On the second day after joining my company in the field I was assigned guard duty at the perimeter's main entrance. The company was set up in a soccer field in the Village of Trang Bang on Highway 1 across which was a series of shops.
Several kids were hanging around the main gate, and several of them chatted with us in pidgin English. Two of them taught me a Vietnamese sentence, and had me repeat it to their satisfaction. Then they motioned to a cute teenage girl nearby, urging me to repeat the sentence to her. I approached her and repeated the sentence. The boys collapsed in laughter. I have no idea what the translation was but from that moment on the girl was my "girlfriend."
A few days later we moved on to another mission in a different location. Since Highway 1 was a main thoroughfare in our area of operations we passed several times through Trang Bang. I was always spot my girlfriend standing along the row of shops looking for me. When she saw me, she waved excitedly. l don't know how she recognized me; we all wore the same uniforms and helmets, but she did.
Several weeks later we returned to the Trang Bang soccer field, and while there my "girlfriend" approached, and I chatted with her for about ten minutes. In all I spoke with her briefly only twice.
Several months later we were operating not far east of Trang Bang, and I bought a Coca Cola from a girl who operated a stand within walking distance of our perimeter. I stood in line, and when my turn came, I handed her .50 cents in exchange for a bottle of Coke from the Coca Cola Bottling Company in Saigon.
As I was leaving the girl said, "Thank-you, Roger."
I turned back toward her. "What did you say?"
She repeated, "Thank-you, Roger."
My uniform bore no name tags, so I asked how she knew me.
She responded, "I know your girlfriend in Trang Bang."
I walked away contemplating that if our enemy had a communication network half as effective as that of the area's teenaged girls, we were in trouble.
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