Why The US Appointing An Aussie General To Command Its Pacific Troops Is a Big Deal

[pinboy3niner]

15. That's not unusual, but most U.S. service members won't experience it

In my case, one of the VN LTs became my roommate. We each had individual BOQs, but we both wanted to learn more of each other's language and culture--so we moved together into one BOQ, trading off each night with one sleeping in the bed and one in the easy chair.

My friend, Phung, had been wounded by machine gun fire in combat, so he'd been sent here for training to while away the time until he could be sent back into action. I was yet to go to VN, and what I learned from Phung proved to be an asset when I went to VN in a combat assignment.

The funny thing was when my Vietnamese classmates taught me how to properly greet the Chinese Major in Chinese. When I proudly saluted him one day and delivered the line I'd been taught, he got a horrified look on his face...and my Vietnamese comrades were snickering around the corner. The Chinese phrase they'd taught me was obscene...