My first car!.
During your final few weeks in-country in the famous sunny S.E.Asia dust-up a few decades ago, if you were lucky, you got rotated to a rear area. Even medics .... if your replacement showed up.
Mine did, and while waiting for my orders for DEROS to catch up with me they came around asking if anyone wanted to volunteer to make the daily mail run to an airstrip a few miles away. The major draw was the cold pop they had there - plus the chance to get off the miserable little compound I was on.
So, the Army being
so strange - they asked to see my military driver's license.
I had never driven anything but 4 Honda motorcycles - but I quickly lied and said I had lost it while fording a creek or somesuch. They sent me to the motor pool to check out a vehicle and to get a proper paper license.
All of the vehicles had been 'red-lined' as broken junk....but I found a 3/4 ton that I could get started.
I took off in it to bring it to the shed and promptly slammed into the side of the motor pool Sgt.'s Deuce & a Half.....lousy brakes and I forgot about the clutch pedal when stopping.(or,
not stopping)
Got my license and a big piece of plywood that said "US Mail - Do Not Delay !" to hang on the front.
Proceeded to lose a few more hearts and minds with my high speed learning-to-drive rips through the "unsecured" country-side - trying to avoid the Lambretta taxis (loaded with 12 people, 3 goats & several cases of chickens) and "Charlie The Sniper", and -
the theory was - if you hit a mine at speed -- you'd be OK(I wasn't old enough to drink - so, this theory seemed the "No Sh-t Gospel" & much better than the alternative) . Learned NOT to play chicken with some sort of large buttoned-up armored vehicle at a cross roads....."Bad Moon Rising" painted on the side with teeth on the front.
Got my cold Coke everyday for 2 weeks, did not get dinged and learned to drive my first car!
(the truck's gas leak was amazingly productive, leaving a cloud of petrol mist swirling & wafting behind me - so I had to wait to smoke until after I got to my destination)
Angels DO watch over kids and drunks.
found this photo of a 3/4 ton on Bing - though my truck never looked this good...and there sure as heck was no Bull's Eye star on the doors!!
Stig
