During the summer of 1969, I was halfway through my first tour in Vietnam. Unlike veterans during World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam troops had some luxuries that we felt were our due for putting up with bungi sticks and barbed wire and 100-degree heat accompanied by 90-degree humidity. Cigarettes in the Base Exchange (BX) were ten cents per pack, beer was $2.40 per 24-can case, the same price as a case of Pepsi or Coke. Since we paid no excise taxes, a quart of gin, rum, or vodka was $1.10. But the benefits didn’t stop there. Unlike the poor G.I.’s in the Middle East, thanks to the patriotic support of the American beer companies (or maybe they just wanted to cultivate our beer habit early), all of the beer companies shipped enough free beer to Vietnam to provide a daily ration of two cans of beer per day, per troop. We thought this expression of charity was about as good as life got. While we loved the Red Cross Donut Dollies and the little red Christmas bag with toothbrush and disposable razor from the Red Cross, the free beer was tops with us… read more >
