Troop Eight Ball - 1966
James M. "Jim" "Col Pete" Peterson
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There was one trooper taking an inordinate amount of my time and energy, the troop eight ball. He was a sorry ass. Oh, to meet the enlistment officer that took him on. He was destined to be nothing in life, acting it and looking it. So 1SG Roland Petty had him driving the laundry truck on a daily basis into the town of Cu Chi. As luck would have it he fell in love with the launderers daughter.
Every Wednesday night at my 2100 hour “let`s hear your gripes” session he shows up. He was the only trooper to ever show up. He wants to go to the Embassy in Saigon to start paper work to marry this Vietnamese girl. Week after week I tried to talk him out of it. I`d rather talk for twenty minutes and each time say “no way” than to throw him back to the 1SG to wrestle with him everyday. But we had not heard the last of him.
After returning from R&R in mid November, I found the troop had been pulling off its normal missions. The only thing out of the ordinary was the laundry driver and his romantics. Apparently a while back he had impregnated the daughter of the laundry owner. This had been brought to the attention of the Chief of Staff. He was a rather colorful character; a paratrooper from the brown shoe army. Seems that right after my R&R departure the laundry man came to the front gate with an interpreter and a very pregnant daughter. He demanded to see the Commanding General. The MP guards well trained in maintaining good relations called the MP captain. Soon the Adjutant General was at the gate. Dad wanted action of some sort. A call went to the Chief of staff who had an innovative idea. He figured, correctly, dad could be bought off. But how to raise the money and how much? A plan was put together within hours. Setting a target of $300 he got the father to agree. He called the PX and got one of the early arriving TV sets to country on a convoy from Saigon. A $1 a ticket raffle was organized among the aviation battalion and the Centaurs raising the necessary cash. And the laundry truck driver? He was promoted to custodian of the latrine.
At the 2012 at a 3/4 Cav reunion I was updated on the Eight Ball saga. Seems that a year after departing Vietnam eight Ball returned to Cu Chi.. He married the young lady and brought her, baby san, momma san and papa san back to the states.. Life is good.