There was little to do around the team, and it was not safe to venture outside the gate to the local village since it was known to be infested with Viet Cong posing as innocent villagers and as South Vietnamese soldiers. The PX was a smallish section in the back of one of the hooches sectioned off and opened for some two hours a day. One would walk up to a counter, present his request for whatever he wanted, and the clerk would check his stock to see if it was available. Luxuries such as snacks, radios, cameras and such were available only by special order. The PX clerk would make weekly trips to the Cholon PX near Saigon to purchase whichever requests were ordered by team members.
There were hellish nights from the mortars and rockets we took weekly, but the days were lazy and boring, so Jesse put together a training program for the eight of us in our hooch. He signed up for a Joe Weider bodybuilding and nutrition correspondence course and appointed himself to be the program director. He had us all pledge to abide by his program, eat only the allowed foods, no alcoholic drinks, do a series of physical exercises and a session with the weights and barbells he had acquired from somewhere. Prior to starting the program Jesse measured our biceps, height, waist and thighs to use in tracking progress. We would be weighed every Monday by the team medic at the team medical clinic.
We had a chart to post our exercises, and it would be verified by a second member. Except for the drinking, everything else was going as planned until Jesse began adding more program requirements from the Joe Weider course. We were required to develop a particular sleep regimen which consisted of sleeping no less than eight hours a day during set hours. This was not possible since we pulled guard several times during the week.
Another obstacle was the weekly ground, mortar and rocket attacks we endured. Waking up to the thunder of falling mortars and rockets inhibited anyone’s sleep even for hours after the attack ended. The adrenalin begins its downward slope soon after the battle but it still takes the mind perhaps an hour or two to recover after the attack. The sleep requirement was supposed to be non-negotiable, but Jesse finally offered “Well, guys, just do your best to stick with the program.”
Joe Weider’s course disallowed salt with our meals; however, the Army medics required us to take salt tablets at every meal and several others during the normal workday. At meal times, there was always a medic at the door issuing us 2 salt tablets and a paper cup of water to take before our meals. I would fake taking the tablets then put them in my pocket to dispose of them at first opportunity. At that time the Army folks had not yet discovered that salt was bad for the body, so every drinking fountain or lister water bag was required to have salt tablets for our use.
We were forbidden to drink beer or any other form of alcohol while on the Joe Weider program. This, too, was non-negotiable. Beer to soothe the soul and calm the troubled mind was disallowed and non-negotiable. While I do not recall ever seeing any of us drunk, we all broke the pledge and had our two or three beers before bedtime.
Jesse kept getting new course requirements that we were unable or unwilling to meet. Other demands like remaining celibate during the program and drinking at least one gallon of milk a day during the muscle-building phase seemed ridiculous and over the top. One of the men stated quite emphatically that Joe Weider, his siblings and their Mama be damned cause soon as he got within reach of his wife during his upcoming R&R1, he was going to engage his wife in continuous round-the-clock sex regardless of Joe Weider’s total ban of it. Well into the second or third month, we were required to buy Joe Weider’s vitamins and supplements which weren’t cheap. I gave up at this point. Others, too, were against purchasing the vitamins and supplements and dropped out. Before the end of the third month, Jesse gave up on the program after everyone else had quit. It was a brilliant plan, but certainly not the ideal plan in a combat zone.
Jesse left the team just before Christmas to return back home to the Houston area. I found Jessie online some five years ago. He had posted an entry in a military forum searching for any Advisory Team 99 members. I responded. When we finally got to talk by phone, I could tell Jesse was choked up. “Tony, I’ve got cancer eating me up and have spent the last few months desperately trying to find some of our team Advisors before I go.” I had found four other team Advisors. When I shared their email address with him, Jesse called to thank me. “Tony,” he said, “I’m not ashamed to tell you that I was in tears when I received all those email addresses you sent me. I have spent so much time trying to find our Advisors.”
Jesse passed away from cancer soon after. May you forever rest in peace, Brother Jesse.
1 Rest & Recuperation. Everyone was allowed one 7 day fully-paid trip to one of several locations throughout Asia and Hawaii.
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