"How many men who listen to me tonight have served their nation in other wars? How very many are not here to listen?

     The war in Vietnam is not like these other wars. Yet, finally, war is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not even know well enough to hate. Therefore, to know war is to know that there is still madness in this world. For we have children to teach, and we have sick to be cured, and we have men to be freed. There are poor to be lifted up, and there are cities to be built, and there is a world to be helped. Yet, we do what we must.

     I am hopeful, and I will try with the best I can, with everything I've got, to end this battle and to return our sons to their desires. Yet, as long as others will challenge America’s security, and test the dearness of our beliefs with fire and steel, then we must stand, or see the promise of two centuries tremble."

President Lyndon B. Johnson

 Exact Date Unknown   Two months before the battalion was put on alert for overseas deployment PVT's Gary W. Short and John P. Roides, future MPs of Alpha Company who would travel to Vietnam in October, were still attending basic training at Fort Hood, Texas.

     At that time Fort Hood was the home of the 1st and 2nd Armor Division, 4th U.S. Army.

     "We spent weeks at a time out in the hills and brush of Fort Hood, Texas training for Vietnam. We would come in on weekends, shower, etc. and go out the next week.

     It was a bit rough living in shelter halves, drinking coffee you could eat with a knife and fork, and putting up with the largest tarantulas and mosquito's I have ever seen." SP/4 Cecil A. Rhodes, C Company, 720th MP Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas and Vietnam,1966-1967.

   "The green T-shirts, shorts and handkerchiefs we had were not standard Army olive drab (OD) green. There were no official OD greens issued to us.

     We bought all the green type dye at the post exchange (PX) at Fort Hood, Texas, and dyed everything ourselves at the base laundromat. After we finished dyeing the clothing we didn't realize that you should run the machines on a wash cycle to get rid of the green dye remaining in the washing machines.

     The next people to use the washing machines were surprised to see their clothes come out looking tie-dyed green!"   Journal of SP/4 Allan M. Portnoy, Fort Hood, Texas, B Company & 615th MP Company, 720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, Vietnam, October, 1966 to October 1967.

     "I was "non-deployable" for a time and I missed most of the field training before the battalion left for the Nam. I was waiting for a class date for OCS (Officers Candidate School) so they classified me as non-deployable, I lived with the short timers who were still pulling duty and I also kept pulling duty. They would rag me pretty hard about how much time I had to go in the service since I was going to be an OCS candidate. But it was a party about every other day when someone was getting out and that was a great perk.

     Well, I decided not to go to OCS and I suppose you could say I volunteered for the Nam. I figured I had a better chance with the guys I knew and besides I'd get out after my tour of duty in the Nam so that's the route I took.

    So after running through the chain of command I was deployable. Captain Farmer [Berkwood M. Farmer] was disappointed, I was sort of an unofficial aid to him, running errands for him on my off duty time. First Sergeant Givens [Julius E. Givens] also quizzed me on my decision as he let me know where the unit was going. It was only rumor we were going to the Nam. They had only told us we were being deployed to the "Pacific Command."

    By the time I joined the training they were going to the field learning to dig "sophisticated" fox holes and waiting for aggressors to hit them. At times we got to play the aggressor and we would lay in ambush for late night convoys, ‘zapping’ each other with blanks and flares. There was a certain amount of training that was worth while I guess.

      We certainly learned to go long hours without sleep. But for overall preparedness for the Nam I think it was inadequate. As much contact as we had with the Vietnamese population they should have put some of us through language training. Especially learning to read identity cards and things of that nature.

30 June Marxist Anti War Movement  Three soldiers of the 142nd Signal Battalion, 2nd Armored Division, Fort Hood, PFC James Johnson and PVT's David Samas and Dennis Mora (called the "Fort Hood Three" by the national news media), announced at a press conference they were refusing to deploy to South Vietnam with their unit. Their reasons for refusal was the standard Marxist diatribe of "Imperialist America's Criminal War of Aggression" being taught and used on most college campuses. The three were subsequently court-marshaled and sentenced to three-years of hard labor.

     Very few active duty soldiers resisted service, training or deployment to Vietnam for legitimate ethical or religious reasons, and the majority of those that did avoided confinement and were eventually granted conscientious objector status and discharged.

19, 22, 23 September   MAJ Max E. Newman of the 15th Support Battalion provided to battalion troops detailed instructional classes on the manufacture, recognition, handling and neutralization of enemy land mines, booby-traps and man-traps they would encounter in South Vietnam.

      Soon the comfortable familiarity of the friendly surroundings and routine MP duty at Fort Hood, Texas would change with the battalions deployment overseas. Feelings were mixed, some thought of it as a new adventure, some an unwanted annoyance, however, all were concerned with what awaited them in South Vietnam.

      A block leave was granted to all qualified battalion personnel, and upon their return unit formations were held during which their field equipment and personal items were inspected for pre-deployment packing and transport.

      When I returned back to Fort Hood we had no assigned duties, everyone just seemed to be hanging out, playing cards, etc. I would say that morale was good. We didn't know too much, or at least I didn't. I remember the troop train to Oakland, it was at night and I was in our sleeper compartment along with a couple of other guys. We were relaxing and watching the towns all lit up as we passed through when a porter came into the compartment. He immediately pulled the shade down on the large window and asked us if we were trying to get ourselves killed. I don't know if it was true or not, but he said that people opposed to the war had taken to shooting at the troop trains as they passed by at night. The shade never went up again.”    SP/4 Donald W. Parsells, A Company.

     "When we left Fort Hood it was on an old fashion "troop train." The train accommodations were pretty good as we all had sleeper compartments. We were instructed to pull the window blinds down when going through a town. But I'm sure not many did as it was always fun to see if you could spot a good looking girl.
    It was interesting to stop in some towns and you'd see the porters running into the station, emerging a few minutes later with sacks of goods. The biggest items were pints of whiskey and candy bars. Seems to me it was $5 for a pint and 25 cents for a 10 cent candy bar. Cost increases dictated by supply and demand.

     It was a good trip through the Southwest to Oakland California. The train took us right up to the docks. Guess they didn't want anybody taking an unauthorized leave. So they herded us aboard the ship." SP/4 Gary C. Watts, A Company, 720th MP Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas and 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, Vietnam, October 1966 to October 1967.