I was one of the first troops sent to Vietnam. The uniform we wore in the field still had our white name plate, our white jump wings, our yellow and black US Army as well as our unit patch. No camouflage for us. LOL
We were processed out of Chulai, right on the beach.
The first thing we had to do was dye all our Sateen OG issue fatigues black.
Our jungle boots were black, which, incidentally bled all over our feet and promptly turned white.All of our ALICE was dyed black, which, of course, bled all over the place.
It was also the first time I had ever used black 100MPH tape.
Pretty good shit!
Anyway, we later figured out we were supposed to be some night ops badasses, but in truth were a ragtag bunch of undisciplined, mismanaged and ill-conceived concept of some glory seeking General Officer sitting on his ass at Benning, with little else to do but send good American boys out into a wild jungle for no other reason than to pad his OER, I guess.
During my time with the team, we did one night mission...exfil from OP George down into the small local ville, so that the location of the local whorehouse could be sussed out for later use by the upper ranks.
Saw a lot of day time action, which resulted in my CIB and PH.
Took a piece of shrapnel (from our own arty) in my face and got evaced to Japan.
Best part of that fiasco was the 30 day medical convalescent leave I got out of it.
Vietnam was an unmitigated disaster from day one.