Double Digit Midget is a respected and coveted status earned gradually and ever sooo slowly. It happens in stages. You get off the plane at Tan Son Nhut airport and are whisked off to Camp Alpha, the army's processing station where a redneck sergeant on a raised platform welcomed us to the "land of enchantment". This was to be my second stopover at the Camp Alpha processing center. Some three years earlier I landed there on my initial tour of duty.
"Welcome, gentleman," he says. "You left our beloved home just yesterday and already you have only 363 days left in this miserable, God-forsaken place you will learn to love - or hate."
Though still groggy from a long flight from Oakland, California through Alaska, Hawaii and Philippines and still trying to sort things out, our orientation continued. "Now, some of you will never see home again, but don't fret the small shit, men. Just make the most of the time you've got left and stay alive as long as you can. You won't regret it. As for the rest of us, we're gonna get through this just fine."
It was evident our senior sergeant was struggling, slurring his words and not totally coherent. A hard night of drinking does that to a man, and it doesn't always wear off by morning. The calloused sergeant then went on to administrative details on how Camp Alpha operated and what was expected of us. Once dismissed, we were herded to a group of hooches and told to find a bunk and settle in. One of the men in our group shouted out "363 and a wake-up then I'll be riding my freedom bird back to the world. What a fucking deal !!! It just don't get no better than this !!!"
Someone from Georgia in the group asked, "Did you hear what that retard said about about some of us not making it back home? Who the hell is he - God ???" He was immensely perturbed. Others in the group asked him to ignore the sergeant.
"That's just another hillbilly who made the army his home. You know how this fucking army is infested with his kind!" another said.
"Well, I don't give a good goddamn !" Georgia man yelled. "I'll beat his face to a bloody pulp if I come across him somewhere else and out of uniform!"
Things started to settle down in our assigned hooch when someone in our group asked "Anyone know where I can get a short timer's calendar?" Another in the group yelled back at him, "You make your own, dumbass!" That was to be the first time I would hear about the short timer's calendar.
Soldiers can be quite artistic creating their own Short Timer's calendar. The majority of them were outlines of sexy, well-endowed ladies adorned with 365 marked blocks on it. Each morning as he wakes up and just before grabbing his first beer of the day, he colors in the numbered block corresponding to the number of days he has left in-country. This continues day after day after day until he hits the coveted 99 day period. The man has finally gained Double Digit Midget status.
The Double Digit Midget has endured 266 days of combat, cases and cases of beer and countless ground, mortar and rocket attacks, but he's a survivor. There are two other stages the survivor goes through before the Freedom Bird whisks him off and back to the "Land of the big PX".1
Hitting the 30 day mark is a coveted point in the man's tour and is the time when he begins thinking "Hey, I'm gonna get through this shit !" The short timer undergoes a transformation of sorts and begins to acclimate himself drinking and cursing less and prepping himself for return to "The World". If anyone asks, "So how many more days?" his reply is certain to include phrases like "9 more days and a wakeup!" or "Hey, I think I just heard my freedom bird starting its engines!"
He achieves Self-Actualization when he hits the One Digit zone. He's pretty much useless at this point. To avoid the possibility of enemy threats and to escape the surreal world of combat intact, he won't venture anywhere outside his hooch, the enlisted club and the chow hall unless he has to. No trips to the PX. No trips to the clubs downtown. No trips to anywhere he doesn't need to go. It's an act of survival. Many a short timer lost his life in short timer status.
I've sufficiently researched the Short Timer's calendar, and it's generally agreed they were a product of the Vietnam era. Previous conflicts did not keep track of their days since the tour of duty was not fixed. It was the Vietnam era that established the tour of combat duty at 12 months. All US military personnel in Vietnam served a set tour of 13 months for marines and 12 months for soldiers, sailors and airmen.1
Few good things came out of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Thousands and thousands of good men were unnecessarily killed. We honor them by shamelessly losing the conflict they died for once politicians got involved and began directing the war with total ignorance and disregard for clear strategy and winnable goals. Sadly, perhaps the Short Timer's calendar with its Double Digit Midget component tops the list of good things coming out of the Vietnam experience.
1 The PXs in Vietnam were small and carried a limited supply of goods much unlike Stateside PXs which carried an abundunt supply and multiple choices of merchandise.
2 https://wise-answer.com/how-long-were-tours-of-duty-in-vietnam/#:~:text=All%20US%20military%20personnel%20serving%20in%20Vietnam%20during,for%20marines%2C%2012%20months%20for%20soldiers%2C%20sailors%2C%20airmen%29. .
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