10 July 69
Dear Folks,
Finally have arrived at an accurate estimate of the speed of the mail service around here. Mom’s latest letter, postmarked 3 July P.M., reached me in the morning delivery yesterday. About 5 ½ days. Not exactly super speedy…
I didn’t get much chance to think about it being the 4th of July on that glorious (as it were) day. The 4th, for me, began with perimeter guard duty and ended with interior guard duty in an ammo dump, with another hot and unpleasant day in between. We were happy that there were no 4th of July rockets or fireworks! A safe and sane 4th…
I’m glad to hear there are plans in the works for a vacation this year. Should be nice in Nova Scotia in late July. I guess Lee has probably told you that it looks very unlikely that we’ll be able to get our 5 days in Hawaii.
The allocations for Hawaiian R&R’s are now going to personnel with seven months or more in country. That would make me eligible for an R&R beginning around 28 December. This doesn’t seem to be just a passing thing, either. Two people I know have run up against it, one of whom has been here since 18 Jan and wanted an August R&R, and the other of whom has been here since 28 Feb and wanted a September R&R. The people responsible for setting up R&R’s told them that there are no indications that this will change. Under the circumstances, I’m thinking about not even going on R&R, though I may change my mind on that after I’ve been here for a few more months! The time so far has moved pretty wiftly, but as life gets more routinized, it may get harder to take. Actually, working conditions here are a considerable improvement over Fort Gordon. If it weren’t for the separation from Lee, and the occasional attempts of the VC to do us a “damn-damn,” this would be an overall improvement over Fort Gordon, and be quite bearable.
Dad’s misadventures with the car sound like good humor. One of those things you can’t believe can happen until after they have happened!
The weather here is beginning to settle into the pattern for this monsoon. It begins to rain around 11:00 a.m., stops around 2:00 p.m., begins again around 4:00 p.m. and rains until around 1:00 a.m. They tell me that as we move into September and October the rains increase until it rains nearly all the time, and then will slacken off toward November and December. This is the summertime, but it's actually cooler than the winter because of the cloud cover and rain. Kind of a weird reversal of seasons.
The chief of the branch is now about 40 numbers on the promotion list from making Lieutenant Colonel, and one of the other majors is about 70 numbers away. They’ve been promoting at the rate of six or seven a day, so both should make it before they leave. All three officers are going to leave by the middle of October. Field grade officers over here serve about six months in each slot they hold, usually one command position and one staff position. So there’ll be a complete changeover here within three months. Hope the replacements we get are as pleasant to work for as these people are.
If anybody has any desire to get any goodies for anybody, and wants to do so cheaply, please let me know. Cameras, watches, pearl jewelry, etc. is cheaper to get here, even after customs duties are paid to send it back to the states.
Gotta go now.
Love,
Ken
Kenneth Deed (b.1943)
U.S. Army, 1969-1970
Letter dated July 10, 1969.
Courtesy of the New York State Military Museum and Kenneth Deed’s sister, Martha Deed.
