Saigon
Sunday Night, 5 September 1965Am not in a very good mood tonight, so perhaps shouldn’t be writing tonight. But since I’m going up-country tomorrow for a look at what is going on at a couple of places, thought I’d better write anyway.
The reason I’m mad is because of continuation of problems from yesterday. I should not say so, but I really do not like my work as there are a lot of instances of namby-pamby, covering up of inefficiency, and service politics which I have to endure. My boss is poorly qualified in transportation and through his and others’ ineptness, we are apt to put the US in a bad light here. While we had a big conference here today to try to correct some things, they just get messed up worse. So far, I’ve tried real hard to be a winner over here, but apparently I don’t understand that the Army must be protected at all costs on the grossest sort of errors. I really care about trying to win over here and if the Army goofs up, I’m pretty hard on them. Seems like most others don’t care about much but avoiding responsibility and protecting the Army at all costs---a no-win attitude.
We had a big conference with General Crowley this morning, and everybody painted a real rosy picture except me. And I was honest with him. In spite of assurances things are not good, am going up to Qui Nhon personally to gather the true facts. Can’t believe all the rosy things people are saying, as I have evidence to the contrary.
Maybe I’m wrong, but my idea of a good staff officer is that he gives an honest answer even though the news is bad. Most commanders I’ve known didn’t mind bad news, but they hated to be surprised---and I’m afraid some people are about to be surprised and will not be able to do anything about it. Think I’ll be so glad when I can retire and get away from all the petty things that I see.
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