(Copyright by R J Hamann)

I’ve always prided myself on having a fairly good memory, with faces and names anyway, but for whatever reason the Commander in Chief up there on that final landing strip in the sky has decided for me, my tour as a Rustic GIB (Guy in Back), a.k.a., airborne interpreter, is pretty much a blank. Oh, I remember a few missions , the first, naturally, the mission I flew at Christmas time that really opened my eyes and my last mission. And even those three are a little hazy. As for the other 166 missions......... they’ve somehow  stowed themselves away into the far recesses of my mind. I’d like to think that someday, somehow, something will trip that mental circuit breaker which will reconnect me with that part of my youth which was so unique, exciting, and, dare I say, not the norm for a just turned 21 year old.

    Since the memory banks are dried up, I’ll give you a little background as to how I came to be one of the famed, or as others have put it, infamous, enlisted backseaters who flew with the Rustic FACs.

    I enlisted in the Air Force in June of 1970, therefore my summer was spent at Lackland AFB, Texas..........basic training!  A Maine Yankee in Southern fried temperatures .......but I got through it. While in basic, recruits were given the opportunity to test for any skills they might deem of some use to Uncle Sam’s needs. I’d been brought up speaking French all my life, my parents both being natives of Canada who’d come to Maine as youths and become U.S. citizens, working and living the American dream. Figuring my ability to speak French might come in handy at some point during my military career, I decided to take the French language test. That done, basic training continued until early August, at which time I was sent to Michigan as a new airman, a POL specialist to be exact. Specialist? I knew absolutely nothing about POL (Petroleums, Oils, Lubricants) !!!! I was one of only four in my flight to get a DDA assignment, that is to say, a direct duty assignment, no technical school training before reporting to my first base.......this was an OJT (on the job training) assignment. The main objective of a POL airman........refueling of aircraft, a gas jockey. Not exactly what I had pictured myself doing as a member of the United States Air Force but at least I was near airplanes and drove my fuel truck onto the flight line every day.
 
   Sometime between the time I arrived in Michigan in August 1970, and early spring of 1971, I put in a volunteer statement to go to Vietnam / Thailand. Why so? Basically, I was bored and figured a change of scenery would do me some good. Hey, how dangerous could it be refueling aircraft in Vietnam or Thailand? I’d spoken with guys who’d been there and they all seemed to have really enjoyed their time there. These were Air Force bases, not Army camps in the jungles of Vietnam ! No sweat !

    As the summer of ‘71 approached, I was notified that I’d received orders to go to Vietnam.....but those orders came with a slight  twist from what I expected. These orders were sending me to Vietnam because of my French speaking qualifications.......and oh, one more detail......I was going to be flying. Now as far as I knew, speaking French was not a prerequisite for POL troops being stationed in Vietnam, or Thailand, and neither was flying. But this is all I was told at the time, that, and the fact that I’d have to go through altitude chamber testing at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH, survival school training at Fairchild AFB, WA, and jungle survival (snake school) at Clark AB, Philippines. This definitely was not a POL assignment.

    I left the friendly confines of Wurtsmith AFB, MI in August of ‘71 for a few weeks leave back home in Maine then went about getting all my training done. I t was a little like touring the United States, first Maine, then Ohio, all the way across to Washington, the Philippines and eventually, my new duty base, Phan Rang AB, So. Vietnam.

    I stepped foot in Vietnam in mid-Oct.,1971, a few weeks shy of my 21st birthday. I’d never felt so all alone in my life! What am I doing here, I asked myself. With still no definite answer to that question, I must have found my way to my new squadron, the 19th TASS, according to what was written on my orders. If memory serves me correctly, they didn’t know who I was or why I was reporting to them. Here’s my orders, I said. They seemed puzzled. I distinctly remember being told I might be shipped back home..........seems “my kind” wasn’t needed any longer, “my kind”  being a French speaking type. Now I was confused.

    I was driven to the barracks and given a room, and I use that term with great liberties. Now I know we Air Force types were known to have it easy compared to living conditions described by other lesser ranked branches of the armed services......but this was considered a room? Plywood walls, plywood desk, yes, a desk.......... remember, this was Air Force, and a bed.,all the comforts of home, no small wonder Phan Rang was known as “Happy Valley”.

    After loafing around for almost a month, waiting for my fate to be decided upon, I was told I was being sent to Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. There, I’d be flying in the backseat of a 2-man observatory plane, an OV-10, as an airborne interpreter. Sounded fantastic to me! But why did Uncle Sam need a French speaking interpreter in the backseat of an OV-10, whatever that was? Well now Airman Hamann, you’re going to be flying over Cambodia, talking to the Cambodian ground commanders and their radio operators, some of whom only speak Cambodian.............and French. My mother had always told me not to lose my ability to speak French, that being bilingual would someday be of great help to me. I wondered what she might have to say about her oldest son’s new job!

