“Teflon”
(Memoirs of an Army Trucker)
I’ve begun to write about being an army trucker a number of times. This story will attempt to focus on what it was like as an 18 – 19 year old farm boy from Idaho to drive a 5-ton army tractor trailer rig over the differing road conditions of Thailand in the late 1960’s and early 1970. It’s hard to write when there is no element of the danger or excitement filled from an overly dangerous life of one living on the edge.
You may be asking why I chose the name “Teflon” since it is a well known worldwide trademark denoting a product that does not allow food to stick to a frying pan. I chose “Teflon” as a term reserved for those who basically just don’t know how to drive, (they can’t stick i.e. they're “Teflon” drivers). I find myself using that term quite often even though it’s some 40 years later, occasionally I use “Turkey Driver” around my grandkids.
Shortly after turning 18 in August, I joined the United States Army on September 13, 1967 at the Armed Forces Entrance and Examining Station in Boise, Idaho, some 4 months after graduating from nearby Kuna High School. Some would have called me delusional for initially letting myself get talked into thinking I could become a helicopter pilot. That’s the reason I let a friend talk me into joining the army on the buddy system.
An acquaintance, Steve Jones came by my apartment one day and talked me into going to see the recruiter with him. “We could be helicopter pilots”, he said. Well needless to say, after taking the battery of tests, neither of us came close to qualifying as pilots. In fact Steve became a helicopter mechanic and gunner; I became an army transport operator.
We both went to basic training together at Fort Lewis in Washington. After graduating I went to Fort Ord in California to attend the Army Transporter Course. Steve went to where ever they train helicopter mechanics.
During this time, lots of folks were going to Vietnam. We were briefed at the beginning of our course that our entire class was headed to Vietnam. It was a given.
After several grueling weeks of training and the graduation ceremony, I received my orders to South East Asia, only it wasn't Vietnam. Richard Strayer and I had orders to Thailand, only we didn't know that because it was identified only by Army Postal Office (APO SF 96233).
Southeast Asia
Thailand
On February 27, 1968 aboard a commercially chartered airline, after making a number of stops, one of which was Vietnam we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand. We were taken by army bus to the Windsor Hotel which served as the army processing center for the United States Army Support, Thailand (USARSUPTHAI) command in downtown Bangkok.
After a couple of days processing, and travel by still another army bus we headed north to Camp Friendship at the town of Nakorn Ratchasima (Korat), the current home of the 519th Transportation Battalion (Truck).
After in processing I was further assigned and transported by the supply sergeant in the back of a 2 1/2 ton (deuce and a half) to the 569th Transportation Company still further north at Camp Khon Kaen in the northeastern region known as Esan.
Camp Khon Kaen
Upon arrival and in processing I was assigned to the second platoon where Sergeant Jerry Nienhouse was the platoon sergeant. Jerry was the model of a transportation sergeant. At the time I never realized that he was just a year older than me. In fact most of the time I saw him was in the motor pool conducting or supervising motor stables, on convoys as convoy commander, or sitting shirtless on a chair, outside the NCO billets, reading TM 9-2320-211-10.
I remember one day the commander promoted him from acting sergeant to sergeant during the morning formation, and at the evening formation promoted him to staff sergeant all in one day.
I called it Jerry’s platoon because while I was with the 569th Transportation Company, the second platoon had a number of platoon leaders, Lieutenant’s: Tim Ralston, Bob Springer, Larry Shelton, Greg Glassner, & Steve Koons, but only one platoon sergeant. Jerry didn’t stay in the army but went back to Michigan and became a self employed truck driver up until the time of his death in 2001.
I was a private first class when I arrived in Thailand. I received O. J. T. (On Job Training) initially with an instructor driver, Specialist Five Hearndon. He taught me things to do, as well as things NOT to do. It’s funny that I remember the things NOT to do more readily than the things to do. One thing NOT to do while traveling on a bumpy, dusty red clay road is NOT to stand on the running board while taking a leak. The obvious safety hazard of bouncing off the running board and under the wheels of an 18 wheeler exists. I never learned Hearndon's full name, but years later I ran into him as I was leaving Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri on my way to Germany. At that time Sergeant First Class Hearndon was assigned as an instructor at the Engineer School.
