guillaume le ouf Posted September 29, 2007 Share #1 Posted September 29, 2007 HELLO, A good book for advisor in vietnam! bye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted September 29, 2007 Share #2 Posted September 29, 2007 Yes... it seems the US Army always comes up with something like this for each new conflict they are sent to. The problem with these is they give very little help with pronunciation. And god forbid that you actually say something to the locals that made sense! If they started talking back to you how were you going to understand what they said? I know a USAF vet who referred to these things as "pointee-talkies". The assumption was you point to a phrase like you were asking a question. Then the local was supposed to point to an answer. The problem with this was assuming that the person you encountered was literate in his own language. I've often wondered how often the course of battle has depended on a lot of waving, smiling, pointing and the blind trust that the locals were not leading you into a trap. As a side story, I served for 3 years in Germany. All senior NCO's and Officers were given three weeks of German instruction. It helped, and of course you got better the longer you were there (or the more beer you drank... it seemed to help with translations.) The first time I tried my German in the field, we were out on exercise. We needed to run into town to the local US Kaserne to pick up a few odds and ends. We got there and were totally lost. Of course it was raining, and it nicely fogged up the windows on our truck as well. I noticed a polezei (policeman) on the corner. We pulled over and in my best German I asked, "Excuse me please, but where is the Amerikanish Kaserne, bitte?" He smiled at me and in perfect English said "Well Lieutenant, you go up to this alley, go straight ahead, make a right, and then the first left." I suppose I looked a little stunned and surprised that I was not going to have to struggle to translate. He smiled, leaned forward, tipped his peak hat and said "And have a nice day...." Too funny! And yes... it was right where he said it was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guillaume le ouf Posted September 29, 2007 Author Share #3 Posted September 29, 2007 excellent... in france when I see some amreican tourists, I smile too... they chewing gum french... and I ask them in potage english... nice story! when you are in RFA ? my father is 1963... bye! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted September 29, 2007 Share #4 Posted September 29, 2007 excellent... in france when I see some amreican tourists, I smile too... they chewing gum french... and I ask them in potage english... nice story! when you are in RFA ? my father is 1963... bye! I served at Baumholder from 1980 to 1983, 708th Maintenance Battalion and 8th Infantry Division Support Command, 8th ID. We still had the French Army as next store neighbors and saw their recon units on exercise quite a bit. I woke up one morning in the little farm town I was living in to hear field radios outside the house. It was a recon or cavalry platoon parked on the road having their breakfast! They used to drive those vehicles very fast, so I had to be careful driving past them in my VW Scirocco! Good luck with your collecting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M60 Driver Posted September 29, 2007 Share #5 Posted September 29, 2007 The problem with these is they give very little help with pronunciation. These older books were indeed pretty piss poor as far as teaching a language. But things have changed over the decades and the Defense Language Institute is a noted academic leader in applied linguistics. Not to mention that Monterey is a heck of a nice place to get stationed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehrentitle Posted September 29, 2007 Share #6 Posted September 29, 2007 Ok, this is a bit off topic, but the language book made me think of this random M-16 magazine plastic waterproof cover with Vietnamese writing that showed up with a lot of East German insignia I purchased on E-bay a few years ago. Maybe you can use your book to translate the writing. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted September 30, 2007 Share #7 Posted September 30, 2007 Ok, this is a bit off topic, but the language book made me think of this random M-16 magazine plastic waterproof cover with Vietnamese writing that showed up with a lot of East German insignia I purchased on E-bay a few years ago. Maybe you can use your book to translate the writing. Kevin It says, and I quote "Please keep the jungle clean. Please do not litter. 