    On Nov. 10, 1971, I experienced my first OV-10 plane ride, a two hour trip from Phan Rang AB to my new duty station at Ubon RTAFB, Thailand. With Maj. Benny Atkins as my pilot, we arrived in sunny Ubon in late afternoon. POL had nothing on this!!! I was a young airman in the United States Air Force..........and I was going to fly! What more could I ask for?

    I was introduced to my new squadron commander, Lt. Col. John Cary, my NCOIC, TSgt. Joe Garand, a fellow Mainiac, ( a.k.a. a native of Maine), one of the radio operators, Airman Doug Robertson and last but not least, the squadron mascot, Missue, a lovable mongrel. After the introductions at the ops building were accomplished, Joe took me to the backseaters hooch, my new home. Now this was more like it, not much in the way of privacy as five of us shared this basically two room dwelling, one half sleeping quarters, the other half dayroom, with TV, air conditioning and fridge. This was better than the dorm room I had stateside!

    Joe introduced me to the other backseaters, all enlisted guys like myself. Tsgt. Ralph Dow, another Mainiac, SSgt. Marcel Morneau, originally from Canada, Sgt. Carl “Doug” Norman from Illinois, SSgt. Jean-Claude Gestas, originally from France and Airman Nick Lewis from North Carolina. These are the GIBS I remember the most but there were a few others who flew with us during my time at Ubon. Some of us spoke a Franco-American or Canadian type French, others spoke the Parisian French and of course,............we all spoke English.   

    The next few days were spent  becoming familiar with the aircraft I’d be spending the next 12 months in, the OV-10. With five radios built in, the opportunity to speak with more than one person at a time was readily available and those opportunities would become a common occurrence. Familiarization with the maps, code wheel, the lingo used amongst the forward air controllers (FACs) and the Cambodian ground commanders, proper parachute harness hook ups..........all this and more was drilled into me. And lastly, I had to chose my personal call sign. All pilots were designated with a number, i.e.; Rustic 01, which was usually assigned to the commander. The backseaters were allowed to chose from the phonetic alphabet. I decided to go with the letter “Y”, hence I became Rustic Yankee. Has a certain ring to it, doesn't it? Being a Mainiac, I thought the moniker fit me well.

    Lucky 13! It’s always been a good number for me. My first mission as a Rustic GIB took place on Nov. 13,1971. With a few maps in my map bag, binoculars, code wheel, a Kodak Instamatic camera and a few barf bags ( which I would never use during my entire tour), Lt. Tom Clinch, R-18 and I took off on an early afternoon mission. TSgt. Garand had warned me to tighten up when the pilot, (especially Tom Clinch), went in to mark the target or make a rocket pass. This was to be done to counter the “G” forces experienced when the pilot pulled the stick to pull off the target area. Well.........I didn’t quite tighten up enough! As Tom fired his smoke and proceeded to pull the stick hard, (obviously to initiate the new guy in the backseat), I was observing the target through my binoculars. As the ”G’s” suddenly pounced upon me, my jaw felt like it was falling to my knees, the same knees that were throbbing with pain from having binoculars dropped onto them from 200 feet ! OK, it was only 2 feet but those “G” forces certainly magnified gravity’s pull. My personal records show that we put in four air strikes that day, a good way to break into the business. Unfortunately, I also recall that some of those air strikes were put in on weapons and ammunition that our Cambodian allies had left behind earlier that day as they retreated up Highway 6, North of Kampong Thom, under attack from the Khmer Rouge.

    I spent almost 5 hours in the OV that day and landed back at Ubon with a sense of  pride I’d never before experienced in my life. From a POL gas jock to a war fighting mongrel, from JP-4 and oil stained fatigues to a thoroughly drenched flight suit, from sitting high in the cab of a JP-4 fuel truck to sitting even higher in the backseat of an OV-10 and from delivering fuel to an F-106 to delivering hell and havoc to the enemy below. Now THIS was the Air Force I’d dreamt about . And one more thing........the barf bags came back empty!

    After 30 plus years, I remember very little of the remainder of  these missions. Why is that? How can that part of my life which was so completely contradictory to my character have become almost non-existent in my memory? Was it...just a job, like any other? Been there, done that , time to move on? I have no definite answers.

    I have spent several weeks rereading letters I’d written to my then-girlfriend, now-wife, Joan, and I realize I seldom mentioned what I was  involved doing  as an airborne interpreter. Why worry her? There was absolutely nothing she could do about it, right?

    All I have now are the letters, dated glimpses into the past. The following excerpts  obviously denote events and conversations that meant a great deal to me personally. Some because they were humorous, some because they were a “first”  for me  and others .....because they hit home.

    14 Oct. 71- Clark AB, Philippines
The more I hear about OV-10 pilots and how sick people who fly them get, the more I hate myself for volunteering for this assignment.