While in Thailand I learned was how to handle a tractor and semi-trailer rig on paved and unpaved surfaces while in multiple truck convoys or individually on the left hand side of the road. Many of the Thai drivers I observed and managed to avoid would qualify today in my term of “Teflon” drivers. They drive wildly passing at will (oncoming traffic or not), and basically disregarding the safety of virtually everyone on the road or in the immediate vicinity.
It’s a safe bet that not everyone on the road is licensed or even know how to drive. I don’t remember seeing a Student Driver sign on any vehicles in Thailand (even today), except on US military installations. In fact, many of the vehicles on the road were uninsured or unregistered.
Being just out of school, and being assigned to a truck company did not give me any idea of the concept of a line haul transportation truck company. How one was composed or operated. In Thailand I learned quite a bit about transporting various classes of cargo.
In a transportation truck company there are 3 line platoon, a headquarters platoon and a maintenance platoon.
The company commander is generally a captain (2 - 3 years in military) and is in command. He is referred to as the “Old Man” although it is the first sergeant who is an old man (20 + years in the military) is the "Top Dog" and is in charge of day to day operation of the company. Everyone generally calls the first sergeant “top” or “First Sergeant”. Call him anything else and you wind up on extra duty painting rocks or cutting grass, or policing up cigarette butts and trash throughout the entire company area.
The motor pool is run by the truckmaster, (who often fills in as acting first sergeant). The truckmaster operates out of the company operations office where his staff obtain tasking orders or commitments from the battalion S-3 (operations) and pass them out to the line platoons.
Each line platoon has a platoon leader, a platoon sergeant, an assistant platoon sergeant, two squad leaders and drivers for the platoon's 30 task vehicles (M52A2's) 5-ton tactical truck tractor 6X6. The platoon has a 1/4 ton utility vehicle (jeep) and a 2 1/2 ton truck (deuce).
The 519th Transportation Battalion maintained a fleet of M127A1 12-ton semi-trailers which were controlled by various trailer transfer points (TTP).
Each platoon sergeant is responsible for his 30 task vehicles and 32 assigned driver personnel. Squad leaders are responsible for their 15 vehicles and drivers. When all trucks are up and running and all personnel are available, life is great. As a driver I was assigned to #569 - 229 and my primary concern was whether my truck was ready for the next convoy.
The headquarters platoon contains all the orderly room, supply room and arms room personnel, one of whom acts as the headquarters platoon sergeant. The maintenance platoon has all the mechanics, parts room and tool room personnel, with a maintenance sergeant and a maintenance technician normally a warrant officer.
One thing I learned early on is that officers are addressed by their rank and last name or "Sir". They should and can address you by your grade, rank, last name, or first name. But you always respond using "Sir" in the context of your response.
The places we delivered to were hundred miles away. Much of the road surfaces were unimproved. Engineer units of the 44th Engineer Group worked hard to carve roads out of jungle vegetation and mountainsides.
Camp Khon Kaen (Hawsip Kilowatt) was located about 120 miles from Korat, and 60 miles south of Udon. We were able to make one round trip per day to those destinations. Going to Ubon in Southeastern Thailand was somewhat further and it was a 3 day trip. Convoys to Sakhon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom were on the other side of the mountain. We had to drive to Udon, then southeast to reach them. These trips were 2 day trips.
It’s interesting to note that Sakhon Nakhon was the home of many of the 44th Engineer Group’s units. Camp Rum Chit Chai was one of the places where Thai Counterinsurgency operations were conducted from. It was just west of the Mekong River that separated Laos and Thailand. It was not far from the air base at Nakhon Phanom (NKP). Needless to say these were not the safest areas to be in after dark (it was a nest bed of Thai Cong (TC) insurgents).
