WRA with circled P on grip, this late?

[DaveHH]

Yes, the 101st cut off the NVA west of Hue. I was in the 5th Mec before I went to RVN and it was the sorriest outfit in the Army. I was just out of good Infantry Basic at Ft Ord and we came out good soldiers, the 5th was trained with very poor cadre and had been stripped with most good NCOs sent to RVN. They were some sorry soldiers, sloppy out of shape. When I got there I would hit the deck and do 40 before going to sleep, the other guys thought I was nuts. The Div was rated as not combat ready in early 66. Anyway I always said that when the 5th shows up in RVN we'll know we lost the war, and sure enough that was right. I'm not sure the 82 as a unit ever went to RVN either, some elements may have gone later. They always guarded the 82 for Stateside emergencies. Resupply was a serious problem because they had so many support elements sitting on their axxes that the good stuff left for them. We ordered 70+air conditioner units for use in the big $1M VHF and UHF radio trucks we had all over II Corps as the heat was killing those radios (and truck batteries too)
by the time they arrived fully half were gone and all the local Viet bars suddenly had A.C. Sometimes we couldn't get any American beer or cigarettes (1966). Ever smoke Bastos or drink Korean Star beer? Up in the highlands by the time you were there, I'd bet HWY 19 was like running a gauntlet up to An Khe and Pleiku.