And if they lived at a firebase (which I did not) for any length of time, they carried a smell, a body odor, that came only from being there. Even two or three days of out-processing at Cam Ranh Bay couldn't get rid of it. I'll never forget the smell of the Grunt.
Oh, and they carried a bottle of Tobasco Sauce, if they could get it.
Nice post SAMWolf.
When I left for R&R, in Sydney, it took a complete bottle of Prell shampoo to try to get the smell and dirt off. I remember watching in amazement as the water turned almost red from the laterite dust that was coming out of the pores of my skin.
Yes the smell, the sounds and the sights of the firebase are hard to wash away. After 32 years many of them still linger.