Just a few months before I arrived, convoys would head toward the town of Kalasin, then up and over the mountain to Sakhon Nakhon. That stopped abruptly after one of our vehicles came in with bullet holes throughout the side boards of the trailer. The driver didn’t even know he’s been fired upon. After that incident we were relegated to drive to Udon, around the traffic circle and Southeast to Sakhon Nakhon or NKP.
Garrison Life
My first 30 days at Camp Hawsip Kilowatt (50 kilowatt), as the locals referred to the camp, was spent in quarantine, no leaving the compound, not even on convoys. I spent my time initially running in the early evening, running a lap around the perimeter fence along the inside of the compound. (I didn’t know of Agent Orange chemicals used to defoliate the foliage).
I spent ate at camp’s air conditioned chow hall (the only one in Thailand I was told). The evenings were spent at the NCO Club annex where there were slot machines and music from the Juke box. We even had a small Armed Forces Exchange Annex, where you bought shoe polish, film and other necessities. A local barber had a barbershop located in one of the wooden buildings that used to house the orderly room and chow hall.
We initially had an outdoor theatre of sorts. It consisted of a sheet tied across two volleyball poles, with the projector on a table on the lawn. Everyone got comfortable by sitting or lying on the grass while we watched the latest from Hollywood. Later on, the day room was completed and our movies moved inside which was great during the monsoon rains (although you couldn’t hear the sound of the movie).
The composition of the camp was a trailer transfer point (254th Trans Det.) and motor pool operations building near the main gate. Moving toward the motor pool was the trailer park and berm for securing trailers loaded with explosives. Next was the POL (petroleum oil and lubricant) point where we stopped for fuel and oil.
Then to the motor pool, which consisted of 3 buildings: 3rd Echelon Maintenance shop (562nd MT Det.), Aid Station (133rd Med Det.), and our own maintenance facility with a line for non operational vehicles called the “Deadline”. Facing the aid station began our platoon lines: First, Second and Third Platoons. Immediately behind the platoon lines were the Officers BOQ, swimming pool and orderly room in the newest structures.
Separated from the motor pool were the wooden buildings making up the supply room and arms room, then the NCO Club annex, Barbershop and Housegirls hootch. The PX Annex was located near the Military Police (218th MP Det.) holding cell. The chow hall was closer to the billets, near the parade field (basketball court).
The billeting rows were: Headquarters and Maintenance Platoon, First Platoon, Second Platoon, Third Platoon and the Day Room (all newly built concrete structures).
Opposite the parade field were the NCO Billets, Transit Billets, and Detachment Personnel Quarters (including a 2 man fire detachment with fire truck). Behind them was the Thai Security Guard section with billets and local eatery. A single guard tower was located near the center of the compound.
Around the perimeter were strategically located bunkers and individual fox holes used during alerts or suspected attacks. Each platoon had their assigned area. I remember one visit from the battalion sergeant major necessitated our relocating one bunker some 5 feet from its current location. We filled so many sandbags that I lost count.
There was a marked and designated helipad in the motor pool, where we often greeted visitors, or occasional medivac flights. The walkway from the helipad to the orderly room had the most brightly painted white rocks you could find (or maybe they were red)?
If it wasn’t working in the motor pool breaking down tires, performing lube jobs on the trucks, there was always something to do. Individual weapons had to be cleaned and returned to the arms room. Luckily the kitchen police was contracted out to local nationals.
Alerts
Looking back, some of the alerts we had were pretty comical. I remember the siren going off and everyone scrambled to the arms room, then out to the fox holes. Sometimes the alert might last an hour or several hours. Alerts were generally called in on the field telephone from the battalion staff duty officer. The commander would have to be notified, the alert siren sounded and everyone responded. The commander would notify battalion when we were in position, and generally the alert would be ended.
