True Tales of Days Gone By ~ UNTAC recollections
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True Tales of Days Gone By ~ UNTAC recollections
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Re: Off the Rails in Phnom Penh.
Postby Jep » Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:55 pm
What was you involvement Ot Mean Loi
Hello Jep,
In answer to your question:
I was seconded at very short notice from my parent UN agency to UN Field Operations Division hard on the heels of UNAMIC as Chief Contracts Officer, Head of Contracts Section, UNTAC, to set up all procurement action required to support the mission. It was a fascinating but frustrating time. The UN came with computers but typewriters would have made more sense what with electricity failing about 18 or 20 times each day and with UNTAC spread over, initially, some 18 or so separate locations within the city until we rehabilitated that building opposite What Phnom and set up the SNC (State national Council) in it. Ditto, having to "create" a hospital in just a couple of days in the then, wreck, of the Phnom Penh University and then inserting the German Military Field Hospital in to the hastily created "hospital" space. For lack of proper shielding, the X Ray equipment/room got placed under the concrete stairs and that flight of stairs placed off limits. Not that meant a thing to Khmer relatives who came to attend to/visit patients in the wards. Some of us worked very long and hard days but for some others it was just a holiday in Cambodia.
Interviewing Khmer females applying for local employment was a nightmare because at that time they were all so shy and it was necessary to interview very quickly hundreds of people to reduce the swarm of applicants down to a manageable "pool" for further interview/s and then placement and employment within parts of your own system.
I lived at that time in a tiny, tiny room in the former French colonial Law Courts Building, public property, directly opposite the Royal Palace , than had "passed " from public/state property in to private property hands and had become the Renakse Hotel. The room still had a tiny window with the hole in the glass for people to pass their money through when paying their fines!
I could go on but my ramblings/recollections would look very dated these days.
Ot Mean Loi
Re: Off the Rails in Phnom Penh.
Postby Jep » Mon Oct 12, 2015 4:55 pm
What was you involvement Ot Mean Loi
Hello Jep,
In answer to your question:
I was seconded at very short notice from my parent UN agency to UN Field Operations Division hard on the heels of UNAMIC as Chief Contracts Officer, Head of Contracts Section, UNTAC, to set up all procurement action required to support the mission. It was a fascinating but frustrating time. The UN came with computers but typewriters would have made more sense what with electricity failing about 18 or 20 times each day and with UNTAC spread over, initially, some 18 or so separate locations within the city until we rehabilitated that building opposite What Phnom and set up the SNC (State national Council) in it. Ditto, having to "create" a hospital in just a couple of days in the then, wreck, of the Phnom Penh University and then inserting the German Military Field Hospital in to the hastily created "hospital" space. For lack of proper shielding, the X Ray equipment/room got placed under the concrete stairs and that flight of stairs placed off limits. Not that meant a thing to Khmer relatives who came to attend to/visit patients in the wards. Some of us worked very long and hard days but for some others it was just a holiday in Cambodia.
Interviewing Khmer females applying for local employment was a nightmare because at that time they were all so shy and it was necessary to interview very quickly hundreds of people to reduce the swarm of applicants down to a manageable "pool" for further interview/s and then placement and employment within parts of your own system.
I lived at that time in a tiny, tiny room in the former French colonial Law Courts Building, public property, directly opposite the Royal Palace , than had "passed " from public/state property in to private property hands and had become the Renakse Hotel. The room still had a tiny window with the hole in the glass for people to pass their money through when paying their fines!
I could go on but my ramblings/recollections would look very dated these days.
Ot Mean Loi
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Last edited by Playboy on Mon Nov 02, 2015 10:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Have now made this thread a 'Sticky' thread - Playboy.
Reason: Have now made this thread a 'Sticky' thread - Playboy.
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On the contrary, I'm sure many of us would love to hear every detail!
I came, I argued, I'm out
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You both must be suckers for punishment! Are you serious?
There are far too many raving lunatics on this forum to even attempt to post a series of personal recollection short "snap shots" of that period.
Ot Mean Loi
There are far too many raving lunatics on this forum to even attempt to post a series of personal recollection short "snap shots" of that period.
Ot Mean Loi
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Yes, but within the asylum, occasionally people like you and that guy who flew bombing raids over the Parrot's Beak emerge with proper stories.Ot Mean Loi wrote:You both must be suckers for punishment! Are you serious?
There are far too many raving lunatics on this forum to even attempt to post a series of personal recollection short "snap shots" of that period.
Ot Mean Loi
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Us proper sorts are serious, but I can wholly empathise with your concerns about forum tosspots. They're why I no longer post stuff about my past here.Ot Mean Loi wrote:You both must be suckers for punishment! Are you serious?
There are far too many raving lunatics on this forum to even attempt to post a series of personal recollection short "snap shots" of that period.
Ot Mean Loi
I came, I argued, I'm out
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Well, this forum certainly is an asylum and the forum is the poorer for it.
This could be a great forum but some discipline is required for it to rise above the lowest common denominator.
There, that should get me banned for life!
And that person who flew Operation Commando Vault (qv Google ) - missions from Camranh Bay in to Kien Svay province was myself.
Ot Mien Loi
This could be a great forum but some discipline is required for it to rise above the lowest common denominator.
There, that should get me banned for life!
And that person who flew Operation Commando Vault (qv Google ) - missions from Camranh Bay in to Kien Svay province was myself.
Ot Mien Loi
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One of the same! There you go.Ot Mean Loi wrote:Well, this forum certainly is an asylum and the forum is the poorer for it.
