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In Our Duffel Bags: Surviving The Vietnam Era
They were young, and they were fighting a war no one wanted to fight. They chose to serve their country despite these challenges. In In Our Duffel Bags, authors Richard Geschke and Robert A. Toto narrate the stories and the experiences of what junior army officers faced as citizen soldiers during pre-voluntary military service from 1969 to 1972. This memoir provides an inside view of the military on the training fields of the Cold War in West Germany and on the combat fields of Vietnam. It presents a poignant and detailed drawing of what junior officers contended with during these turbulent times in American history. From the training grounds in Fort Benning, Georgia; to the jungle warfare school in Panama; to the streets of West Germany; and to the rice paddies of Vietnam, In Our Duffel Bags intimately describes the sights, sounds, and smells of life in the military Much more than a historical account, In Our Duffel Bags interweaves Geschke's and Toto's individual experiences and perspectives, ties them back to their families, and sets it all within the volatile historical and political setting of the 1960s and 1970s. It shows how these times affected history as well as impact current politics.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 27, 2007
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October 20, 2011
Review Written by Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War October 15, 2011 Contact: BernWei1@aol.com Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Title of Review: "Vietnam Was The Steady Whop, Whop, Whop of Incessant Choppers, Rain & Artillery Firing It's Version of Pain For Victor Charlie"
At last, a book has come out that contains more than punji stakes, claymores, sampans and napalm sorties. Sure, a gritty war story of the hardships experienced by a soldier, marine or airman can be a gripping page turner. However, if you read enough of them eventually one blends into the next. Once in awhile a new book comes out where even those aficionados who know the most esoteric in that particular subject matter will read a new offering and be spellbound with fresh information. "In Our Duffel Bags" is one that does exactly that. If you check the literature for an existing memoir that details a soldier's experiences in the last American non-volunteer army who served in two major conflicts simultaneously, your findings will be scant. You might be wondering what those two major conflicts could be. The answer is the Vietnam War of 1964-1973 overlapping the Cold War of 1946 to 1991. This memoir draws parallels: the conflict in S.E. Asia was fought with search and destroy operations, free fire zones, and heliborne combat assaults. Equally if not more volatile was the situation in Europe, fought with super power coalitions, espionage, proxy wars and propaganda. The latter one all sides shuddered at the stakes involved, the possibility of nuclear obliteration. How important was Vietnam to America in relation to the Cold War? Consider this; while most Americans paid very little attention to the daily occurrences in Vietnam other than listening to a television rattle off the nightly 6 P.M. KIA and WIA figures, the "other war" had an entirely different, more prominent effect. The authors of this book, while trying to escape the raging war in South Vietnam inadvertently wound up with a front row seat where the forces of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO Alliance played a dangerous game of brinkmanship.
Certainly a Marine that was in "I Corps" and Phu Bai in 1967 is going to have a different perception of this war as well as of reading "In Our Duffel Bags" compared to a "Brown Water Sailor" who spent his tour on a swift boat in the Mekong Delta in 1970. However, you are simply going to have to buy this book if you want the full account of Gerschke's and Toto's enthralling descriptions elucidating how America started its trek out the back door of a failed American crusade. Ultimately, the South Vietnamese would be left to fend for themselves, which after June 4th of 1973 became necessary with the U.S. Senate passing the Case-Church Amendment. This prohibited any U.S. military activity anywhere in S.E. Asia regardless of any NVA encroachment. Perhaps Nixon knew something was in the air about his political future, and tried to rush massive amounts of aid knowing Hanoi's supplier's, the Soviet Union and China would not. It would eventually amount to Vietnamization being too much, too fast, and too late. Once Nixon was out of office, an unsympathetic Gerald Ford showed Saigon an Isolationistic American administration that was indifferent to Southeast Asia, with military supplies, replacement parts and funding a thing of the past. In 1975 there was a video made in South Vietnam where Ed Daly,owner of World Airways, sent a Boeing 727 aircraft to Da Nang, which was surrounded by the fast approaching North Vietnamese in their final push that would end in the surrender of Saigon and the South as a whole. The airplane was there to pick up stranded woman and children. As soon as this plane landed, the aircraft was swamped by panic stricken, desperate ARVN military personnel climbing on the aircraft, all afraid of being murdered by the fast approaching NVA contingent. Let's not forget the "Reeducation Camps" the North punished the South with, or the "Boat People" exodus; all consequences of our departure.
