8 March-24 December 1965

Vung Tau Detachment  The 88th MP Company (K9) also staffed a detachment in Vung Tau of approximately 18 to 20 teams commanded by a Sergeant. Before the formal kennels were constructed the K9's lived in command tents with sand floors. The unit also ate C Rations until permanent mess facilities could be arranged.

Vung Tau Detachment, Personal Reflection “I was a Private First Class (draftee) in the Army from 1963-1965, and in 1965 I was stationed at a Nike/Hercules Missile base in Chesterton, Indiana when I received orders for Vietnam. My orders assigned me to the 72nd MP Detachment (Dismounted Patrol). My partner PFC Robert Ahrendt and his dog Lady were also shipped out at the same time (sometime in early 1965). I was close to the end of my service commitment (October 1965) so I never could figure out why they sent me with so little time remaining.

     We did some training outside San Francisco prior to going. It was located up on some mountain at an old military base as I remember it. It was a closed base they opened just for us. We used to take a school bus down the mountain and over the bridge.

     After a short training period we were loaded on twin-engine cargo planes for the trip to Vietnam. We went over in some twin-engine cargo planes, like C121 or something like that. I was nervous going over the ocean with a full plane and only two engines. I remember that one of the planes (not mine) lost an engine on the way so we had to stop somewhere (can't remember where). As I remember it we had 76 dogs and men to a plane. The dogs were stacked three high in their aluminum kennels, and we made multiple stops on the trip to Vietnam.

     We landed in Saigon in the middle of the night, unloaded and went to our main base where everyone was located. We spent some time doing duty in Saigon, ranging from warehouse and waterfront security, to even street patrols (without dogs). Our kennels were just tents with stakes in the ground to chain the dogs during non-duty hours. Shortly after our arrival we became the 88th MP Company (K9).

     Subsequently we were split up into smaller groups. I believe my group had about 10 to 12 handler teams, but can’t be certain. We were sent to a place outside a village called Vung Tau where some Delta River’s and South China Sea met."  PFC Arthur “Art” K. Przybyl, 72nd MP Detachment (Dismounted Patrol) & 88th MP Company (K9), MACV, August-November 1965.

Saigon Docks Detachment  According to PFC Arthur K. Przybyl of the 72nd MP Detachment, upon their arrival in Vietnam some of the members were assigned to dismounted patrol on the piers and wharves of the Saigon Docks where cargo arrived and was subject to high theft rates. However, only a few of the handlers did that- mainly SP/4 level and higher.

Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base Detachment, Personal Reflection   “Me and my dog King (234E) shipped to Oakland, California in August of 1965. We were part of a group of fifty dogs and handlers going to Vietnam. We stayed for about two weeks in an old missile site back in the hills outside Oakland then shipped out one night on a C130. Upon arrival in Vietnam and after about a week in Tent City I was assigned to C Battery, 6th Battalion, 56th Artillery. I stayed in the same unit for 12 months.

     The Detachment consisted of four Handler-K9 teams, providing battery perimeter around the HAWK systems during the evening hours. The nighttime security involved one team from dusk until midnight, being relieved by a second team who worked till dawn. The battery personnel provided the daytime security for the site.

     The detachment had responsibility for a short portion of a shared perimeter near the flight line with the Air Force Security Polices (AP) K9 Sentry Dog units, but the dogs would alert on each other so we kept our distance whenever possible. An AP handler fired on me one night, he was new in-country, and scared.”  SP/4 Eddie Hall, 88th MP Company (K9), MACV & 212th MP Company (Sentry Dog), September 1965-September 1966.

     The number and location of the other 88th MP Company (K9) remote deployments has not been found in currently available records. However, it is believed they were the same as listed in the 1966 Timeline for 17 January.

     Being the first Army K9 Sentry Dog unit in South Vietnam also came with the responsibility of improving their own quarters and kennels for their K9's under the Army’s Self Help (construction) Program. Living conditions remained Spartan at best, and there were many lessons yet to be learned.

HQ Platoon  The members of the 88th headquarters platoon that were not deployed to remote sentry dog duty stations spent their stay working with members of the 557th MP Company (Guard), 91st MP Detachment (Confinement Facility) and 148th MP Platoon (Dismounted Patrol), all three subordinate to the 95th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, MACV.

      As a group in their spare time they dug ditches, laying “potable” water pipes from the Bravo Compound to Pershing Field for shower facilities, poured and finished cement pads for their personnel tents. Portable generators were procured to provide electrical power for their lighting, telephone lines and base radios. All of these operational necessities were constantly maintained by the unit personnel who were turning the field of tents into a fast growing community under the most trying and adverse conditions.

25 December 1965-30 June 1966