The Day They Signed The Peace Agreement
History Books will tell you the Paris Peace Accords took effect on January 28th at 8:00am - but it was January 29th in the Gulf of Tonkin - where Viet Nam is located and where I was located at the time.
In typical military fashion, we were still doing the same things we were doing before. The difference was we no longer received combat pay.
Also, in typical military fashion, the day was declared "Holiday Routine" which meant holiday for the crew, routine for the cooks. I was one of those cooks.
They held a huge barbecue on the flight deck - there were something like 5000 people on the ship, including the air wings and we set up bbq grills and grilled steaks for hours - literally hours. In the sun. Floating out in the middle of the Tonkin Gulf. With nary a palm tree in sight.
I ended up with 2nd degree burns over every bit of exposed skin on my body and was in sickbay for three days - I couldn't even walk. To say I was in pain may be a slight understatement. I was then given a no work chit for about a week.
One of the more fun things about all this is my leading chief - who really - really - disliked me - tried to have me court-martialed for "destruction of government property" - myself. Seriously. The only way I got out of his charge was the simple fact that I had been given a direct order to be on the flight deck grilling steaks in the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin - without shade.
It was bad enough that we worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off, seven days a week without some jerk riding your ass for no reason other than he could. If we were out at sea for 63 days, we worked 12 hours on, 12 hours off, for 63 straight days. He, of course, was in the office about 30 hours a week.
The dude constantly and continually tried to fuck me over any chance he could. (The only time he actually semi-succeeded was the day I was separated. I needed him to sign my separation papers and he wouldn't sign them until I got a "regulation military haircut". I smiled at him, got the haircut, and after he signed them I smiled again, and told him I was going to grow it down to my asshole, did a sharp military about face, and walked out.
That Time I Didn't Get Arrested
I lived at the North Shore of Lake Tahoe from May 1976 to November 1980 - with a brief stint back in San Francisco circa 1978.
Circa 1979, I was back at the Hyatt Lake Tahoe, living in the house with Michael, Susan, and Clare. We all worked for casinos - Clare at the Nevada Club and me, Michael, and Susan at The Hyatt.
It was not unusual to get off work at 11pm, head out to the casino - first a stop at Nick's Hideaway - the small bar across from Alpine Jack's - and then to the Sugar Pine Lounge - the casino bar with live entertainment.
--as an aside - The Sugar Pine Lounge is where I first heard Elmo and Patsy sing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" before it was ever recorded and released!
It was not unusual to have more than a few drinks, and then hit the Nugget for Chili Cheese Omelets and Budweiser's about 3am before heading home.
Ah... The life of a 20-something Casino Employee in the '70s...
One night, after a rather uneventful evening of imbibing, I was driving the three miles from the Nugget to the house - I had made it through the winding curves of Hwy 28 - and was on the straightaway into Brockway.
Oh... and I was driving my 1963 VW Beetle about 5mph in first gear.
I got pulled over in front of the Brockway Theatre. What a shock, eh?!?
The cop asked me for all the pertinent info and asked why I was driving so slow. My response was "'Cuz I'm DRUNK!"
He asked where I lived and told him right up 267 about 2 miles away. He stepped back to his car with my license and insurance and in a moment came back and handed it all back to me.
He said "I don't want to see you driving any faster than you're driving right now." and let me go.
Frodo Lives!
I read an article today about how JRR Tolkien and his books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings helped shape the anti-war movement.
Fantasy books and fairytales have always held a fascination to me. As youngsters, we had a set of the My Bookhouse series from the 1920s that had belonged to my Mom. Full of fairy tales and imaginative stories. I could easily get lost in them.
The first fantasy book series I read was The Oz books - all 14 of them - before I was 8 years old. I had a library card and the L Taraval streetcar stopped at the corner and dropped me off directly in front of the Parkside Branch of the library. This is circa 1959/1960 - the library was built in 1951, so it was still new and bright and totally inviting to this little bookworm. The books were all highly illustrated, which made the reading all the more fun.
The Children's Section was huge and the librarians caring and helpful. It's also where I started The Hardy Boys - and Nancy Drew - and on to Agatha Christie.
I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in Jr High School. - before being of Draft Age and before the first time I was teargassed at a protest. I even had a "Frodo Lives" button just like the one in the picture. I guess I was a geek before it was cool - because, really... the last thing I was in school was "cool".
Freud would definitely have a field day figuring out why I would immerse myself in fantasy and other worlds - probably had nothing to do with the fact that I had to hide the fact that I liked boys. (Yes, I knew even way back then...)
I think I've always been anti-war - even if I did go off to war in Viet Nam. As lottery numbers were being drawn, I said I wanted to go to Canada because I was NOT going to go into a jungle and kill people. My father said to try an alternate service before making a decision that would affect me for the rest of my life. Uncle Sam's Yacht Club gladly accepted me.
I'm not sure how The Lord of the Rings helped shape that, though. I knew then as I know now, that good has to overcome evil, but I've never seen myself as the hero of the story. More of a Samwise than a Frodo. Today, I'd be more of a Resistance Intelligence Gatherer, reporting back. Old men are invisible - walk into an Old Navy store if you need proof. And in todays political climate, being a part of the Resistance is more important than ever.
Being from San Francisco, I never considered myself a "hippie" - even if I did frequent the Haight and smoke lots of pot. But there were other parts of that counterculture that I really liked besides the anti war aspect - from questioning authority and breaking down gender and color barriers to attending The Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Novato several times - always in costume, of course! They were a 20th century interpretation of 15th and 16th century England - with lots of pot and tankards of mead - and smuggled in flasks of whisky!
20/20 hindsight being what it is, our egalitarian gatherings really were mostly white. The people of color who we were saying were all equal to us were too busy trying to eke out a simple existence to head out to Marin for an Elizabethan fancy dress party. The realities of life we didn't see.
Today, the realities of life are much clearer. All you have to do is look.
Being anti war and willing to fight evil are not mutually exclusive. The evil ones are trying to cause the wars - and it's our duty to stop them.