This could be a great forum but some discipline is required for it to rise above the lowest common denominator.
There, that should get me banned for life!
And that person who flew Operation Commando Vault (qv Google ) - missions from Camranh Bay in to Kien Svay province was myself.
Ot Mien Loi
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Well, not tonight.
I am drinking cheap red wine from afar when I should be back in the Rehabb and I am not falling for the...In Vino Veritas trap...tonight!
Ot Mean Loi Te own
I am drinking cheap red wine from afar when I should be back in the Rehabb and I am not falling for the...In Vino Veritas trap...tonight!
Ot Mean Loi Te own
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Say, OML - did you ever meet a guy in his mid-20s who was a Budweiser rep when you were over there? He drove an old Citroen I believe.Ot Mean Loi wrote:Well, not tonight.
I am drinking cheap red wine from afar when I should be back in the Rehabb and I am not falling for the...In Vino Veritas trap...tonight!
Ot Mean Loi Te own
Haha - my money’s on Playboy
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Hello PH,
Can't say that I recall any one along those lines.
Ot Mean Loi.
Can't say that I recall any one along those lines.
Ot Mean Loi.
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Hello again PH,
But who drank Bud beer in those days!
There were real beers available then.
God, you will have me drinking Coors next!
Besides, the USA only had about 30 people in the USA contingent to UNTAC in 1992.
And it was the USA that had totally destabilised South Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao!
So why drink American beer when there were very good Pilsner draft beers already available in country?
Possibly in the Cat House - aptly named in those post Subic Bay days.
Ot Mean Loi
But who drank Bud beer in those days!
There were real beers available then.
God, you will have me drinking Coors next!
Besides, the USA only had about 30 people in the USA contingent to UNTAC in 1992.
And it was the USA that had totally destabilised South Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao!
So why drink American beer when there were very good Pilsner draft beers already available in country?
Possibly in the Cat House - aptly named in those post Subic Bay days.
Ot Mean Loi
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Damn. Thanks anyway.Ot Mean Loi wrote:Hello PH,
Can't say that I recall any one along those lines.
Ot Mean Loi.
That Budweiser guy is on my top-10 most interesting people ever met list. I met him in Hue during the DMZ tour in 2009. He basically had a blank cheque to bring in as much Bud as he could and sold to everyone in the conflict, including VC and Air America. As he said, "everyone needs a beer".
Aussie soldiers had a habit of spray painting the kangaroo tank stencil on his Citroen and his back when turned.
If there are any other vets who read this RE Budweiser rep - if you could get in touch via PM I would be most grateful. I believe he still lives in Pinoy land with his Filippina MD wife.
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Hello again PH.
In 1969 I was commanding an Australian army unit in SVN
General Abrams came to visit in his super deluxe chromium plated, highly polished, etc Huey Helicopter.
Abrams went off to see the AU commanders.
The crew went off to visit the AU ASCO Canteen (US PX).
My lads sprayed big red Kangaroos on both sides of Abraham's helicopter, and, for good measure, a very large one underneath.
We had stencils for this purpose.
The chopper crew returned. Panic ensued when they say the big red Roos adorning the doors on both sides.
Frantic washing down of the new paint job with avtur removed the images and it looked ok when the general returned to fly back to Saigon.
Needless to say, my senior commanders were at the pad for Abrahams take off, as was I because it was my LZ.
As Abrahams came to the vertical hover, all Australian commanders saluted.
But as he rose higher, my jaw dropped a fraction. There was the big red roo on the underside of the huey!
My commander turned to me and said - Well done - But do not make a habit of doing this.
But this was not the end of it.
Courtesy of the 147 th Hill Climber Assault Helicopter Company, I had acquired a "surplus" ANPRC 147 Radio set and a AN 192 Radio antenna. Thirty minutes or less later there was a frantic radio call from the reception party at Free World HQ, Saigon, wanting to know what the hell we had done to the COMUSFVN Helicopter!
Oh well. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The spray paint can had, after all, come from the US Army Self Serve store at Vung Tau.
Ot Mean Loi
In 1969 I was commanding an Australian army unit in SVN
General Abrams came to visit in his super deluxe chromium plated, highly polished, etc Huey Helicopter.
Abrams went off to see the AU commanders.
The crew went off to visit the AU ASCO Canteen (US PX).
My lads sprayed big red Kangaroos on both sides of Abraham's helicopter, and, for good measure, a very large one underneath.
We had stencils for this purpose.
The chopper crew returned. Panic ensued when they say the big red Roos adorning the doors on both sides.
Frantic washing down of the new paint job with avtur removed the images and it looked ok when the general returned to fly back to Saigon.
Needless to say, my senior commanders were at the pad for Abrahams take off, as was I because it was my LZ.
As Abrahams came to the vertical hover, all Australian commanders saluted.
But as he rose higher, my jaw dropped a fraction. There was the big red roo on the underside of the huey!
My commander turned to me and said - Well done - But do not make a habit of doing this.
But this was not the end of it.
Courtesy of the 147 th Hill Climber Assault Helicopter Company, I had acquired a "surplus" ANPRC 147 Radio set and a AN 192 Radio antenna. Thirty minutes or less later there was a frantic radio call from the reception party at Free World HQ, Saigon, wanting to know what the hell we had done to the COMUSFVN Helicopter!
Oh well. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
The spray paint can had, after all, come from the US Army Self Serve store at Vung Tau.
Ot Mean Loi
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