100%Recyclable ." I swear! Really.... Okay.. actually I believe it is a Chieu Hoi message imploring the enemy to give their foolish ways and surrender. I'd have to dig out my English Vietnamese dictionary, but I believe that is what this is. The logic is that these would be left lying on the ground after a battle and we knew the Vietnames would find them when they came back to search the battlefield. I have no record if they ever worked. Times like these we need someone with Vietnamese language skills to join the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehrentitle Posted September 30, 2007 Share #8 Posted September 30, 2007 I found a Wikipedia article related to this bag by searching for Chieu Hoi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chieu_hoi_bag and added the photo of the bag for posterity! I'm glad I didn't toss it, do these things have any worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craig_pickrall Posted September 30, 2007 Share #9 Posted September 30, 2007 I'm not sure of current value but I doubt that it is very much. These bags have popped up on the market in huge quantities at least 3 times that I know of since the war ended. They come packed 300 to the box and about 5 years ago I bought an unopened box for about $10. They are a neat display item even though it isn't worth much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guillaume le ouf Posted September 30, 2007 Author Share #10 Posted September 30, 2007 thx all and wikepedia!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeeper704 Posted September 30, 2007 Share #11 Posted September 30, 2007 Translation of the text (as found at a website): Returning Chieu Hoi will help you to again see your parents and family in a peaceful and democratic South Vietnam. Erwin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copran Posted September 30, 2007 Share #12 Posted September 30, 2007 It says, and I quote "Please keep the jungle clean. Please do not litter. 100%Recyclable ." I swear! Really.... Okay.. actually I believe it is a Chieu Hoi message imploring the enemy to give their foolish ways and surrender. I'd have to dig out my English Vietnamese dictionary, but I believe that is what this is. The logic is that these would be left lying on the ground after a battle and we knew the Vietnames would find them when they came back to search the battlefield. I have no record if they ever worked. Times like these we need someone with Vietnamese language skills to join the forum. Hi, The message on the bag means: Chieu Hoi will help you to reunite with your parents, wife and children in the democratic and peaceful Vietnam Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehrentitle Posted September 30, 2007 Share #13 Posted September 30, 2007 Hi, The message on the bag means: Chieu Hoi will help you to reunite with your parents, wife and children in the democratic and peaceful Vietnam Cheers Thanks! And thanks for everyone who provided answers. I though Gil's translation was a hoot , he almost had me hooked and reeled in until I did an internet search for CHieu Hoi. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Copran Posted September 30, 2007 Share #14 Posted September 30, 2007 Thanks! And thanks for everyone who provided answers. I though Gil's translation was a hoot , he almost had me hooked and reeled in until I did an internet search for CHieu Hoi. Kevin Hello, I don't know whether the US Army is still using this kind of ammunition bag, but it would be a nice idea to write a Nature Preservation message , I don't think Al Queada fighters are sensitive to any Democratic Political system and moreover Ben Laden talked about Global Warming in his last message Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrei Posted September 30, 2007 Share #15 Posted September 30, 2007 Hello, I don't know whether the US Army is still using this kind of ammunition bag, but it would be a nice idea to write a Nature Preservation message , I don't think Al Queada fighters are sensitive to any Democratic Political system and moreover Ben Laden talked about Global Warming in his last message Hope that Bin Laden gonna be himself Globaly Warmed by US Napalm ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JERRY COBB Posted September 30, 2007 Share #16 Posted September 30, 2007 ...the Defense Language Institute is a noted academic leader in applied linguistics. Not to mention that Monterey is a heck of a nice place to get stationed. You got that right! I was there from Aug '78 to Jan '79. Enjoyed the local area so much that I flunked of tthe school. HA! HA!. No regrets, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostly60s Posted March 15, 2008 Share #17 Posted March 15, 2008 Ok, this is a bit off topic, but the language book made me think of this random M-16 magazine plastic waterproof cover with Vietnamese writing that showed up with a lot of East German insignia I purchased on E-bay a few years ago. Maybe you can use your book to translate the writing. Kevin Further off topic: The US Army still had stocks of these plastic bags as late as October 1990. I know this because we were issued some when we were packing our bags to deploy to Desert Storm. I guess somebody decided they might keep sand from our magazines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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