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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[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I cannot recall the title presently but I do recall reading an account of Navy Seals who carried side arms while on leave in Saigon.
It would be interesting to hear a first hand account. I would assume as much of that went on as there were individuals who thought they could get away with it. Much like gun free zones today.

[Paul S.]

Officially they were unarmed. That being said, the wise, the experienced, and the prudent carried covertly.

While the VC were an occasional nuisance after Tet 1968, they weren't a huge problem in Saigon. The bigger problem was street criminals that we called "Cowboys", many of them as young as 12, who were more interested in robbery than murder. One of their tactics was to use a razor knife to slash some unsuspecting GI's back pocket, usually deep enough to get some flesh, to steal his wallet.

I remember two VC on motorcycles who ran into each other and set off small bombs they were carrying and ended up in pieces decorating the fence of the French Cemetery near Tan Son Nhut in 1969. There was also a two hour shoot out at the Colon PX between some Thai soldiers and American MPs that year. The Quan Cahn (QC), or "white mice" as they were called them, were ARVN MPs. They were as crooked as Quasimodo's back. They weren't above robbing drunk GIs.