Knowing what the North Vietnamese were capable of with their barbaric murdering spree of innocent citizens at Hue during the Tet Offensive, most American personnel including Geschke and Toto must have felt some degree of remorse in forsaking our ally. What Richard Geschke gives the reader starting from October of 1971 through March 30, 1972 is priceless and simply must be discovered on your own. As I mentioned earlier, this whole book was the result of a dream Geschke had. This dream brought back vivid memories of an incident that occurred in 1971 when he took a trip from Phu Bai to Danang. Geschke claims this dream was so real, so vivid, that he almost felt like it was happening for the first time. When first arriving in South Vietnam as a senior first lieutenant in the Fall of 1971, he paired up with another OOBC 10-70 graduate, Tom Stickney. They were ordered to Phu Bai as typhoon "Hester" slammed into the South Vietnamese countryside. Considering he was outside in a tent trying to sleep while the storm hit, this could very well be the source of his dream. Nevertheless, his mission was to command a contingent of unruly soldiers to build and secure an area slated for turnover to the ARVN as an ammunition supply point. Recruited as engineers with no prior knowledge or experience in construction, Geschke was given an uncompromising completion date and a rag tag group of "short" soldiers, all unmotivated with less than 90 days left in country to achieve this. The story of how he accomplished this is nothing less than amazing, as his efficiency in this miraculous achievement was to win him a Bronze Star Medal.
Although Geschke speculated who was in the helicopter overhead checking the progress of his work every day, he later learned it was his commanding officer, General Arthur H. Sweeney, who passed away in 1999. After this job was completed, he was ordered to Danang. When after reading Geschke's classification of soldier's living conditions, you will understand why he jumped for joy when ordered there. This classification system of Geschke's gives the reader a sense of class structure and just how one lived during their tour of duty in the combat zones of S.E. Asia. Everything from who had air conditioning, running water, security, staff servants, hot food, etc. was assessed. Geschke devised a four tier strata, with the best being 1 i.e. generals, diplomats, etc., to 4, which was the worst. Usually it was the grunts in the field that received the bottom ranking. Nevertheless, Geschke was so desirous of upgrading his living conditions and getting out of Phu Bai that he couldn't leave soon enough. Phu Bai might of been "okay" for Hanoi Hannah, but Dick had enough and wanted out. Hanoi Hannah was the radio voice of the Communists who would try to scare American forces with threats, instigative taunts and attempts to foment racial unrest. All her utterances were ignored by Geschke except when she bellowed "Phu Bai is okay." Certainly it was, as it was never attacked the whole two months the author was there.
Danang is approximately 50 miles from Phu Bai, only accessible by Highway 1 via the Hai Van Pass. Highway 1 was nicknamed the "Street Without Joy" by the French in the 1946-1954 "First Indochina War," and that moniker was later adopted by Bernard Fall, the famed author, for the title of a book he wrote. This highway runs the entire length of both North and South Vietnam, and during the war the Army invested substantial effort in keeping it open, especially when bad weather made aerial resupply of American troops in certain areas impossible. The Hai Van Pass, with its hilly cliffs and dense foliage lent itself to a natural haven for NVA and VC snipers. On the day he was to leave Phu Bai, he was awaiting the outgoing convoy, with gun trucks and security. However, two U.S. advisors, bizarre characters indeed, offered Geschke a ride in the back of their jeep. If you look up the Hai Van Pass on the internet, think of a jeep driving at breakneck speeds with a sniper shooting at you no less! Read this book for the insane description on Geschke's torturous ride to Danang. Maybe it was the Black Palms, maybe the crazy doctor at the Presidio, or those two sadistic advisors that gunned through the cliffs of the Van Hai Pass laughing hysterically at Geschke's panicky expressions when sniper shots rang out. Something gave him this dream, which prompted him to write about it. This task turned into what is now Chapter 18, called "Going My Way."
