We were there about a month before the Cambodian Incursion took place. The Army was working at softening up the North Vietnamese soldiers who managed large food and weapon caches in Cambodia, just over the border from Vietnam. Large howitzers were pounding away at them from Candy twenty-four hours a day.
Yes, it was bad for the enemy on the receiving end of those guns but it was also bad for us. The Army kept Candy lit up at night with white phosphorous parachute flares and the noise from those guns were deafening. So there was not a lot of sleeping going on while on the fire base. My eyes would slowly close until the slam of the next gun jarred them back open again. Also, we were on the trailing end of the dry season. The red dirt of Vietnam was powdery like talcum. The combination of sweat on our bodies and that red, powdery dirt swirling in the wind, left us coated in grime by the end of the day.
Spending that week on Candy was the only time I remember when I wished we could get back out into the jungle for a little piece and quiet.
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