Off Duty American Soldiers in Saigon, Vietnam 1960's

[Flying10uk]

When off duty American soldiers were spending free time in Saigon, during the 1960's, and in uniform were they always unarmed? Archive film footage (not movies) would suggest this to be the case but I wondered if anyone who was actually there could tell me what the rules were, please? If you served in Vietnam and went into Saigon, during your free time, in uniform, could you choose to be armed with say a pistol, or were you armed in times of increased tension or were you never armed when off duty.

If the answer is that off duty American soldiers were never armed when visiting Saigon during their free time, but were in uniform were they not taking a hell of a risk with their personal safety?

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