Upon going through his memories, which Geschke symbolically called his "duffel bag," he wrote a second chapter. Stimulating further thought, he contacted Toto, and after many conversations, they had enough material for a book. Geschke wrote the majority of these chapters, but this book would never be what it is without Bob Toto. Intentionally left out of this review, his input is from another dimension. Bob has a way of putting things I can't even think of a way of labeling or describing it. It makes this book complete, however, and adds a delightful, enhancing tilt to every single anecdote that is thoroughly augments this memoir and enhances the historical content. There is content that also is very telling as to what some consider myths and others say it is an absolute fact. The movie industry in Hollywood has picked up on this facet and certainly exaggerated it. This is the issue of drug use, particularly of heroin. Dick Geschke makes one thing perfectly clear: during his tour he personally saw heroin addiction and it was unequivocally a serious problem. Many soldiers that were in Vietman during the build up years and just after Tet (1965-1969 believe that drug use, particularly of heroin is a laughable myth. What they fail to understand is that it simply was not the same war in 1967 as it was in 1971. Although it is beyond the scope of this book, it does support Geschke's observations. After the Tet Offensive, the American anti-war movement gained strength. Jeff Stein's book "A Murder in Wartime" details how public revelation of the 1969 "Green Beret Affair," whereupon eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander, Colonel Robert Rheault were arrested for the murder of a suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen. This, along with "Operation Speedy Express" and the incident at My Lai provoked national and international outrage.
You will also read Dick Geschke's story about a bizarre incident involving an ARVN captain and his involvement in the "Black Market." This cemented his opinion of the ARVN, declaring afterwards; "The government and its own military, which are supposed to be our allies, are nothing but a corrupt regime trying to live off the aid that we, their defenders, were providing. From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with a government so blatantly corrupt, and our command most certainly knew what was transpiring around them." Regarding the War itself? Geschke declared: "Never in a million years would the U.S. have won in Vietnam-which was nothing but a huge cesspool in which we Americans never belonged. And to put "In Our Duffel Bags" in perspective, what regrets did Dick have when it was all over? Aside from going to a party at a college and being asked by a very immature, brash girl the universally stupid, most insulting and insensitive question one could possibly ask of a returning Veteran, e.g., "How did it feel to kill women and children?" he voiced an opinion that ended with a question. This is a query that one can only hope the entire populace of America could hear. In the near future all of our forces presently deployed in Afghanistan will be returning. It is a shame when a Veteran returns home, after both risking their life and patriotically answering our nation's call to arms, thus ensuring a perpetuation of our democratic society, to be warned that it is not safe to be seen in a military uniform. It is an even greater travesty when a Veteran returns from a war zone and vocalizes this sad commentary that Geschke expressed: "Not only did we not have a welcome home, but we were also treated as a disease-a boil upon the populace. What had we done to deserve this treatment? I thought we had been serving our country. The country was trying to forget our participation. People went to work with the blasé attitude of an uninterested observer. Vietnam was an inconvenient blip in history. Tell that to over fifty thousand people that gave their lives!" If you chose one book to read about the Vietnam War, and there are a great many, DO NOT MISS this one! It is a gem!