    20 Oct. 71- Phan Rang AB, So.. Vietnam
I called the squadron this afternoon and they didn’t seem to care whether I showed up or not. 

    3 Nov.71-
We were interviewed Monday by Capt. Murphy, OIC (Officer in Charge) of backseaters, but they haven’t told us anything yet. Only 2 or 3 of the eight will get the jobs. The rest have a choice of staying here doing their old job or going back home. Going home really sounded great hon but I hope you’ll agree with me that now that I’m here, I might as well keep going, right? I mean I’ve got almost a month done already. And there’s always that chance that I might get to leave before my year is up! I’d hate to go home then eight months later have to say goodbye again. I told the guy I’d like to stay in Nam if possible. Try to see the good points, OK, hon?

    3 Nov. 71-
One of the guys woke me up this morning and said Capt. Murphy wanted to see us right away. Five of us got jobs and oddly enough, the two guys whom everyone thought would get picked were just put on stand-by. Well, guess where they’re sending me? Ubon, Thailand! I’ll probably be leaving in a few days.
    When they told me I had the job, the first thing I thought of was, Joan’s not going to like this.

    I thought that by going through survival school, I’d prove to myself that I could do something different, something not everyone does. As it turned out, survival school wasn’t such a big thing after all. But what lies ahead IS a big thing for me. It’s something I’ve never done before. You may think I’m crazy but........I volunteered for this job so now I have to go through with it. Guess I’ve said enough for now.

    11 Nov. 71- Ubon, Thailand
Well here I am in Thailand! And I can seriously say I’ll be here for more than three weeks. Ubon is really a nice base especially if you were at Phan Rang before.

    I arrived here yesterday in the OV-10. There was nothing thrilling about the flight over from Phan Rang but after a little over two hours of flying, just sitting there, strapped in, I was glad to get out. I’m going out on my first mission Saturday. The missions are usually about 4 1/2 hours long. After 10 missions I get my wings, after ? missions I get an air medal and after 80, the “B” one, the Distinguished Flying Cross.

    I hope we call in some air strikes so I can get used to all those fancy maneuvers right away. They’ve been giving me information left and right ever since I got here. Spent most of today studying maps and learning how to operate all the radios in that small plane. It’s a weird looking thing.
    Radio Hanoi said they’re offering $5000 for any Rustic man. So you see, I'm very valuable to Uncle Sam now!
    I can’t wait to get into the swing of things. Everything is so damn interesting you know, right where the action is!

    16 Nov. 71-
The latest news is that I might be moving back to Vietnam but this time to Tan Son Nhut AB. If Nick gets air sick again tomorrow, he’ll probably be going instead because the Sundog FACs fly the O-2s and they don’t go as fast or stay up as long as the OV-10. I’d rather stay here at Ubon.

    If you read about the town of Rumlong (in Cambodia), just remember that’s the location where I was working over on Saturday. We called in an air strike to destroy the trucks, guns and ammo the friendlies (Cambodians) left behind when they had to abandon the place. But don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Contrary to what the papers say, it wasn’t a total waste of time we spent there! I even did some flying my first time up for about 15 minutes. We put in four air strikes Saturday and accumulated 4.9 hours of flying.

    Today we were suppose to do some reconnaissance work but ended up putting in an a/s on a VC training area with a reported 200 VC.

    Well I’m not sorry that I volunteered for this job. It’s exciting work. Of course, on days like today when we don’t have any frags scheduled and we just ride around checking things out, it gets  boring.

    20 Nov. 71-
We killed a whole bunch of VC today!  Those f’’’ers were shooting back at us though. Every time we went down to mark the target, the Cambodian ground operator would come over my radio and start shouting,” “Sir, be careful....they shooting at you!” “ But neither the pilot nor I saw or heard anything coming at us. I think the guy was more nervous than we were. Of course, he was being attacked by the VC at the time. It just makes the job a little more exciting and makes you realize that there is a war going on here, believe it or not.

    The latest rumors here are that some of us might go to NKP, which is another base in Thailand. Or, that we might stay here and be assigned to  the Spectre squadron ( C-130 gunships) but still fly with Rustics and sometimes with Spectres although Spectres don’t use interpreters that much. I wouldn’t mind flying with both although they can’t fly a guy over 100 hours a month.

    28 Nov.71-
Wow! I’ve got my wings now. I’m all the way up to 13 missions and 58.1 hours!

    15 Dec.71-
We were doing our thing as usual yesterday morning  and they (7th AF, Saigon) called up and told the pilot that after we were finished our mission to report to Tan Son Nhut (Saigon) and brief some generals on what’s going on in our area of operation. So we were there for about three hours and by the time we got back to Ubon, I had 6 1/2 hours flying time for the day, a sore butt and a sore back.

