Kartoffel Noggin

He had been to more than a couple funerals of friends, relatives and classmates that had been killed in this mess. He had one friend who had taken off to Canada to avoid the draft. He could see no good end to it and wondered of the virtue of the country being involved in the whole thing. But like his Dad said, “Doesn’t really matter how you feel about it. Your job is to do it. The leaders of all sides send their ordinary folks to do the dirty work and most of the ordinary folks just want to be home.” Andy had to admit that was true. ‘Too bad the politicians couldn’t just duke it out and leave the rest of us out of it.’ He tucked the small card into the front of his helmet, next to the picture of his dear Annie. He looked at the picture and shook his head. He really didn’t want to think about that, either. If he had his way, he would be married to her and living in the little old rural town on the northern prairies. He put it back in his helmet and then tried to fall asleep. “Hey Spud,” the guy sitting a few men away from him said, “You sleeping?” “How could I sleep with your yelling around here?” Andy joked, “What do you want now?” “A smoke,” Jackson Fielding answered. Jackson and Andy had become friends during basic training in Ft. Leonard Wood. Jackson was from a small town in South Dakota and so they had a lot in common. “Thanks Spud. I owe you one.” Jackson took the cigarette. “For the record,” Andy grinned, “You owe me a carton.” “Yah, Yah, don’t get yourself all French fried, Spud.” Thanks to his little sister, Andy was called Spud by Jackson and most of the guys in his squad. Pepper always put Kartoffel Noggin on his letters and one of them saw it. Then he had to explain that Kartoffel was potato in German. She was calling him a Potato Head. She thought it was funny. Apparently, so did the guys. They started calling him Potato Head and by the time basic was over, it had been shortened to Spud. Everyone called Jackson ‘Crazy Horse’ or just Horse. He was a Lakota Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It seemed that everyone had a nickname. Those that didn’t usually were not of a humor to have one anyway. Horse was a good guy and they could talk for hours about the prairies, farming and mechanics. Andy enjoyed his wacky sense of humor and his good spirit. He was one of those guys that always could find something good or funny in any situation. There were times when that was a valuable asset. Finally, Andy fell back to sleep listening to the drone of the aircraft and the quiet talk of his platoon. Everyone was nervous but no one was really talking about it. It wouldn’t do any good anyway. The plane landed and they all stood up. It took a few minutes to get the numbness out of their legs and gather their equilibrium. They had thought they were eager to get off the huge cargo plane, but they weren’t certain of it either. The first thing that hit Andy when they opened the door was the sound. Da Nang was a major airbase in Vietnam for the US Military in 1970. It was a busy place with tremendous activity. There were sorties taking off and landing, helicopters moving back and forth and the idling of aircraft engines and trucks. In the distance was the sound of explosions. Andy was surprised they could be heard so well. It was almost deafening to be on the tarmac with all the air traffic. When he descended the plane, he looked around. The sky was gray and overcast. To the west, were some tall green distant mountains, draped in low cloud cover and blanketed with smoke from the carpet bombing and explosions. The air was thick and humid. Before they got to the ground, their clothes were beginning to stick to them from the humidity. It was not a bit windy, which Andy thought would have been helpful. The smell was unforgettable. The air was filled with the smell of JP-4. That was the mixture of kerosene and gasoline that fueled the jets. It stunk of kerosene. The asphalt was hot and the air smelled of tar, diesel and sulfur. It was so overpowering that it almost caught in his throat. Army trucks pulled up and Andy’s platoon boarded the back of the vehicles. As he was climbing in, there was some artillery fire on the west side of the two thousand acre base. Andy looked at Horse. Horse shook his head, “What the hell did we get ourselves into, Spud?”