At last, a book has come out that contains more than punji stakes, claymores, sampans and napalm sorties. Sure, a gritty war story of the hardships experienced by a soldier, marine or airman can be a gripping page turner. However, if you read enough of them eventually one blends into the next. Once in awhile a new book comes out where even those aficionados who know the most esoteric in that particular subject matter will read a new offering and be spellbound with fresh information. "In Our Duffel Bags" is one that does exactly that. If you check the literature for an existing memoir that details a soldier's experiences in the last American non-volunteer army who served in two major conflicts simultaneously, your findings will be scant. You might be wondering what those two major conflicts could be. The answer is the Vietnam War of 1964-1973 overlapping the Cold War of 1946 to 1991. This memoir draws parallels: the conflict in S.E. Asia was fought with search and destroy operations, free fire zones, and heliborne combat assaults. Equally if not more volatile was the situation in Europe, fought with super power coalitions, espionage, proxy wars and propaganda. The latter one all sides shuddered at the stakes involved, the possibility of nuclear obliteration. How important was Vietnam to America in relation to the Cold War? Consider this; while most Americans paid very little attention to the daily occurrences in Vietnam other than listening to a television rattle off the nightly 6 P.M. KIA and WIA figures, the "other war" had an entirely different, more prominent effect. The authors of this book, while trying to escape the raging war in South Vietnam inadvertently wound up with a front row seat where the forces of the Warsaw Pact and the NATO Alliance played a dangerous game of brinkmanship.
Certainly a Marine that was in "I Corps" and Phu Bai in 1967 is going to have a different perception of this war as well as of reading "In Our Duffel Bags" compared to a "Brown Water Sailor" who spent his tour on a swift boat in the Mekong Delta in 1970. However, you are simply going to have to buy this book if you want the full account of Gerschke's and Toto's enthralling descriptions elucidating how America started its trek out the back door of a failed American crusade. Ultimately, the South Vietnamese would be left to fend for themselves, which after June 4th of 1973 became necessary with the U.S. Senate passing the Case-Church Amendment. This prohibited any U.S. military activity anywhere in S.E. Asia regardless of any NVA encroachment. Perhaps Nixon knew something was in the air about his political future, and tried to rush massive amounts of aid knowing Hanoi's supplier's, the Soviet Union and China would not. It would eventually amount to Vietnamization being too much, too fast, and too late. Once Nixon was out of office, an unsympathetic Gerald Ford showed Saigon an Isolationistic American administration that was indifferent to Southeast Asia, with military supplies, replacement parts and funding a thing of the past. In 1975 there was a video made in South Vietnam where Ed Daly,owner of World Airways, sent a Boeing 727 aircraft to Da Nang, which was surrounded by the fast approaching North Vietnamese in their final push that would end in the surrender of Saigon and the South as a whole. The airplane was there to pick up stranded woman and children. As soon as this plane landed, the aircraft was swamped by panic stricken, desperate ARVN military personnel climbing on the aircraft, all afraid of being murdered by the fast approaching NVA contingent. Let's not forget the "Reeducation Camps" the North punished the South with, or the "Boat People" exodus; all consequences of our departure.
Knowing what the North Vietnamese were capable of with their barbaric murdering spree of innocent citizens at Hue during the Tet Offensive, most American personnel including Geschke and Toto must have felt some degree of remorse in forsaking our ally. What Richard Geschke gives the reader starting from October of 1971 through March 30, 1972 is priceless and simply must be discovered on your own. As I mentioned earlier, this whole book was the result of a dream Geschke had. This dream brought back vivid memories of an incident that occurred in 1971 when he took a trip from Phu Bai to Danang. Geschke claims this dream was so real, so vivid, that he almost felt like it was happening for the first time. When first arriving in South Vietnam as a senior first lieutenant in the Fall of 1971, he paired up with another OOBC 10-70 graduate, Tom Stickney. They were ordered to Phu Bai as typhoon "Hester" slammed into the South Vietnamese countryside. Considering he was outside in a tent trying to sleep while the storm hit, this could very well be the source of his dream. Nevertheless, his mission was to command a contingent of unruly soldiers to build and secure an area slated for turnover to the ARVN as an ammunition supply point. Recruited as engineers with no prior knowledge or experience in construction, Geschke was given an uncompromising completion date and a rag tag group of "short" soldiers, all unmotivated with less than 90 days left in country to achieve this. The story of how he accomplished this is nothing less than amazing, as his efficiency in this miraculous achievement was to win him a Bronze Star Medal.
