{"id":6875,"date":"2021-11-17T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-17T14:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6875"},"modified":"2025-06-27T16:08:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:08:43","slug":"getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/11\/17\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting to the Bottom of the Bottle of Drambuie, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"nnPHd6Jcx7\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/10\/18\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-i\/\">Getting to the Bottom of the Bottle of Drambuie, Part I<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Getting to the Bottom of the Bottle of Drambuie, Part I&#8221; &#8212; University Times\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/10\/18\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-i\/embed\/#?secret=KqRbntf7yk#?secret=nnPHd6Jcx7\" data-secret=\"nnPHd6Jcx7\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOh,\u201d he said he remembers saying. \u201cThis really isn\u2019t a good place to be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><b>The First Nights<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe went to the reception center at Bien Hoa,\u201d Rod said. \u201cAll they had was tents and they didn\u2019t have sandbag walls on the outsides of these tents or anything. They were still working on that. But they had double-decker bunks.\u201d He began to try to settle in for the night and make the best with what he had. \u201cThat night,\u201d he said, \u201cthey had blown up the ammo dump down the road and that concussion had just about thrown me off the bunk onto the ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6876\" style=\"width: 268px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/11\/17\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-ii\/rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-vitenam\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6876\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6876\" class=\" wp-image-6876\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-713x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"258\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-713x1024.jpg 713w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-768x1103.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-1069x1536.jpg 1069w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-1426x2048.jpg 1426w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-1200x1724.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-cleaning-his-weapon-while-on-active-duty-in-Vitenam.-scaled.jpg 1782w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 258px) 100vw, 258px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6876\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rod cleaning his weapon while on active duty in Vietnam.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe didn\u2019t know what the hell to do,\u201d Rod explained.\u00a0 \u201cWe didn\u2019t have bunkers, we didn\u2019t have holes, we didn\u2019t have any place to get into. So we just kind of stayed low because there was sort of a sand wall.\u201d The concussion of the blast was startling enough, but the weary feelings regarding the unknown felt worse. \u201cThey weren\u2019t right around us per se,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t\u2014 it was the unknown. I had no weapon, no ammunition. All we had was, \u2018Holy shit, where the hell are we?\u2019\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cAnyways, I got through it,\u201d he said, shrugging. \u201cThe next day, I was able to get a hold of the unit I was going to. I called them up and said listen here, they blew this place up the other night, I don\u2019t have a gun, I got nothing. You guys got to come down here and get me or I\u2019m going to grab a plane and go home.\u201d Rod said he was not joking. \u201cThey came down that afternoon,\u201d he said, \u201con the third day, with the chopper, and picked me and two other guys up and took us to the fire base.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><b>His Darkest Day<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cOur base camp,\u201d Rod said, \u201cBlackhorse base camp was named Blackhorse base camp because of the 11<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Armored Calvary Regiment. The 11<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Armored Calve is known as the Blackhorse Regiment. My unit, the 27<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Engineers, helped build that base camp. At some point in there, after I had been in there for a little bit, Colonel Patton, the regimental commander for the 11<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Armored Calve\u2026. Colonel Patton was also the son of General Patton, World War II history. But he was regimental commander and he decided that we were going to start pulling a lot more ambush patrols around base.\u201d Rod shifted in his chair. \u201cMy unit was going to be one of the ones participating,\u201d he said, dully. \u201cI took out the first ambush patrol for the battalion and trained. Then we started pulling pretty regular ambush patrols.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rod was 20 years old by the time he was moved from that company to another, continuing to lead ambush patrols. Ambush patrols were a disruption tactic used by American soldiers with the objective to find the enemy and prevent them from attacking first. \u201cI was with a company that had a young guy that kept asking me about going on patrols,\u201d he said. \u201cHe wanted to go on patrols. He was 17 years old. I kept denying, turning it down.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--nextpage--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The young man was persistent, though, returning to Rod after turning 18 in Vietnam. \u201cI had been doing it four, five, six months probably,\u201d Rod said, shrugging his shoulders and pausing. \u201cI guess the kid finally wore me down.