Interview with Thomas G. Riffe, June 29, 2018

Partial Transcript: The following is an unrehearsed interview with Thomas Gentry Riffe for the University of Kentucky Libraries' Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History.

Segment Synopsis: Thomas G. Riffe talks about how the 12th Data Processing Unit in Saigon, Vietnam was organized. He talks about his duties in Vietnam, coding situation reports. He talks about being briefed when he arrived in Vietnam. He talks about why he was never promoted.

Keywords: 12th Data Processing Unit; Arrival; Bars; Briefings; Chits; Civilians; Codes; Coding; Computer operators; Crossbows; Data entry; Drinking; Duties; Equipment; Field reports; Hamlet Evaluation System; Headquarters; Lieutenant colonels; Military branches; Numbers; Promotions; Rank; Saigon (Vietnam); Situation reports; Supervisors; Written up

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: You mentioned--(coughs)--that you were part of an advance group of the 12th Processing Unit who arrived in country...

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks more about why he volunteered to go to Vietnam. He describes the city of Saigon. He talks about the markets, crowds, transportation, and weather. He talks about how American military people were treated. He talks about some of the dangers of living in Saigon. He talks about the food, intermittent electricity, lack of plumbing, and the stark differences between the rich and poor.

Keywords: 12th Data Processing Unit; Accommodating; Advance units; Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN); Attitudes; Bargaining; Bars; Bicycles; Bien Hoa Air Base; Black markets; Briefings; Catholic; Checkpoints; Children; Chinese; Chợ Lớn (Vietnam); Cold showers; Connections; Convoys; Cosmopolitan; Crowded; Cuisine; Culture shock; Curfews; Customs; Districts; Electricity; Embassies; Food; Friends; G.I. (military); Grenades; Guard duty; Guns; Hotels; Hubs; Instructions; Markets; Military occupation; Military police; Poor; Population; Poverty; Presence; Rainy season; Republic of Korea; Reputations; Rich; Safety; Saigon (Vietnam); Scooters; Sewers; Shops; Smog; South Korea; Stealing; Tennis; Tiger Battalion; Toilets; Traffic; Unarmed; Viet Cong; Volunteers; Water

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: So when, you know--of course you were still in Vietnam during Tet, right?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe was in Saigon when the attack on the U.S. Embassy occurred during the Tet Offensive. He describes his experiences that day while the city was under fire.

[Sound quality is very poor during parts of this segment.]

Keywords: Blood; Chợ Lớn (Vietnam); Death; Killed; Military police; Saigon (Vietnam); Shooting; Tan Son Nhut Air Base; Taxis; Tet Offensive; U.S. Embassy; Under fire; Viet Cong; Weird

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Well, in 1965, Saigon was considered the most crowded city in the world.

[Sound quality is very poor during parts of this segment.]

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the Western influence on the clothing in Vietnam.

[Sound quality is very poor during parts of this segment.]

Keywords: Apartments; Clothes; Clothing; Dress; Food; Influences; Mixing; Money; Saigon (Vietnam); Traditional; Vietnamese; Western

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)

Partial Transcript: How did you get around Saigon?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks more about the transportation in Saigon. He talks about the types of jobs the local people held. He talks about how they salvaged much of what Americans would throw away. He describes his office with the 12th Data Processing Unit and his hotel.

Keywords: 12th Data Processing Unit; Chợ Lớn (Vietnam); G.I. (military); Garbage; Governments; Headquarters; Hotels; Jobs; Military compounds; Motorcycles; Offices; Pedicycles; Recycling; Repair; Saigon (Vietnam); Stores; Taxis; Trash; Work

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Transportation; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Can you imagine how much money we must have spent over there?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about Americans gambling in Vietnam, how much Americans spent while there, and talks more about how the Vietnamese citizens stole or recycled what the Americans would throw away.

Keywords: Americans; Dice games; Gambling; Military pay; Money; Recycling; Roller skates; Saigon (Vietnam); Spending; Stealing; Wages; Waste

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Consumption (Economics); Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: You ever work with or see any American women in Saigon?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the American and Australian women working in Vietnam. He talks about how people smuggled drugs using golf clubs, and talks about the levels of drug use throughout the American military in Vietnam.