Although Geschke speculated who was in the helicopter overhead checking the progress of his work every day, he later learned it was his commanding officer, General Arthur H. Sweeney, who passed away in 1999. After this job was completed, he was ordered to Danang. When after reading Geschke's classification of soldier's living conditions, you will understand why he jumped for joy when ordered there. This classification system of Geschke's gives the reader a sense of class structure and just how one lived during their tour of duty in the combat zones of S.E. Asia. Everything from who had air conditioning, running water, security, staff servants, hot food, etc. was assessed. Geschke devised a four tier strata, with the best being 1 i.e. generals, diplomats, etc., to 4, which was the worst. Usually it was the grunts in the field that received the bottom ranking. Nevertheless, Geschke was so desirous of upgrading his living conditions and getting out of Phu Bai that he couldn't leave soon enough. Phu Bai might of been "okay" for Hanoi Hannah, but Dick had enough and wanted out. Hanoi Hannah was the radio voice of the Communists who would try to scare American forces with threats, instigative taunts and attempts to foment racial unrest. All her utterances were ignored by Geschke except when she bellowed "Phu Bai is okay." Certainly it was, as it was never attacked the whole two months the author was there.
Danang is approximately 50 miles from Phu Bai, only accessible by Highway 1 via the Hai Van Pass. Highway 1 was nicknamed the "Street Without Joy" by the French in the 1946-1954 "First Indochina War," and that moniker was later adopted by Bernard Fall, the famed author, for the title of a book he wrote. This highway runs the entire length of both North and South Vietnam, and during the war the Army invested substantial effort in keeping it open, especially when bad weather made aerial resupply of American troops in certain areas impossible. The Hai Van Pass, with its hilly cliffs and dense foliage lent itself to a natural haven for NVA and VC snipers. On the day he was to leave Phu Bai, he was awaiting the outgoing convoy, with gun trucks and security. However, two U.S. advisors, bizarre characters indeed, offered Geschke a ride in the back of their jeep. If you look up the Hai Van Pass on the internet, think of a jeep driving at breakneck speeds with a sniper shooting at you no less! Read this book for the insane description on Geschke's torturous ride to Danang. Maybe it was the Black Palms, maybe the crazy doctor at the Presidio, or those two sadistic advisors that gunned through the cliffs of the Van Hai Pass laughing hysterically at Geschke's panicky expressions when sniper shots rang out. Something gave him this dream, which prompted him to write about it. This task turned into what is now Chapter 18, called "Going My Way."
Upon going through his memories, which Geschke symbolically called his "duffel bag," he wrote a second chapter. Stimulating further thought, he contacted Toto, and after many conversations, they had enough material for a book. Geschke wrote the majority of these chapters, but this book would never be what it is without Bob Toto. Intentionally left out of this review, his input is from another dimension. Bob has a way of putting things I can't even think of a way of labeling or describing it. It makes this book complete, however, and adds a delightful, enhancing tilt to every single anecdote that is thoroughly augments this memoir and enhances the historical content. There is content that also is very telling as to what some consider myths and others say it is an absolute fact. The movie industry in Hollywood has picked up on this facet and certainly exaggerated it. This is the issue of drug use, particularly of heroin. Dick Geschke makes one thing perfectly clear: during his tour he personally saw heroin addiction and it was unequivocally a serious problem. Many soldiers that were in Vietman during the build up years and just after Tet (1965-1969 believe that drug use, particularly of heroin is a laughable myth. What they fail to understand is that it simply was not the same war in 1967 as it was in 1971. Although it is beyond the scope of this book, it does support Geschke's observations. After the Tet Offensive, the American anti-war movement gained strength. Jeff Stein's book "A Murder in Wartime" details how public revelation of the 1969 "Green Beret Affair," whereupon eight Special Forces soldiers, including the 5th Special Forces Group Commander, Colonel Robert Rheault were arrested for the murder of a suspected double agent Thai Khac Chuyen. This, along with "Operation Speedy Express" and the incident at My Lai provoked national and international outrage.