    Joan, don’t think about how sad I’ll be during Christmas because by now, I’m used to not being home during special holidays. Besides, when that day comes around, it just doesn’t seem like a holiday and I hardly think about it really. So don’t make it worse for yourself by thinking about how I’ll feel. I know it won’t be the same but keep your chin up. You’re right, you’ll feel worse for me than I will for myself.
    Do you realize I have only 299 days left here as of today?

    It’s time for me to eat my P.B. sandwich, get changed, drop my film off at the camera shop, and get to Intel. for briefing. I’m flying with Lt. Col. Cary today. He’s our squadron commander, a real nice guy. The only bad things about a 1430 “go” is that.......1) it’s too late in the day and spoils the whole day and 2) by 1500-1530, it starts getting dark out there in the AO (Area of Operation) and that’s when the VC start making trouble.

    17 Dec. 71-
One of my Cambodian buddies said he mailed me a postcard last week but I haven’t received it yet. His name is Charles and he doesn’t like to be called Charlie, for some odd reason! Can’t really blame the guy. He wants to send me some money so I can buy  a souvenir for him from the states. He wants me to get him a T.V.!
    We just found out the definite date as to when Bob Hope will be here........Dec. 20th. I’m going to try to go see him. That’s only three days from now.

    21 Dec. 71-
I really missed you a lot last nite when I saw all those beautiful girls in the Bob Hope show. Miss World USA ( 36-26-36) and the Hollywood Deb Stars were there. You know how I love to look at  nice legs, well let me tell you, they had some nice ones! It made me homesick to see all those lovely American girls. Thai women are nice but nothing can beat an American girl. But speaking of Thai women, there were two strippers at the Rustic party we had Sunday nite. Well anyway, they were doing their thing when both guys sitting on either side of me got up to get a drink. So one of the “ladies” started walking around the table, stopping now and then to tease the guys. I KNEW she was going to stop when she got to me and sure enough, she sat on my lap and put her two beautiful breasts right in my face. What could I do? I grabbed her from behind and gave her a few kisses between both boobs. She really loved it because she started to get up then sat back down and pulled my head back to her bosom once again. And she really smelled good too!  But what else could I do hon? All the guys were watching and clapping. She didn’t do that just to me. And, by the way, we had a great meal too!  

    Man I’m tired. Been getting up at 0600 for the past three days, 0430 this morning and 0315 tomorrow morning. Hey, we killed about 50 of those f****** VC this morning. The friendlies are finally getting reinforcements. Situation’s been a little rough lately. Five F-4s have been shot down in the past few days. As for me, I’ve got 28 missions so far, two more and I get my 2nd air medal. And I’ve got over 125 hours flying time so far. Only have about 63 hours this month (low man) but that’s because I was down for three days with the bug.

    Christmas.........well, with the weather and considering what we’re doing here every day, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas one damn bit, you know?

    One of the major Cambodian ground commanders is coming here to Ubon on New Years. You can bet all the Rustics are eagerly awaiting his visit.

    26 Dec. 71-
Had the early “go” on Christmas and we (not the jet fighters now, just us in our OV-10) reportedly killed 10 VC. Merry Christmas, huh?

    4 Jan. 72-
Hotel Lima, one of the Cambodian Army radio operators, asked if we could drop him some issues of Playboy magazines. I asked if he had a bunch of horny troops down there. He came back with,  “Hah,yes sir!”

    I fly with Rustic 09 tomorrow. Every time I fly with him, he gets me pissed off. I’ll be talking with the ground operator in French and then 09 asks what the guy said so I tell him and then 09 tells me that not all you two talked about! I’ve flown with him three times and three times he’s gotten me pissed at him!

    14 Jan. 72-
I’ve found myself a girlfriend from Cambodia. Her name is Shanta and she is a 20 year old  member of the Cambodian army, serving as one of their radio operators in KamPong Thom. Do you know what she told me this morning? She said, “ “India Lima Yankee” “.That’s phonetic talk. Every letter of the alphabet has a word so you take the first letters of each and you get I.L.Y.. Can stand for a few different things, right? She just latched on to me ‘cause I’m the youngest of the Rustics over here. But don’t worry, there’s not much that can happen over the radio. When she gave me that little message, she asked if I understood what she meant. I told her that I did and had a good copy. Now Sam, an army Captain  there at KamPong Thom  is making this sound like a big love affair. He played it for all it was worth! It was a welcome break from  the war.

    20 Jan.72-
Sam says Shanta is broken hearted because I haven’t talked to her lately. See what I mean about playing this for all it’s worth? I talk to her when I’m not busy, otherwise, she just has to wait, just like you, right? Sam says, not only does she have a beautiful voice but also a beautiful shape.

