I’ve an acquaintance, well, heck, it’s my stepbrother, who hints darkly of tragedies and men lost under his direction during the Vietnam war. In a style anybody who’s knocked off a con would recognize, he speaks of untold horrors, untold because he’s never less than fuzzy quotient 10 about the details of whatever the hell may have happened.
It’s progressed to the point that my cousin (actually, stepcousin - those two are blood relatives) regards him as a phony and won’t speak to him.
What I gleaned from my stepmom is that he did actually go to Vietnam during the war, but as an employee of a contractor rather than as a soldier (I think the contractor may have been Brown & Root).
So, in an effort to extend every last chance to his credibility, I’m trying to find out if our contractors over there experienced some militarily inflicted disasters resulting in loss of life. It certainly seems plausible, as they were working in a war zone.
I’ve visited a few sites that deal with wartime wannabes, such as the P O W Network and PhonyVeterans.com, but they don’t really address my concern.
An old college friend’s father died in Vietnam during the War. He was a contractor for GE and was killed by “friendly fire.” That was the story he told anyway and I believe it to be credible. I am no longer in touch with the guy so I can’t get anymore details.
For what its worth, I served 1 year in Cam Ranh 1968-69 (same time as Kerry). RMK-BRJ construction consortium built up Cam Ranh, as well as Da Nang using mostly Filipino workers with American Civil Engineers. Their base was just up the road from my Graves Registration Point. From 1965 through 1968 there were only 2 US civilian deaths in southern II corp, (I had access to all the casualty records), one floater who apparently fell off his ship and one extremely obese guy.
Unless your guy was a pilot for Air America or a CIA spook, I’d say he was full of sh*t. Just because someone spent a year in The Big Country doesn’t necessarily mean they went through hell. I certainly don’t consider myself a hero (only half a step ahead of GWB). On the other hand, the guys I knew who actually experienced combat would only talk about it to others who at least had been there. It isn’t something you brag about, nor do you hint darkly about it. (IMHO)
It may not be any indication. I understand that there are significant numbers of “civilian contractors” in Iraq who are carrying out essentially military tasks in combat positions - defensive rather than offensive, perhaps, but definitely combat positions.
I’ve not heard it suggested that this was true in Vietnam.