You will also read Dick Geschke's story about a bizarre incident involving an ARVN captain and his involvement in the "Black Market." This cemented his opinion of the ARVN, declaring afterwards; "The government and its own military, which are supposed to be our allies, are nothing but a corrupt regime trying to live off the aid that we, their defenders, were providing. From that point on, I wanted nothing to do with a government so blatantly corrupt, and our command most certainly knew what was transpiring around them." Regarding the War itself? Geschke declared: "Never in a million years would the U.S. have won in Vietnam-which was nothing but a huge cesspool in which we Americans never belonged. And to put "In Our Duffel Bags" in perspective, what regrets did Dick have when it was all over? Aside from going to a party at a college and being asked by a very immature, brash girl the universally stupid, most insulting and insensitive question one could possibly ask of a returning Veteran, e.g., "How did it feel to kill women and children?" he voiced an opinion that ended with a question. This is a query that one can only hope the entire populace of America could hear. In the near future all of our forces presently deployed in Afghanistan will be returning. It is a shame when a Veteran returns home, after both risking their life and patriotically answering our nation's call to arms, thus ensuring a perpetuation of our democratic society, to be warned that it is not safe to be seen in a military uniform. It is an even greater travesty when a Veteran returns from a war zone and vocalizes this sad commentary that Geschke expressed: "Not only did we not have a welcome home, but we were also treated as a disease-a boil upon the populace. What had we done to deserve this treatment? I thought we had been serving our country. The country was trying to forget our participation. People went to work with the blasé attitude of an uninterested observer. Vietnam was an inconvenient blip in history. Tell that to over fifty thousand people that gave their lives!" If you chose one book to read about the Vietnam War, and there are a great many, DO NOT MISS this one! It is a gem!
September 8, 2011
In Our Duffel Bags is a memoir co-written by two citizen soldiers, Richard Geschke and Robert A. Toto, who served in the U.S. army from 1969 to 1972. Straight out of college, these two fresh-faced young men found themselves at the army infantry school in Fort Benning, Georgia, preparing to be “grunts” in the very unpopular Vietnam War. But it’s not like they didn’t at times ask themselves “why I went the route I did”, or why one of the most popular march songs happened to be “We Gotta Get Out of This Place”.
Sometimes personal, sometimes painful, the reader is not only guided through their many harrowing ordeals but is also witness to all they had to go through: loneliness, fear, rigorous training, the battlefields, unbearable tedium, controlling officers, homesickness, post-traumatic stress. Both fascinating and riveting, the book transports the reader from one part of the world to another, from the U.S., to Berlin, to Panama, to Vietnam, providing an honest glimpse of an era.
Geschke’s tour of duty in Germany lasted 18 months. He spent the first few learning to be an officer and another few in garrison duty either in the field or at military training camps. To put it in his own words, Geschke “became enamoured with the history of Berlin”, a city divided, where a wall was built by the German Democratic Republic to keep its citizens from fleeing to the West. His recollections are both haunting and disturbing: “Scaffolds were built on the west side that rose above the wall… Sometimes there were families upon the deck so they could wave to relatives…the trapped prisoners of the USSR.”
Before being shipped off to Vietnam, Geschke and Toto were sent to train at the Operations Warfare School at Fort Sherman in Panama. The Panama jungle was forbidding with its impenetrable and endless foliage, its equatorial heat with 100% humidity, swamp lands, and “black palm”, a plant like “the vegetative equivalent of a porcupine.” Jungle survival skills learned in Panama were critical for combat efficiency and survival in Vietnam.
At the age of 24, now a well-trained junior officer, Geschke arrived in Vietnam. In Toto’s case, right up until the last moment, he believed he would be spared this mission – his first thought was “Those sons of bitches really sent me here!” Geschke, spending time in Da Nang and in monsoon season, learns to tolerate slum-like living conditions, torrential rains, swamps, mosquitoes everywhere, and itchy army blankets. Geshcke then goes on to Phu Bai, then to Long Binh. Much territory is covered from artillery missions, to military hierarchy, to substance abuse among the troops, to a Thanksgiving dinner.
