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20 October 1966 ~ Thursday ~ Day 11 ~ 720th Military Police Battalion Reunion Association ~ Vietnam History Project ~ This Page Last Updated ~ 8 October 2008 |
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Construction & Security assignments at Long Binh Post |
The entire 720th MP Battalion was involved in the construction of their permanent base camp at Long Binh Post from 20 October through 4 November 1966. During this time period the new post was under construction and there were very few tenants. All Battalion operations, billets, mess hall and other functions were run out of field tents.
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Each unit within Long Binh Post had their own perimeter for additional security within the outer post perimeter, and each provided men to guard both 24 hours a day. That included pulling physical security shifts in the Battalion 'Tree House' watch tower. |
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The living conditions were "spartan." With the influx of new units utilities and water services were primarily the responsibility of each unit, under field conditions. Portable generators provided electricity, there was no plumbing. A battalion water truck would transport the potable water from the post processing plant to locations with the compound where it was stored in 5 gallon 'Jerry Cans,' and poured into canvas 'Lister Bags' for drinking. |
Toilet facilities were outhouses utilizing 55 gallon drums cut in half to catch the waste. Once the waste reached a certain level within the cans, they were drug out from under the bench and a mixture of diesel fuel and gasoline was added. The contents were stirred with a large stick and burned. You eventually became accustomed to the smell and trying to avoid being picked for the daily "shit burning detail." |
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Of course the one thing that the Battalion had plenty of besides dust and dirt was 'sand bags' to fill! And that created even more dust and dirt in the air. When the rains came it all turned into a consistency of molasses and stained and stuck to everything it touched. The men first used a layer of sand over the clay dust to assist water drainage in their tents. Later they had to put pieces of wood under everything inside their tents to keep them from sinking down into the mud. |
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We Had Mud Floors This wasn't even the early days as I see the wooden floors in the photographs of the tents. When we arrived in country in October 1966 we had mud floors with sand covering it . We were the ones that finally put the wooden floors down. |
They were still that way when I left in May 1967. The latter coming guys sure had better living conditions than we did but in some ways they had a lot more tough duty than we had at first, what with the recon and ambush duty and the 1968 Tet offensive. I sure am glad I wasn't there for that. PFC Gary W. Short, A Company, 720th MP Battalion, Fort Hood Texas, and Vietnam, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, October 1966 to May 1967. |
Mud and Sandbags We arrived in Long Binh to nothing but the red clay earth, and the Long Binh Jail "LBJ" [USARV Stockade]. We had to erect our tents, and of course, bunks, foot lockers, etc. all sat in the dirt and mud. No floors... everything dirty and muddy. We filled sandbags every day, and had to stack them around the tents. We also filled the sand bags and built the bunkers. I didn't think it would ever end. SP/4 Cecil A. Rhodes, C Company, Fort Hood, Texas and Vietnam,720th MP Battalion, 89th MP Group, 18th MP Brigade, 1966-1967. |
18th Bde. 
720th