Keywords: Alcohol; American women; Australian women; Bars; Combat troops; Drinking; Drug use; Experimentation; Golf clubs; Heroin; Jobs; Marijuana; Money; Music; Musicians; Nurses; Payment; Rear echelon; Retirement; Saigon (Vietnam); Secretaries; Smuggling; Work

Subjects: Drug abuse; Drugs.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Women; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Were you told not to drink the water?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about being warned not to drink the local water in Vietnam. He talks about a local beer which was rumored to have been laced with formaldehyde. He talks about his love for the local Vietnamese cuisine and talks about some of the restaurants he would frequent.

Keywords: Bars; Briefings; Chinese; Epidemics; Fermented duck embryos; Formaldehyde; G.I. (military); Kidney stones; Local beers; Local cuisine; Money; Nancy's; Restaurants; Saigon (Vietnam); Spending; Vietnamese food; Warnings; Women

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Local foods.; Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.; Water quality.

Partial Transcript: Well, tell me about the black market.

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about how the black market was illegal but law enforcement generally overlooked it. He talks about what could be bought on the black market. He talks about his equivalent rank while working for a civilian company in Vietnam. He talks about the attitudes of the local South Vietnamese people about the actions of the American military.

[Sound quality is very poor during parts of this segment.]

Keywords: Americans; Black markets; GS equivalency; Helping; Ignored; Illegal markets; Lieutenant colonels; Money; Overlooked; Post exchange (PX); Ranks; Rice farmers; Saigon (Vietnam); Tractors; Underground economy; Underground markets; Viet Cong

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Consumption (Economics); Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Were, were you all aware at all that there was this tunnel system that the VC were building outside of Saigon?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about their awareness of the tunnel system built by the Viet Cong.

Keywords: Awareness; Extent; Hospitals; John Paul Vann; Saigon (Vietnam); Tunnel systems; Viet Cong

Subjects: Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Agent Orange, were you aware of that when you were, uh, in Vietnam?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about their awareness at the time of the consequences of Agent Orange.

Keywords: Awareness; Cancer; Collateral damage; Consequences; Exposure; Governments; Napalm; Obligations; Risks; Saigon (Vietnam)

Subjects: Agent Orange--Toxicology.; Agent Orange.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Tetrachlorodibenzodioxin.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Was there a red light district in Saigon?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the dangers of the red light district in Saigon, where he says deserters of the American military would go.

Keywords: Law enforcement; Military police (MP); Red light districts; Saigon (Vietnam); Sex workers

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military deserters; Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Desertions; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Were there things you saw in Saigon, Tom, that surprised you sort of?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the things that surprised him when he arrived. He talks about the smells, waste disposal, and his level of safety in Saigon.

Keywords: Adaptation; Adapting; Americans; Briefings; Nursing; Rice paddies; Rivers; Safety; Saigon (Vietnam); Sewers; Smells; Surprising; Toilets; Travel; Wary; Waste

Subjects: Culture shock.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Plumbing.; Pollution.; Refuse and refuse disposal.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.; Waste disposal sites; Water quality.

Partial Transcript: Were they, were they afraid of the Viet Cong?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about how the South Vietnamese people felt about the Viet Cong. He talks about how the Americans felt regarding their progress in the war versus what he was actually seeing in the situation reports.

Keywords: Afraid; Americans; Anti-war movement; Attitudes; Awareness; Buddhists; Catholics; Communism; Emolation; Fires; Indoctrinated; Indoctrination; Invincibility; Questioning; Saigon (Vietnam); Situation reports; South Vietnamese; Sympathetic; Viet Cong; Winning

Subjects: Anti-war demonstrations; Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Public opinion; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Was American music popular over there?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the popularity of American music in Vietnam. He talks about what was reported in the American media regarding their progress in the war versus what he was actually seeing in the situation reports.

Keywords: 1974; Bombed; Bombing; Deaths; Elephants; Firefights; Lies; Massacres; Music; Photographs; Reports; Safety; Saigon (Vietnam); Sensationalism; Sensationalized; Singing; Tet Offensive; Western influences

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; News media; Politics and war.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Mass media and the war; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Press coverage.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.; War casualties.

Partial Transcript: So, in general, were the Vietnamese people friendly toward you and--

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the prevalence of venereal diseases among soldiers in Vietnam. He talks about his girlfriend in Vietnam. He talks about learning Vietnamese.

