A Minnesota PBS Initiative
A Year as an Army Journalist
I worked for a year as a GI journalist in an army combat unit, the 1st Cavalry Division, ending in August of 1971. It was my job to poke around our division, everywhere from firebases and the jungle to the deep rear.
Here I am during the dry season mission. I was told repeatedly that my clothes were too clean and my smile too big to be mistaken for a grunt.
Because I was working for the army, I focused on the activities of units and the life of fellow soldiers more than combat action. Because of where I was station - near Saigon - and a relatively quiet time regarding fighting for my division, what I experienced was not particularly traumatic.
I wrote a book called "War Stories" that was published last year that was based on the letters I sent home to my parents, the articles I wrote for the division newspaper and magazines, and photographs.
Because my publisher told me I could use only so many pictures, I have other photos plus some articles to share with you.
There was a good deal of status in clothes full of dirt and sweat. A beard was an extra plus. This is what a grunt should look like - you can tell he's not a low status denizen of the rear like me.
Units working in the jungle were usually resupplied by air (helicopter).
Putting a roof on a firebase command bunker was backbreaking work. The men are moving a log to lay above the hole that would house the bunker.
I had friends who ran the control tower of a helicopter landing pad so I got a look from the tower.
Several fellow Public Information Office (PIO) staff sit at desks in our office.
Ed Howard, a clerk in our office, wanted his picture taken with his Black Power poster in February, 1971.
Late in my time in Vietnam, once we only a brigade and our main office came to Bien Hoa, we got a new relatively luxurious somewhat air conditioned PIO office in 1971.
Another view of our plush office is shown here in the middle of 1971.
A small group of PIO staffers played with a Polaroid camera one evening. I'm on the left.
I'm dressed in the pressed fatigues I was expected to wear on Bien Hoa Army Base holding our pooch, Blanche, in February, 1971.
The first time I went out on a mission with an infantry unit, we found several caches. This article in our division magazine came from that outing. Photo credit: First Team Magazine 1971.
I flew in helicopters, like these Chinooks, several times a week and took them for granted. This was one of the last stories I wrote in Vietnam and published well after I left.
Bien Hoa Army Base had its own swimming pool, which frankly I'd forgotten about, but this is evidence of its existence.
A band is coming out of a Chinook at Sandy Pad as seen from the control tower.
Malaria was a constant danger; we not only took two pills to stave it off but slept under mosquito netting. My buddy Alan Brown - my fellow writer - lounges in bed.
We would send press releases with stories that were used in outside papers. This clipping is from May, 1971.
I wrote for our division newspaper, the Cavalair, a weekly newspaper. This is what the first page looked like. I would write on papers I sent home, telling my parents what I'd done.
My first posting in my division was in Song Be, also known as Fire Support Base Buttons. Several other PIO staffers sit at the entrance to the hooch where we lived. This was in September of 1970.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: White Bear Lake, MN
Primary Location During Vietnam: Bien Hoa, Vietnam 
Story Subject: Military Service
Military Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: 1st Cavalry Division Public Information Office
Specialty: 71Q20, Information Specialist
I photographed more Saigon streets and managed - unintentionally probably - to get a self portrait with camera in the lower left corner.
This story is part of Civil Rights Movement and the War.
View the story collection.
Story Themes: 1972, 1st Cavalry, Animals, Army, BIen Hoa, Combat, Conrad Leighton, dog, Journalist, Look, News Coverage, Photographer, Photography, Saigon, White Bear Lake
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