In Our Duffel Bags not only brings to life the Cold War and the Nam era but shows how it all came to impact the world today. Geschke and Toto have remained friends for 42 years, the latter even being best man at Geschke’s wedding. Life in the military was like no other, filled with frustration, anger, agony but it was also filled with a great sense of pride and patriotism. Unfortunately, in 1972 when Geschke and Toto, along with other U.S. military, returned home after giving their best, they were only looked down upon. In Our Duffel Bags has made up for lost time, and brought with it the long deserved respect and support these citizen soldiers should have got in the first place. After reading this book you will come to understand and appreciate the Vietnam era like never before. It is a candid expose and with much historical worth, not to be missed.
Sometimes personal, sometimes painful, the reader is not only guided through their many harrowing ordeals but is also witness to all they had to go through: loneliness, fear, rigorous training, the battlefields, unbearable tedium, controlling officers, homesickness, post-traumatic stress. Both fascinating and riveting, the book transports the reader from one part of the world to another, from the U.S., to Berlin, to Panama, to Vietnam, providing an honest glimpse of an era.
Geschke’s tour of duty in Germany lasted 18 months. He spent the first few learning to be an officer and another few in garrison duty either in the field or at military training camps. To put it in his own words, Geschke “became enamoured with the history of Berlin”, a city divided, where a wall was built by the German Democratic Republic to keep its citizens from fleeing to the West. His recollections are both haunting and disturbing: “Scaffolds were built on the west side that rose above the wall… Sometimes there were families upon the deck so they could wave to relatives…the trapped prisoners of the USSR.”
Before being shipped off to Vietnam, Geschke and Toto were sent to train at the Operations Warfare School at Fort Sherman in Panama. The Panama jungle was forbidding with its impenetrable and endless foliage, its equatorial heat with 100% humidity, swamp lands, and “black palm”, a plant like “the vegetative equivalent of a porcupine.” Jungle survival skills learned in Panama were critical for combat efficiency and survival in Vietnam.
At the age of 24, now a well-trained junior officer, Geschke arrived in Vietnam. In Toto’s case, right up until the last moment, he believed he would be spared this mission – his first thought was “Those sons of bitches really sent me here!” Geschke, spending time in Da Nang and in monsoon season, learns to tolerate slum-like living conditions, torrential rains, swamps, mosquitoes everywhere, and itchy army blankets. Geshcke then goes on to Phu Bai, then to Long Binh. Much territory is covered from artillery missions, to military hierarchy, to substance abuse among the troops, to a Thanksgiving dinner.
In Our Duffel Bags not only brings to life the Cold War and the Nam era but shows how it all came to impact the world today. Geschke and Toto have remained friends for 42 years, the latter even being best man at Geschke’s wedding. Life in the military was like no other, filled with frustration, anger, agony but it was also filled with a great sense of pride and patriotism. Unfortunately, in 1972 when Geschke and Toto, along with other U.S. military, returned home after giving their best, they were only looked down upon. In Our Duffel Bags has made up for lost time, and brought with it the long deserved respect and support these citizen soldiers should have got in the first place. After reading this book you will come to understand and appreciate the Vietnam era like never before. It is a candid expose and with much historical worth, not to be missed.
August 30, 2014
Are you looking for a realistic military memoir? Not one with more shooting than Rambo, but one that provides an insight into the real life of a lieutenant during the Vietnam Era? If so, pick up “In Our Duffel Bags”. Written by two ROTC graduates who met during basic training, it follows their parallel careers to Germany, the Jungle School in the Panama Canal Zone and Vietnam.
The primary author is Richard Geschke, a graduate of Kent State with “Toto” chapters and moments from Robert Toto. Their first assignments were to Germany where they hoped to ride out their commitments but they eventually their orders for Vietnam came through. Training for jungle warfare was received in the Canal Zone, a place that “made the jungles of Vietnam look like kindergarten in comparison.”
When they did get to Vietnam, Geschke, despite infantry training, was assigned to supervise a construction project during Monsoons, a period of endless rain for months on end. From their experience the authors came to the conclusion that the South Vietnamese could not win the war on their own and the U.S. could win only through a long term occupation that the public would not tolerate. The reports of the drug and alcohol problems in Vietnam are presented as facts to be faced, without hyperbole.