I remember being on duty as the CQ (Charge of Quarters) or CQ runner and getting that call. One instance the commander was TDY and the acting commander responded to being awakened in the middle of the night for a red alert, “What’s a red alert?”
Another instance one of the guys from the fire department detachment hid under his bed until the alert was over.
Still another happened during the day time. In that case all local nationals were escorted outside the gate until the drill was over. (Not the smartest in my opinion). While everyone was running to the arms room, lining up to get a weapon and head to the fox holes, one of the local KPs ended up in line at the arms room. He was handed a weapon and followed one of the cooks and took a position outside the chow hall. The mess sergeant (SFC Holloway) came around the corner, face to face with the barrel of an M-14, in the hands of one of his KPs. He snatched the weapon from the KP and proceeded to escort him to the gate. Boy was he mad.
Convoys
I found out the first day that the 569th Transportation Company was a medium truck cargo unit. The prime mover was the M52A2 5-ton truck tractor. It pulled an M127A1 12-ton stake and platform semitrailer assigned to the 519th Transportation Battalion.
What I learned in school did not include anything this size. I had to begin with international road sign classes, driving on the left side of the road with a left hand steering vehicle. I had to learn to couple and uncouple the tractor and semitrailer. Then there was backing the unit to a loading dock, or into a parking space. These all took time and the unit assigned all new personnel to an instructor driver.
The unit normally handled all cargo coming through the TTP. Loads of all types came in headed for the many air force and army installations north and east of Camp Friendship. Other units would bring loads to Camp Khon Kaen and return empty trailers to the TTP at Camp Friendship.
Often we hauled normal things like, paper products, sodas and beer, even building materials and munitions or the highly classified Project 972. It didn’t matter what it was or where it was going we were eager to get our trucks on the road. Sometimes convoys were single or double trucks, or as many as 40 trucks. The road net we traveled was primarily red clay or mud. Our destinations approached the Laos, Thai and Cambodia border area of Ubon, or north and east past Udorn to Sakhon Nakhon and Nakhon Phanom (NKP). I was promoted to specialist five and had more than 35,000 accident free miles while with the 569th Transportation Company.
Accidents/Incidents
There were a number of accidents/incidents while I was at Khon Kaen. Some occurred on convoys, while others occurred during time off and away from base.
I remember one accident at NKP where a driver was ordered to move a high profile load under a power line. The driver told the lieutenant it wouldn’t work, and the lieutenant ordered him to proceed anyway. I caused one huge power blackout for the air base for several hours until the civil engineering squadron folks got it fixed.
Another accident occurred on the way to Ubon. A huge convoy traveling over an unpaved section of roadway came to a halt. Halfway down the convoy it was so dusty that nobody saw the convoy had stopped. One ammo laden truck plowed into the back of the trailer in front and the entire load shifted one pallet forward, forcing the first pallet up and down onto the cab, pinning the driver.
Many of us climbed on the pallet, breaking the bands holding the ammo crates together, and tossing them down onto the ground in an attempt to get at the driver. After prying the door open, the driver sat crouched on the floor, between the steering wheel and the door, where his arm was caught between the seat and the steering wheel. After prying him free, he climbed out rubbing his uninjured but otherwise bruised arm.
There were accidents with fatalities. Just before I arrived at the camp, the first sergeant a passenger in a jeep that drove under a turning semitrailer was killed.
On a routine run to Camp Friendship, one tractor pulling another, crashed into a civilian vehicle killing all the occupants but one, a small child who managed to get out the back window before the vehicle burst into flames. There were the many civilian truck – bus crashes or truck – pedestrian incidents resulting in fatalities as well.
One incident involving a motorcycle – truck involved 2 NCO’s from the 569th. They were hit by a dump truck, and both taken to a local hospital and the unit notified. A Medivac flight was called in to transport one for urgent, critical care, and the medic transported the other in a cracker box military ambulance. Both guys were seriously injured, one permanently (paraplegic) and the other went through reconstructive surgery.
