I was stationed at the Air Force radar site at Monkey Mountain in 1972.  The war was almost entirely air power by then.  Very few ground combat troops left.  We had some Marines at our site who ran a computer system that linked our system with the Navy.  We used to tease them about not being "real Marines".

Anyway, up until that time, off duty Marines could not wear civilian clothes while on a military installation.  On the Marine Corps birthday, November 1972, the rules were changed so that they could wear civilian clothes while off duty, no matter where they were.  There was a small ceremony that day to celebrate the Corps birthday, attended by all the people at the site.   When the ceremony ended at 1700 with the lowering of the flag, the Marines took off for their hooches to change clothes.  When they emerged a short time later, the rest of us were subjected to the most God awful display of Aloha shirts, Tie-dye shirts and anything else that was loud.  Color coordination was not a major concern with these Jarheads!!  They then proceeded to the EM club on site and started a birthday party that lasted all night.  It got rather rowdy in the club, so most of the rest of us thought it wise to move on.  The next morning there were Marines laying all over the place, unable to make it back to their hooch.  It was a sight to behold.

There are a lot of such memories from my time in Vietnam.  Sure, I was a "REMF", but I had a job to do. So did these Marines.  And we all did our job damn well.