    Guess what I received two days ago from a Lt. Col. of the Cambodian army? A Chinese revolver captured from a VC lieutenant by the Cambodians on November 24, 1971 at Tang Kouk. Ain’t that something? They even sent me the magazine that goes with it, loaded! That really made me feel good, you know ! That shows you how much they appreciate our helping them. Can you imagine what a war trophy like that is worth? I’m going to register it with the Security Police tomorrow  so that  I can bring it back to the states. Can you believe that? It was sent to Rustic Yankee  through the American Attaché's office in Phnom Penh. I doubt if I ever would have gotten it any other way. I don’t think I’ll bother to bring the bullets back with me although the gun’s still in pretty good shape. I think I’ll put it on a plaque and display it in our living room, ok? (Note: The gun never did made it back home with me. )

    22 Jan. 72-
You know, I think the “Stars and Stripes” newspaper is trying to drive all GIs insane. Every day there’s a picture of some great looking gal, built like a brick shithouse, usually in a bikini and she’s usually Australian. Today they had two of them in bikinis. Talk about making a guy feel homesick!

    24 Jan. 72-
I think your letters do more for me than mine do for you. You don’t know how much I rely on your letters to keep me going. It’s kind of a funny feeling to see people sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall of the post office reading their mail. Makes you wonder if the reader is getting good news back from home or bad. I always read my mail while laying on my bed or sitting at the table at the Thai restaurant, by small lantern light.

    25 Jan. 72-
I was talking with Col. Oum and Sam at KamPong Thom this afternoon and we started talking about yanks and rebels. Sam said he and the colonel were both rebels and I told him he’d be better off being a Yankee. Sam stated he’d like to ride horses and shoot guns, etc. I told him my honey back home owned a horse. Then Col. Oum said that when he was about 20 years old, he was on the national horse jumping team and that he won numerous awards so I guess he must have been pretty good.

    11 Feb. 72-
Had the early “go” this morning, dawn patrol. Down below, small hooches, rice piles. Ground commander reported it as VC area. Fighters come out, start dropping bombs. Rustic Yankee observes a bunch of guys in the familiar black pajamas running to the East into one of the hooches. Yankee tells pilot, pilot talks to fighters, boom boom, no more hooch, no more black pajamas, shit hot, hit my smoke, war is hell.

    Want to hear something we just found out about today? We’ve been flying for the past three months with defective parachutes! War IS hell, huh dear? They canceled all the flights for the rest of the day. Seems the chutes were packed wrong. The mistake was found when the plane was sent to NKP for it’s “check up. It’s hard to believe it went by like that without anyone noticing it.

    15 Feb. 72-
The weather has warmed up considerably here. It was nice and warm when I got up at 0230 the other morning. We had to be at Intel 45 minutes earlier than usual because we were going to go fly over “The Trail”  during the Tet new year but the plans were changed overnight so we just flew our regular mission over Cambodia.

    18 Feb. 72-
Well there’s talk that our new commander wants to get rid of all the backseaters. That’s as far as I’ll go as to whether I go home early or not. I don’t want to get your hopes up for nothing.

    I’ve seemed all shook up in my last few letters, huh? Well that’s what the war does to you. I was  shook up a little yesterday. One of the Sundogs ( Tan Son Nhut ) was shot down yesterday afternoon. The right seater was picked up. The pilot supposedly was hit in the chest and went down with the plane. Three of our planes went to the area to help out in the SAR (Search and Rescue) effort. It was on the radio this afternoon. 

    27 Feb. 72-
Spoke with Shanta the other day. She said she had a pleasant dream about yours truly. How’s that for radio romance? You must really envy her, being able to talk to me and you can’t.

    I wouldn’t bet on it but I think that in two more months I should have my third stripe, making me a sergeant. Keep your fingers crossed!

    3 Mar. 72-
I tell ya, I think Shanta’s falling deeper in love every day! She didn’t even want to talk to Sam this morning once she heard me on the radio. Sam was calling her “young lady” and “Cherie” but she just wouldn’t answer. So I asked Sam what had happened with his charm. When she heard my voice, she came up on the radio immediately. What can I do hon? I’m innocent! She’s the one that always calls me, I never  call her. It’s Sam and the other guys here who keep setting me up.  “ Do you want to talk to Shanta, Yankee?” Now  how do you think she’d feel if I said “no” right over the radio for her to hear?

    14 Mar. 72-
Starting next week, a few of the pilots and us backseaters will be teaching Cambodian pilots about our job in general. They’re all suppose to be able to speak French very well, English-----not too good!

    16 Mar.72-
Capt. Kimbell, Rustic 10, was a little pissed when I told him the reason I looked tired after the flight yesterday was because I had the last “go” the day before. You’re suppose to have 12 hours crew rest, the 12 hours starting when you touch down until briefing time of your next flight. We touched down at 1810 hours Tuesday nite and I had to brief at 0415 the next morning so it wasn’t 12 hours. He said that was illegal. Oh well, such is the life of a hard working airborne interpreter!

