After I ate breakfast of pork slices, fruit cocktail, crackers, coffee and had smoked a cigarette, I walked over to Sgt McCoy’s hootch. Sgt McCoy points out in front of hist hottch and said, “I want you to dig me a hole right there.” I went back to my hootch and got my entrenching tool. I dug down about six inches and hit rock. It took me four hours of hard work to get the hole four feet deep, which was how deep it was when Sgt McCoy said I could stop. He also said, “I hope you think about this the next time you feel like falling asleep on watch. “ I said, “You don’t have to worry, I won’t fall asleep again on watch.”
That afternoon, it was our squad’s turn to go down to the river and take a bath. It felt nice to get that layer of dirt off my body. It was the second time I had washed since I came to Viet Nam. We also had to shave. I didn’t really want to since it was so hot and my face skin burns when I shave in hot weather. But, it reined at least once every day at that time of the year, so that helped cool it off a little.
I stood watch as usual, and was wide awake when Sgt McCoy came by to check lines. He told me he was glad to see me awake and that we were going to provide security for the mine sweepers, first thing in the morning.
