I headed straight to the map place. Seems like they have an unlimited amount of maps, just more and more every time I show up. It's almost to the point where I think they just keep giving me the same ones hoping I'll buy them. I've honestly have gone through at least two hundred maps but now I'm a pro at it. In the top left corner it names the provinces and most maps were from Dak Lak, which is where Ban Me Thout is and Kontum, which is home to the city of Kontum and Dak To. I could have picked up all the Kontum maps but I don't have the cash and I can't exactly lock down all of the 173rd's battalion's movements in the province, so it's too much of an undertaking (for now muhahaha). You open it up and take a look at the map and since there's so much land I look for international boundaries to the west. If Laos is there, it's the northern part of SVN, Cambodia then it's middle or south. After that it's a hunt for water sources like Mekong (South of Saigon), Ia Drang (Central Highlands), Cam Lo (near DMZ). Then if there's no clue I look for roads, Hwy 1 is the North-South road from Saigon and Hanoi so that's eastern SVN, Highway 19 is Qui Nhon to An Khe to Pleiku, Hwy 512 runs though Dak To and Ben Het, Hwy 548 runs down though the A Shau Valley, etc. The good thing is that Vietnam doesn't have a lot of major highways so it kinda makes things easier, except around Saigon. After that follow the roads to cities, if there's no cities check contour lines close together which will show major hills in the area or numbers which is the peak elevations. Nui Ba Den is by Tay Ninh, Hill 861 is east of Khe Sanh, Marble Mountain is Hoi An, etc. If none of this helps me, I just say fuck it and move onto the next map as it probably wasn't what I was hunting for hahaha.
I didn't find any maps for me but I found some I Corps maps Josh might be interested in so I got them to save them. I picked up three beautiful canteen covers for $45 for Sam. Most of them had buttons ripped out and then restitched, so I'm a lot more cautious buying for others because if it's shit and they don't want it, I'm stuck with it haha. I found a rough looking but 100% authentic and a 100% mint but reproduction belt for Chris so I'll let him pick. I had to settle for the repro one so at least he has the option now.
My knee was getting sore so I headed home after KFC for lunch. I came home and watched "1969" with Keifer Sutherland and Robert Downey Jr. It's about a small Maryland town in 1969 and that's the year it changed because of the war, the hippie generation, female empowerment, drugs and music, etc. Sutherland and Downey are in college to avoid the military draft, but Downey is flunking out and Sutherland is a hippie who needs to set his soul free, or something haha. Sutherland's older brother is a Marine going over and proud about it. Their Dad is a WWII vet and wants his Marine son to go. Their Mother isn't all that excited but supportive. Sutherland and Downey come home from school as it's summer and they want their "Summer of Love", but Downey gets into drugs which I though was interesting, not sure if he made the movie before or while he was in his drug phase. Sutherland wants to get away from town and let the road decide his fate but his Marine brother is listed as Missing In Action. Downey doesn't want to go with Sutherland as he's afraid that the draft board will follow him. They both take it upon themselves to go to the draft board, break in and steal their files. Sutherland escapes but Downey is caught, but it brings him some closure as he doesn't have to run. Sutherland and Downey's sister, sexy Winona Ryder (short, brown hair, ivory skin and yea, she's just friggen hot) and they are going to run off together. They visit Downy who's in prison but working out to get ready for the military, which he's sure he'll be forced into but he's pissed they're together. Sutherland and Ryder ("I'm an easy ryder dreaming of Winona" - Kid Rock haha) head towards Canada but last minute decide to stay in the US to fight the war. It's then confirmed Sutherland's Marine brother is killed in action (KIA) and the family has the funeral. I thought it was a good movie up until this point... Sutherland speaks and more or less says "We (him and Ryder) are going to the courthouse to protest and get Downey out of jail so this (Sutherland's dead Marine brother) doesn't happen again!" and one by one all the towns people follow them, march into town and they let Doney out of jail and it ends.
I think it did a good job showing a little slice of the changes of the era and it had a great soundtrack. The ending was just kinda hokey to me haha. If eighty people protest at a court house, that doesn't turn over the legal system. The other thing is that now that Downy is free but not in college the draft board will just draft him again. Plus it somewhat clashes with my beliefs but I won't really get into that, but it gives the message if you fight against the draft then the draft will end. I disagree and they'll just draft someone else, it won't end the war it just spares your fate and sadly forces it upon someone else. What if that person who was drafted catches a bullet that was meant for you? I also liked that it focused on a small town, and it was said that support for the Vietnam War would fall not when caskets came to New York, LA or Chicago, but when they come to Noxubee Mississippi, Backus Minnesota and Gallup New Mexico where everyone knows everyone and one death rocks a community. In the one documentary I saw it talked to people in a small town, who's boys joined the National Guard and was part of an Artillery unit that was shipped to Vietnam. It was fine until their firebase was overran and a town of two-thousand had to bury seven of its boys. The community's heart broke and they were proud of their boys and understood what they tried to do, but they wanted their other boys to come home before more died.
Overall I liked it, just the end was a little preachy and phony to me. I rather come up to my own conclusion than be spoon-fed someone's opinion, that's all. I watched American Dad and I love Klaus, the fish who had the brain of a German Olympian transferred into a fishes body so the US would beat Germany in the 1986 Olympics. He's ignored and not used a lot, unlike Bryan in Family Guy, but when he does pop up I like it. I guess I consider him an underdog which I can relate to at times. Anyways he had an awesome quote and Facebook won't let me write a note, so I'll post it here. Klaus sleeps in a fishbowl and Steven (the son) and Roger (the alien, yea, there's an alien that lives with the family) take him to a water park and throw his bowl down the biggest tube slide. Klaus wakes up and flips out as he slides down and at the bottom says...
Klaus [After Steve and Roger throw him down a water slide]: Allow me to impress upon you the severe mistake you have made. For years my conduct has been largely benign. And yet, without provocation, you have severed our détente and forced me to unleash upon you the vengeful flames of a thousand suns. You shall curse your mothers for the day of your birth. For, go now, go, and begin your life of fear, knowing that when you least expect it, the looming sword of Damocles will crash down upon you, cleaving you in twain and as you gaze upon the smoking wreckage that was once your life, you will regret the day you crossed the WRONG FISH!!
Then picture a little gold fish with a thick and angry German accent screaming this. It's just an epic line, as good as Samuel L Jackson's pre-execution line in Pulp Fiction haha. Steve and Roger hid in the attic paranoid hiding from Klaus and his vengeance for nine months. They turn on each other, go to confront him and are blasted by...
[Nine months later...]
- Steve Ok you win, just do it already!
- Klaus Do what?
- Roger Get your revenge!
- Steve The water slide? the practical joke?
- Klaus Ohh yes, I had forgotten...
- Roger GOOD, good... us too.
- Klaus But now that you reminded me...the humiliation I suffered that day will not go unpunished! My pain is the bubbling cauldron of molten steel that will forge the saber of your demise! I SHALL NOT BE DENIED MY VENGEANCE...HAHAHAHAHA
- Damn, my formatting is messed up now. Anyways Roger puts three heavy books on Klaus's bowl so he can't get out and get his vengeance haha.
- I headed out for dinner at Zoom cafe and after last night with the girl wanting me to buy her pizza it kinda sucked the fun out of it. She kept trying to cut in on the other servers and do things for a tip. Things were easier when I didn't tip and now tipping has fucked them up haha. Aw well, small detail in a day of activity. I'm here now, I'll probably watch a movie and go to bed. I got to meet a friend at 8am in the park which I'm not fond of the time haha but I should get up at a decent time anyways. Take care.
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