Camp Alpha

As the war raged, most of the ground units have arrived in Vietnam and are assigned their tactical areas of operation. Planning for replacement troops is necessary. The 90th Replacement Battalion arrived in Vietnam on August 30, 1965, in anticipation of a large US troop build-up and withdrew in March, 1973. It was responsible for processing arriving replacements and those departing at DEROS. Engagements with the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong during the past year dismissed any doubt as to Communist resolve to reunited the two Vietnams. The 90th Replacement Battalion relieved the small, prewar, processing center at Camp Alpha on Tan Son Nhut Airport in Saigon and was joined the following year, on August 31, 1966, by the 22nd Replacement Battalion at Cam Ranh Bay.There were a couple of busses at the Bien Hoa Air Base patiently awaiting our arrival to take us to our next destination. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. When we arrived, we filed off the busses and were assigned to barracks where we were to await processing and assignment. We were marched into the long building, which had a concrete floor, wooden walls that were built with each slat at an angle so the wind could blow through and ventilate the building, wire screen on the inside of the walls and a tin roof.

For me I have a vision of being transported by a duece and a half. After that my mind goes blank until I can visualize being outside somewhere there filling sandbags one afternoon while watching a lot of guys removing their fatigue tops and getting sunburned from the hot sun until they looked like lobsters. Getting my orders to report to the 25th vaguely resonates too. I do remember flying up to Cu Chi where we were mandated to go through a orientation course dealing with the country, the people and the enemy, and what to look out for. - Sarge