclem, Moderator
Yeah, really. The reason it was so easy is that during wartime they waived time-in-grade requirements. I made CE2 (Construction Electrician) in 2 years flat, then sat at that grade for the next eight years. Peacetime advancement is a bitch.
I am looking for any who knew, or knew of, my father, and if any read this, he passed 7/12/14. I can be contacted at dougtrusty62@twc.com