This book raises question in the mind of any thoughtful reader. It is ironic that the Communists, who the U.S. fought with bullets and blood in Korea and Vietnam eventually, fell to a more energetic economy. Were these wars really necessary? Dick Genschke and I, and probably you, wonder. I found thought provoking the suggestion that “The Greatest Generation” that won its reputation during World War II may have tarnished it in Vietnam.
At times the writing lacks the polish a reader would expect from a professional writer, but that is more than made up for by its authenticity. Do not pick “In Our Duffel Bags” for a shootem-up action, but for a real glimpse into the life of ROTC graduates of the Vietnam Era. Through a variety of assignments, they did their duty, fulfilled their missions and earned our gratitude. This is a story that should be recorded, read and appreciated. I am glad that I read this book and am confident that you will be too.
I did receive a free copy of this book for review.
The primary author is Richard Geschke, a graduate of Kent State with “Toto” chapters and moments from Robert Toto. Their first assignments were to Germany where they hoped to ride out their commitments but they eventually their orders for Vietnam came through. Training for jungle warfare was received in the Canal Zone, a place that “made the jungles of Vietnam look like kindergarten in comparison.”
When they did get to Vietnam, Geschke, despite infantry training, was assigned to supervise a construction project during Monsoons, a period of endless rain for months on end. From their experience the authors came to the conclusion that the South Vietnamese could not win the war on their own and the U.S. could win only through a long term occupation that the public would not tolerate. The reports of the drug and alcohol problems in Vietnam are presented as facts to be faced, without hyperbole.
This book raises question in the mind of any thoughtful reader. It is ironic that the Communists, who the U.S. fought with bullets and blood in Korea and Vietnam eventually, fell to a more energetic economy. Were these wars really necessary? Dick Genschke and I, and probably you, wonder. I found thought provoking the suggestion that “The Greatest Generation” that won its reputation during World War II may have tarnished it in Vietnam.
At times the writing lacks the polish a reader would expect from a professional writer, but that is more than made up for by its authenticity. Do not pick “In Our Duffel Bags” for a shootem-up action, but for a real glimpse into the life of ROTC graduates of the Vietnam Era. Through a variety of assignments, they did their duty, fulfilled their missions and earned our gratitude. This is a story that should be recorded, read and appreciated. I am glad that I read this book and am confident that you will be too.
I did receive a free copy of this book for review.
December 21, 2013
This book meant a lot to me as a veteran. I felt I was with the author(s) every step of the way, even though I am not a Vietnam veteran. The author does not dress up his story, nor does he downplay it. It's just good honest writing. He tells of his participation in the Cold War, which is an important part of our history that is getting quickly forgotten. From West Germany he then goes on to Vietnam (after a stop at the jungle warfare school in Panama) to participate in the hot war of Vietnam. He ensures that the reader knows that this hot war is part of the larger Cold War. His writing style is straight forward, as it should indeed be, and he is careful to avoid pontificating on political aspects, though some of these subjects are of necessity brought into the discussion.
The author's writing has motivated me to move on to his next book on war poetry, "Shadows of Combat." I was glad to see this, as poetry seems to have fallen out of fashion in US and Anglo culture in general though in many countries I have visited it is still recited in restaurants, cafes, parks, and other public venues, and almost always by men (for those who may think it is an effeminate pastime). In fact the first time I heard poetry was at a military academy in Latin America in 1973. Perhaps this becomes a pastime of veterans who have been in war.
The author's writing has motivated me to move on to his next book on war poetry, "Shadows of Combat." I was glad to see this, as poetry seems to have fallen out of fashion in US and Anglo culture in general though in many countries I have visited it is still recited in restaurants, cafes, parks, and other public venues, and almost always by men (for those who may think it is an effeminate pastime). In fact the first time I heard poetry was at a military academy in Latin America in 1973. Perhaps this becomes a pastime of veterans who have been in war.
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