Frequently Asked Questions About My Vietnam Tour
Q: When were you in Vietnam?

I went to Vietnam on August 30, 1969 and left on August 31, 1970.

Q: Why did you go? 

I grew up in southern California where there were many military
bases. My father was a civilian employee of the Navy and I lived
near March Air Force Base, which was a very large Strategic Air
Command (SAC) installation.  Almost everyone that I knew was
connected in some way to the military, and many of the guys were
going to, coming from, or had been either in Vietnam or flying
above it.  I was a product of the 50's when the Cold War and the
threat of communism was very real. In school we had air raid
drills much more often than fire drills. Many houses in my
neighborhood dug bomb shelters.  I was very patriotic and very
supportive of the soldiers who were being sent to Vietnam. As a
result, the anti-war activity that I witnessed at UCLA in 1968-69
bothered me very much, and I felt that I had to do something
concrete to support the guys I knew and others like them and to
counteract the behavior of the anti-war group. The only thing I
knew how to do was work in libraries, and so when I was given the
opportunity to go to Vietnam and provide library services for the
soldiers there, I jumped at the chance.

I also was very interested in South and Southeast Asia as that
was the focus of my studies in Anthropology as an undergraduate.
I saw volunteering for Vietnam as an opportunity to travel to
that part of the world, while at the same time helping to provide
recreational services for the soldiers fighting there.

Q: As a librarian in Vietnam, what were your job duties?

Actually, my duties then were very similar to my duties now. Then
I was an administrative librarian and now I'm an associate
director.  I selected books for the library, although they were
sent on a ship, so I never saw the books I ordered.  I supervised
the soldiers and Vietnamese employees who worked in the
libraries.  I answered reference questions and got books and
articles from other Army libraries for soldiers who were getting
college degrees via correspondence courses. I wrote reports and
made schedules.  I helped the Red Cross recreation workers find
materials for the programs they put together to entertain the
soldiers with.  I helped the Entertainment Director produce a
play in the library.  I"remodeled" the library at the 6th
Convalescent Center.

Q:   What was a normal day in Vietnam like for you?
A normal day in Vietnam was just that--very normal. The libraries
I worked in were for United States and Free World Forces and were
very similar to small public libraries in the States. I did the
same sort of things in the libraries that I do now. I supervised
workers, ordered books, wrote reports, answered reference
questions. But work was really all that there was to do.  I
didn't mind that because that was what I was there for. But of
course the situation wasn't normal at all--every once in awhile a
rocket or a mortar or a satchel charge or a bullet would come
flying in my direction.  Gender wise I was more of a minority
than I've ever been before or since. There were no women's
restrooms. There was no hot water. I would drive by the aerial
port and see coffins lined up on the tarmac, silver coffins piled
high. But mostly days were very normal--get up, eat breakfast,
take shower (cold), go to work, work 10-12 hours, eat lunch, eat
dinner, go to sleep. For recreation, there were movies and
because Cam Ranh was an in-country Rest and Recuperation (R&R)
center, there were also beach parties and swimming at a fresh
water lake called Tiger Lake. I went over to the Air Force base
every Saturday afternoon and did my laundry in a trailer that had
a couple of washers and dryers in it. There were a couple of
souvenir concessions and the Post Exchange (PX) for shopping--not
exactly the mall. :-) I also read a lot.

Q: How did it feel to be a woman in Vietnam?

Being one of only a very few (less than a dozen) women among
thousands of soldiers might sound great, but as you can imagine,
it had its problems. For example, there were little or no
restroom facilities for women away from their living areas.  I
encountered some harassment from officers who resented the fact
that I had an assigned vehicle, while they were walking. Mostly,
I didn't socialize much because of the possible problems I might
encounter. I personally didn't experience any physical attacks,
but I know at least one woman who did and a Red Cross volunteer
was murdered in Cu Chi a month before I left in 1970.  I feel
that I was for the most part treated with respect and that the
soldiers, both enlisted and officer, appreciated what I was doing
and the fact that I had volunteered to be there. Mostly, I was
treated as everybody's sister. But I had to be independent and
able to stand up for myself. I couldn't be vulnerable, and I had
to be alert at all times. 

Q: What did you learn from your experience in Vietnam?

I learned to be independent and to think on my feet.  I learned
that I could do just about anything that had to be done.  I
learned to be self-reliant. I learned to distrust authority and
not to assume that just because someone or ones are in charge
that what they say is either factually correct or morally right.

Q: What do you think was the ugliest part of the war?

The death, dismemberment, and maiming committed by human beings
against one another and the destruction of a country's economy,
environment, and population. 

Q: What do you think was the most beautiful part of the war? 

There is nothing beautiful about war.  I met some beautiful
people, American and Vietnamese.  Vietnam was a beautiful
country, despite the ravages of war.

Q: What would you like younger generations to learn about war?

I want them to learn that war is a very serious business. It
isn't a John Wayne movie. People get killed and maimed. It's the
responsibility of an informed citizenry to make sure that if a
war has to be fought that there are very good and very clear
reasons for fighting and that everyone, leaders and followers,
agree that those reasons are worth sacrificing for and killing
other human beings for and being killed for. A war is the human
race at its nastiest. Anyone who participates in it is never the
same and never gets over it. 

Q: Please describe your feelings on the war--whether it was right
or wrong--and, if your feelings changed during the war, please
include when and how and why your feelings about the war changed.

When I went to Vietnam, I went because I wanted to do something
to show my support for the American soldiers fighting there.  I
believed that we were there for a good reason, to protect a small
country from Communism.  Within a very short time after my
arrival, my opinion had completely changed.  I still wanted to
support our soldiers, but I no longer felt that we were doing the
right thing by being there.  This feeling culminated in the
spring of 1970 when I watched trucks of soldiers heading for
Cambodia at the same time I was listening to President Nixon say
that the U.S. would not invade Cambodia.  I no longer trusted my
government or my leaders to tell the truth.  I no longer believed
that Vietnam was the place to hold the line to keep the dominos
from falling.  By the time I left, I felt that my government was
killing its young men and destroying a country for no good reason
at all and did not have the integrity to admit that it had made a
mistake.