Keywords: Difficult; English (language); Friendly; Girlfriends; Languages; Learning; Relationships; Saigon (Vietnam); South Vietnamese; Venereal disease (VD); Vietnamese (language)

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: You know, it's a common tactic for combatants to try to dehumanize the people you're trying to kill...

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about the American military's attitudes about the Viet Cong and the military's methods of desensitizing soldiers to killing. He talks about the American military's attitudes toward the Vietnamese citizens. He talks about crime in Saigon.

Keywords: Alert; Allies; Apartments; Army; Attitudes; Awareness; Combat; Crimes; Deaths; Defense mechanisms; Dehumanizing; Desensitization; Desensitizing; Firing; Gangs; Groupthink; Janitors; Killing; Knowledge; Mean; Police; Poor; Poverty; Private contractors; Saigon (Vietnam); Slang; Slurs; South Vietnamese; Stealing; Terrorist attacks; Tet Offensive; Trust; Viet Cong; Weapons

Subjects: Attitude (Psychology); Civilians in war.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Children; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: Did you pretty much try to be a straight arrow during your twelve month tour?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks more about soldiers' attitudes about the anti-war movement.

Keywords: Alcohol; Attitudes; Civvies; Drinking; Hanoi (Vietnam); Jane Fonda; Music; Off-duty; Saigon (Vietnam); Trouble; USO shows; United Service Organizations Inc. (USO)

Subjects: Anti-war demonstrations; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Protest movements; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Public opinion; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: You mentioned, um, you had some security, um, at the facility that you worked.

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about security and guard duty in Saigon. He talks about bars and brothels. He describes a typical day at the 12th Data Processing Unit and talks about morale in the office. He talks about the differences between his service and that of soldiers in combat zones. He talks about writing letters, television, and radio.

Keywords: "Fragging"; Adrian Cronauer; Alcohol; Armed Forces Radio; Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN); Bars; Brothels; Combat; Competence; Contact; DJs; Disc jockeys; Drinking; Friendly fire; Girlfriends; Grandparents; Guard duty; Headquarters; Identification (IDs); Letters; Living conditions; Mail call; Military police (MP); Nights; Opera; Radio; Relationships; Routines; Safety; Saigon (Vietnam); Secure; Security; Shifts; Stars and Stripes (newspaper); Television; Vietnamese (language); West Point United States Military Academy; Workdays

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Correspondence.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Morale.; Radio stations.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Partial Transcript: How close was the war where you were located?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about his lack of awareness of the larger war while he was in Saigon. He talks more about the media reports on the progress of the war and how they differed from the situation reports he was seeing. He talks about the government's strategy in Vietnam and why it did not work. He talks about why he extended his tour of duty by three months. He talks about his distrust of the American government due to how they treated their soldiers in comparison to other countries.

Keywords: America; Americans; Attitudes; Australian Embassy; Awakening; Awareness; Body counts; Bombs; British Embassy; Calendars; Capability; Combat operations; Construction; Death; Disappointing; Distance; Doubts; Escalation; Evaluations; Extensions; Failure; Friends; Frontlines; Governments; Guerilla warfare; Handouts; Jails; Killed; Korean Embassy; Last days; Lies; Measurable; Money; Names; Numbers; Pacification program; Plans; Problems; Progress; Reality; Realness; Reasons; Results; Saigon (Vietnam); Separate; Shock; Situation reports; Strategy; Tactics; Tet Offensive; Tours of duty; Trust; U.S. Embassy; Winning

Subjects: Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; News media; Politics and war.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Mass media and the war; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Press coverage.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.; War casualties.

Partial Transcript: Well, the last question I have for you today is: Did you ever think of making the military a career?

Segment Synopsis: Riffe talks about why he did not pursue a career in the military. He talks about his wife and children in Vietnam, who he brought with him when he later returned to America. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Broadened horizons; Careers; Children; Eye-opening experiences; Immigration; Jobs; Marriage; Married; Military discharge; Plans; Positive; Ranks; Re-enlistment; Saigon (Vietnam); Spiel; Wife; Wives

Subjects: Civilians in war.; Families.; Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); Military life.; Soldiers.; Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Veterans--United States; Vietnam War, 1961-1975.