Off Duty Activities
During my time off I liked to go downtown and walk around. Early on I saw a young girl who had just begun working on base and attempted to strike up a friendship with her. This was hard because her older brother was a mechanic in the motor pool and he didn’t want his sister to get involved with any foreigners. He didn’t want her heart broken by someone who would promise her the moon and be gone in a year.
I managed to find out where she lived and ended up many times in front of her house. Soon it became apparent that when I walked through the village, people would call out my progress and she would be waiting for my arrival.
We started “dating” if you can call it that. I’d invite her to a movie, and we’d take separate 2 taxis, one for her and her younger sister (our chaperone) and one for me. We never went anywhere alone.
Eventually I proposed and we began planning the wedding. I had to get all types of permission before we could get married, even a letter from my mom. We married on September 4, 1969 and then began the process of obtaining command sponsorship in order to take my bride home with me. We made a trip to the American Embassy to have our marriage license translated into English, and to process her visa paperwork. I ended up extending my 12 month tour into a 36 month tour so we would have time to get all the paperwork finished.
Shortly after we married I purchased a motorcycle from one of the sergeants in the platoon. It was a blue Honda CL125. I put high-riser style handlebars and a luggage rack on it. Sometimes when we had the weekend off, we'd go our riding. Often to places where they had not seen foreigners before.
On February 21, 1970 the unit was being deactivated and I was transferred to the 505th Transportation Company in the Sattahip area, at Camp Vayama. After shipping our hold baggage in the back of a 2 ½ ton truck, we rode the Honda to Sattahip.
Camp Vayama
It was a long ride, with two people and a suitcase on a small motorcycle driving almost 1000 miles. We were glad to arrive in Sattahip and I got a hotel room to stay in. The next day I went to the 505th Transportation Company orderly room and reported in. Soon we found a bungalow where we stayed for the next 4 months.
At the 505th I went on convoys north to Takhli, Korat and other bases in the Northeast. I even made a few trips to Bangkok hauling US Mail. One day I was called into the orderly room by the first sergeant. He told me my command sponsorship status had been approved and gave me my ETS (Estimated Termination of Service) orders. I had gotten a two month drop on my tour and we left Thailand on July 31, 1970.
Recap
What I learned about army transportation in Thailand has stayed with me throughout my adult life. Later when I enlisted once again on active duty, I often drew back on my experience in Thailand and applied them to my job as a platoon sergeant and truckmaster. I learned from Jerry Nienhouse how a transportation sergeant should conduct oneself. I learned how to treat those under my control from Steve Koons (who later retired as a Colonel in the transportation corps) and went on to executive service for the army and was instrumental in logistical coordination during Operation Desert Storm and ultimately Operation Iraqi Freedom. Steve is retired in Tennessee and is fixing farm tractors and loving it.
After 22 years of active service, I retired from the army as Sergeant First Class on December 31, 1990, serving my final overseas assignment as the truckmaster of the United States Army Motor Pool in Yokohama, Japan (89 – 90). My wife Montian and I have been married for almost 40 years. We have two grown daughters, 5 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. We all reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I am the founder and truckmaster of an online veterans organization “The 519th Transportation Association, Thailand” @ www.519transportationassociation.com and co-founder and webmaster of “The United States Army Support Command, Thailand Association” @ www.usarsupthai.webs.com.
My military awards and decorations include: Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal (2nd OLC), Army Achievement Medal (2nd OLC), Meritorious Unit Commendation, Good Conduct Medal (6th OLC), National Defense Service Ribbon (w/Star), Vietnam Service Medal, NCO Professional Development Ribbon (w/Numeral 3), Army Overseas Service Ribbon (Numeral 4), Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon (w/60 device), the Driver Badge - W, Sharpshooter w/Rifle & Marksman w/Pistol.
I am a graduate of Columbia College – 1991, & Denver Technical College (DeVry University) – 1999.
Last Updated: 31 May 2009
Return to Papa Joe's Home Page
Don't forget to check out my other pages too: