Got to put it in perspective, Gail ... as lousy as it was.

You are FAR too young to remember this, but during the summer of 1967 (right out of high school, pre-Army) I worked in a saloon on Cape Cod. Restaurant minimum wage (different from std min wage) was $1.10/hr or so. Then somewhere towards the end of the summer restaurant minimum went to about $1.40/hr. As little as that was, it was okay because gas was about .33/gal. I'm accurate on that because we figured 3 gallons of gas for a buck almost everywhere, and there was a Merit station in Hyannis where you could get about 4 for a buck, .25 or so a gallon. VW would go for days on a buck. I could buy a case of longnecks from the boss for maybe $5, or we could go down to a pkg store in Dennisport and get Canadian Ace (no poptops) for $3 a case. Urrrgh...

E-1 pay in basic training, late '67, I think was about $90 a month ... by the time I left Pleiku in June 1969 I think I was at about $350/month tax-free. E-5, plus flight pay plus plus etc. Couldn't spend it, other than a mess of nickel drinks at the club (for lucky guys like us.) Guys like Dave, grunts, anyody outside the wire, couldn't spend anything other than a buck pitched in for cokes or beer once in a while.

I remember we guarded that stuff (the cokes and beer) like mail because we knew they were buying it most times. A couple of times the pad guys handed us back a beer or a coke ... that was huge thanks, and really meant a lot to us, just a way to let us know how much they appreciated all of it. "Bon-Bon, can I drink this?" "Yeah, you can drink it. Yours. You drink mine I'll kill you." "Uhh, all we got is two ..." SLURP GLUG SLURP GLUG SLURP GLUG

Good stuff.

Bob