    I’m sending you  pictures taken by Ralph who was with Rustic 17, escorting us back to Ubon when, after pulling off our first rocket pass, the #1 engine started acting up. They just finished putting anew engine in that plane the other day. I was with Rustic 10 yesterday also when the generator went dead. He tried to reset it but it wouldn’t so we turned around and headed back home. He fooled around with it again and it came back on so we turned back towards Cambodia and everything went well for the rest of the mission.
    Right now I’m listening to some old Beatle songs. “ It won’t be long, yeah”  I hope it won’t.

    23 Mar. 72-
And now, the big news of the day. No, I’m not going home yet, sorry. Got back from the mission today and wasn’t even out of the plane yet when Capt. Aitken said Lt. Col. Stratton, our commander, wanted to see me and he looked mad. Immediately, I thought, it’s about my hair. I was going to go to the barbershop this afternoon. I walked into the ops building, put my stuff away and just sort of walked around the room. Didn’t  really think anything of the fact that some of the guys who weren’t flying today were there anyway. Capt. Aitken pointed to the office and told me to get in there! I walk in, “  You wanted to see me sir?”  I asked. Col. Stratton told me to come in...........and close the door! He gives me a salute, so I salute him back, real sloppy like. E gads, what’s happening, I thought. He says, “You remember we were talking about haircuts last month?”  “ Yes sir”, I replied. “Well I have this note from the commander of 8thCSG.” Oh shit, I thought, I’ve really had it now. But I couldn’t get a haircut if I didn’t have any money. I took the envelope, opened it and there on a sheet of paper it read, “Congratulations, as of April 1,1972, Sgt. R.J.Hamann. Keep up the good work. R.G.Stratton”. There were even a pair of buck stripes stapled to the sheet of paper. I walked out of the office and Ralph had a bottle of champagne waiting for me. I took the first swig then everyone had some and proceeded to shake hands with the guys. Tonite I told Nick I didn’t see why they made such a big fuss over this promotion because they didn’t do anything when Doug got his last month. Nick said it was the colonel’s idea so.........

    29 Mar. 72-
Not much has been happening since I last wrote, nothing good anyway. The other day we found out that the requirements for our air medals and DFC are changing, for the worse. I won’t bother to explain the details but it just pissed everyone off! But then there’s the bad news. A Jolly Green went down two days ago. A couple of the pilots knew the guy that went down . The guy I flew with yesterday was his roommate for quite a while. Then last nite, one of the base’s C-130 gunships went down over Laos. I know quite a few guys that fly for Spectre, now I wonder if any of them were on that mission last nite. They say there was a crew of 14 on board, no survivors. It really makes you start thinking, maybe it could happen to me.
    The class with the Cambodian pilots went very well considering it was all done in French.

    2 Apr. 72-
    We’re starting to fly over Laos now. Backseaters don’t have to go since there’s no need of us over there, no ground commanders to communicate with. It’s strictly voluntary but yesterday Maj. Gibson said we wouldn’t be allowed to go on those missions. We’ll see!

    As for the guys that went down on that Spectre, you probably heard that the rescue mission was discontinued. 14 dead in a matter of minutes! The next nite another Spectre went down with 15 guys on board. They were all rescued, thank God. The guy I went through survival school with at Fairchild wasn’t on either one. I still don’t know about the two majors I met there though. Gary told me that his best friend was in the first one that went down and that he wasn’t suppose to fly that plane that nite, that they took him at the last minute. God damn !

    We’ve been put in for individual rollbacks. Nick and I were put in for Sep. 30, it’s only ten days earlier but it’s better than nothing.
    What a week this has been.

    4 Apr. 72-
    I checked my line number today and it wasn’t even close to the number that they promoted up to for sergeant. So since I  did get promoted, it was a little ahead of my time, special promotion. But please, don’t call me sergeant, it’s too military like and besides, it’s over now, finally made it. You can use it only when addressing the envelope. Understand!?!

    We got three new pilots in the other day. One of them has only 250 hours of flying time. Hell, I’ve got more than that now! One more mission and I’ll go over 400 hours.

    11 Apr. 72-
    The “latest” requirement for an air medal is now 100 points. 6.67 pts. for a mission when we fly over Laos, 5 pts. when we put in an a/s and 2.86 pts. for a mission where we do nothing but fly around and look for things. So far I have about 397 points. Before, it was 20 missions for an air medal, then it was changed to 15, now it’s this new system. But because of all these damn changes, once I reach 400 points, it’ll be my 5th AM or 4th OLC (Oak Leaf Cluster). Got that all straightened out?

    20 Apr. 72-
    Joe told me I could go to Tan Son Nhut for him so that I could get my Chinese revolver registered so I flew with Col. Stratton yesterday. We flew a regular mission over Cambodia then RTB’d to Saigon. Then we took off about 1600, flew another mission over Cambodia, taking the place of a Sundog who was flying a special convoy cover, then returned to Saigon once again to refuel and finally got back to Ubon about 2300. Showered and went to the party which was just about done or at least all the food was gone along with most of the puyens and everyone else. So anyway, I had “a” drink, went to the post office, had two letters waiting for me, came back here and read them, then went to bed. Now I’m trying to write this letter before it’s time to go fly at 1400. Should be able to make it. Not only that but I’m flying with Col. Stratton again today. Flew my 100th mission with him yesterday and I flew all the way back from Saigon to Ubon last nite, which gets to you after a while because you have to rely strictly on instruments. I’d look out and could have sworn we were at a 30 degree bank but my attitude indicator showed I was flying level. So he complemented me on my flying and said I must have a pilot’s license! Hmmmmmmm. So much for my trip.

    Hey, my rollback has been approved........for Aug. 30! Only found out when I got back last nite.

    28 Apr. 72-
    I got a big $240.23 paycheck for April. I’ve had it up to here with this damn finance office! My base pay is $350+ and I’m not even getting that . There’s gonna be some hell raising tomorrow.

    30 Apr. 72-
    We got a call asking for help down at Rustic ops. So we all went down there to help the pilots with their maps, equipment, etc., etc.. because they were all leaving for Danang last nite. We, the backseaters, won’t be flying for a while cause there’s only one OV-10 left here.

    As you know, the pilots are flying in Nam right now because of the new offensive, not much the backseaters can do there....... except offer up an extra pair of eyes to look for Charlie. The “powers that be” say no to that. Now no one is flying our area of Cambodia. Got a feeling that Prey Totung will no longer exist next time we go out there. The friendlies were completely surrounded the other day but we couldn’t get any air support (fighters) because everything is going to Nam. What the hell can you do? We just put down everything (ammo) we had on our OVs and hope we can quiet the VC down a little. It can get very frustrating at times like this.

    17 May 72-
    Know what I did today? I flew in an OV-10 !!!!! That’s right, five of the pilots came back yesterday so we’re flying again ! The AO sure has changed since the rains have started. Everything is green, the rice fields are a beautiful light green. It felt a little strange being in the plane after not having flown for 18 days. Everyone was happy to see the Rustics flying over their positions once again except Charlie I guess. But it was quiet out there. Shanta called me 4-5 times while I was out there. “just to hear your voice”, she said.

    27 May 72-
    Latest news.....one of our pilots was shot down this week while he was in Nam, near Quang Tri City. He was shot down by an SA-7, that’s a heat seeking rocket that’s pretty effective if you’re flying too low. They say he was between 4500-6500 ft. He’s been grounded for a week and getting a verbal reprimand. But he’s going to have to get checked to fly solo again, (just passed his check ride a couple weeks ago). With all of that, we can’t go lower than 8000 ft. when we fly over certain parts of our AO. Even with binoculars now, it’s sometimes a little difficult to tell what you’re looking at.

    As I told you earlier, we are flying again, but it’s pretty loose because it’s strictly on a voluntary basis. I’m high man among the backseaters with 7 missions this month since we started flying again on the 17th. I only volunteer for the 1st or 2nd “go”, that way I have the rest of the day to myself. But I’m going to have to start flying later in the day now because we’re going to have C-130 gunships working with us. I heard they couldn’t hit what the pilot wanted them to hit today though. That’s all my pilot and I did this morning, starting up North at Stoeng Treng and following Rt. 13 all the way down to Snoul, looking for trucks, supply depots, ammo dumps, etc. for the gunships to shoot at this afternoon.. Well, 111 missions completed and just 15 more hours ‘til I reach 500 hours.

    I wonder if the people at Kampong Thom are still alive down there. We haven’t flown over that area since about the 18th of May. They must really be wondering what the hell is going on. We were flying there, then, everyone was gone (to Danang) without any notice, then the Rustics came back, flew for about two days and now there’s no one there to help them again! The f****** big brass say, don’t worry about Kampong Thom, we’ve got a war to fight in Nam. Shit!

    30 May 72-
    Talk about a lousy mission yesterday! As we took off, something disconnected and I lost all communications with my pilot, Capt. Safely, and everyone else. I didn’t hear or say a word ‘til we came back down 4.3 hours later! I just about went out of my mind not being able to hear anything but the sound of two turbo prop engines on either side of me for the entire mission. Capt. Safely and I had to pass notes to each other in order to communicate. I checked all over but couldn’t find the problem. Once back at Ubon, it was discovered that a plug had become disconnected from the back of my instrument panel.
    Today was my 113th mission........and nothing went wrong.

    3 Jun 72-
    In another week, we’ll have to start working in the radio room, besides flying our missions, because all three of our radio operators will be leaving soon and there are no replacements for them yet. Tomorrow we start flying over Kampong Thom again. It’ll be nice to talk to Sam, Col. Oum and of course Shanta again. First thing tomorrow morning!

    7 Jun 72-
    We had a sapper on base a few nites ago. One of the Thai police shot him full of holes when he set off a flare right inside the base perimeter. According to the paper, the sapper was a pro, wearing only a loin cloth and armed with grenades and other little goodies. There were 4-5 other guys with him but they got away.

    I reached my second goal since I’ve been flying here, that of 500 hours, as of a few days ago. Only need three more missions for my DFC.

    9 Jun 72-
    I wish you could have been here tonite. After getting up at 0415 this morning, flying my mission, and not getting any sleep since, I played two games of paddleball tonite and won both. It felt twice as good because the other two guys were officers. One of them was really getting pissed cause he couldn’t do jack squat and I came close to getting hit in the head once when he swung his paddle in anger after missing a shot.

    After flying for six days in a row, I’m off tomorrow. Going to go play radio operator from 1430-2000.

    11 Jun 72-
    Dear Jo, (Joan)
    I really don’t know how to begin this letter tonite. I’ve been seriously thinking about our future plans that we had just about made firm until today came along. I’m afraid that our being separated from each other for months on end is a habit the Air Force has taken upon itself to continue....and it’s hard to break a habit, so they say. All the things we had talked about, such as you’re coming to see me on weekends at my next duty station, were sent down the drain today. I promised you I’d never leave you again once I got home if I could help it, but the Air Force has something else in mind. How I wish the hell that you were finished college already! That’s the only thing holding us back from getting married earlier. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m talking about my new assignment, hon. I have mixed emotions. People say it’s a very nice base, but if we have to be separated again, not seeing each other for months at a time, well then, I just don’t give a damn how nice a base it is. I want us to be together again, like we wanted. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer.......I’ve been assigned to Nellis A.F.B., Las Vegas, Nevada. How would you like to live there after you’ve graduated and we’ve gotten married? Sooner or later, you’re going to be living there, like it or not. Well? My question to you is, what do we do now? Do you want to wait ‘til June, ‘73 to get married? Whatever you think best hon, I’ll go along with it. I know there are a lot of factors involved. If you think you can take another eight months of being away from each other , about Sept. ‘72 to May ‘73 when you graduate, then I know I can. They just about put us as far away from each other as they could without sending me overseas again. And what’s to say they’ll keep me there? Listen, I’ve got to get ready for our ball game at 2100 so I’ll write a little later. I’m sorry they let us down like this hon.

    *****************************************************************************
    The last two months worth of letters have somehow  been misplaced.
   
    I remained at Ubon ‘til late August, 1972. My fini flight took place on Aug. 25, 1972 with Capt. Jerry “Mac le FAC” McClellan, Rustic 14. As a rule, the backseaters got to choose who they wanted to fly their last mission with. I chose Jerry because we always seemed to have a good chemistry working together and I had flown more missions with him than with any other pilot during my 10 1/2 months as Rustic Yankee. After 169 missions, and with over 727 hours flying time as an airborne interpreter, involved in over 200 air strikes in an effort to help the Cambodian peoples’ fight  for freedom against the VC and Khmere Rouge, my time had come to an end. Along with Nick Lewis who flew the last mission on that day with Bob Andrews, Rustic 07, Nick and I became the last enlisted, airborne interpreters to fly the Rustic mission.

    I was able to get my assignment to Nellis  changed to Loring AFB, Maine before I left Ubon. My new duty station also saw me going back to my original career field, that of an aircraft refueler, POL.

    By returning to my home state and Loring AFB, my future wife and I were able to go ahead with our plans for a life together and as of this writing, are about to celebrate 30 years of marriage.

    To this day, as I reflect on my tour as Rustic Yankee, I ‘m still so very proud of what we as Rustics set out to do for the people of Cambodia. My only regret is that we were not allowed to finish what we started and on August 15, 1973, the Rustics’ mission came to an abrupt ending, leaving the many folks we had befriended to fend for themselves. History has shown what happened after that. It took me a very long time before I gathered up the courage to view the movie, “The Killing Fields”, as I feared what I’d see would reflect negatively on the part we as Rustics played in Cambodia’s history...... and it’s agony. Fortunately, such was not the case. To a man, every Rustic I know feels the same sense of helplessness for not having been able to stay until the job was done. Those in command felt it was time for us to leave....and so the order was followed. The secret air war we fought in Cambodia is no longer a secret, although it is still relatively unknown to many. Books are now being written about this secret air war over Cambodia which took place from 1970-1973, flown by a group of officers and enlisted men who fought under the call sign, RUSTIC.