\u201d Rod\u2019s whole body shifted in his seat as he sniffled to himself. \u201cHe had his 18<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> birthday two weeks before I took him out with me on that patrol,\u201d he said, his tone shaky. \u201cHe died that night and I never got over it.\u201d He paused before he spoke again. \u201cThey had to send the calve out,\u201d Rod remembered, silently enduring the memory. \u201cThey had a reaction force that had to come out when you got in trouble\u2014APCs that came out.\u201d Armored calvary assault vehicles, also known as APCs or ACAVs, came to help Rod and his fellow ambush patrol men. \u201cSo, the ready reaction force came out,\u201d he said, \u201cand we got things finished and came back in. I think I was a mess after.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After returning to camp, Rod\u2019s commanding officer told Rod that the commanding officer would go ahead to the morgue himself and confirm the fallen soldier\u2019s ID. \u201cI said no, he\u2019s my guy,\u201d Rod said. \u201cRodger Eckstein, 18 years old\u2014 two weeks. Then I went back to the company and the sergeants grabbed me and took me to a tent because they had been around the block a few times, I guess.\u201d The tent revealed a bar cart. His sergeant poured him a drink: Drambuie.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Standing up from the interview, Rod walked over to his refrigerator. He retrieved a round, dark-colored glass bottle and set it down on his kitchen table.\u00a0 \u201cEvery time I take a drink of Drambuie\u2026,\u201d he stated. \u201cWhenever I\u2019m out in the woods\u2014 I\u2019m out in the woods a lot by myself nowadays\u2014that stuff never goes away from you.\u201d Looking at the bottle sitting before him, he said, \u201cNot ever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><b>A Not So Happy Homecoming<\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6878\" style=\"width: 213px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/11\/17\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-ii\/home-on-leave-rod-with-his-brother-craig-and-their-father\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6878\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6878\" class=\" wp-image-6878\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2021\/11\/Home-on-leave-Rod-with-his-brother-Craig-and-their-father.-594x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Home-on-leave-Rod-with-his-brother-Craig-and-their-father.-594x1024.jpg 594w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Home-on-leave-Rod-with-his-brother-Craig-and-their-father.-174x300.jpg 174w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Home-on-leave-Rod-with-his-brother-Craig-and-their-father.-768x1323.jpg 768w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Home-on-leave-Rod-with-his-brother-Craig-and-their-father..jpg 818w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 203px) 100vw, 203px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6878\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Home on leave- Rod with his brother Craig and their father.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Returning home, Rod faced caustic comments from many strangers. The Vietnam War was a heavily followed news story for many years and people formed their own opinions. He was not alone, though. Throughout the country, returning veterans were sometimes greeted with frigid welcomes. \u201cComing back to the United States,\u201d he started. \u201cYeah, it was good to be back. But anyplace outside of a military base, it pretty much sucked. I didn\u2019t want to come back to the United States. I put my papers in for another tour.\u201d His battalion commander rejected his request and told him he needed to get out of the jungle for a bit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Realizing his hope to remain overseas would not materialize, Rod looked for glimmers of hope. \u201cThe only bright spot was seeing my folks and seeing Theresa,\u201d he said. \u201cAnything else, I could care less about.\u201d Rod and his late wife, Theresa, met when the two were teenagers in Maine. The two wrote letters while Rod was overseas. When home on leave, Rod made an effort to visit her. After returning home, the two were married. \u201cI had a long period of adjustment you might say,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat was it like? Well, took Theresa for me to overcome a lot of stuff. Without her, I probably wouldn\u2019t be here now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6877\" style=\"width: 239px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2021\/11\/17\/getting-to-the-bottom-of-the-bottle-of-drambuie-part-ii\/rod-and-theresa-on-their-wedding-day\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6877\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6877\" class=\" wp-image-6877\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/27\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--737x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"229\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--737x1024.jpeg 737w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--216x300.jpeg 216w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--768x1067.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--1106x1536.jpeg 1106w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--1474x2048.jpeg 1474w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--1200x1667.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2021\/11\/Rod-and-Theresa-on-their-wedding-day.--scaled.jpeg 1843w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 229px) 100vw, 229px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-6877\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rod and Theresa on their wedding day.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Rod took a long moment to think and then finally leaned forward in his chair. With his elbows resting on the table and fingers interlaced, a very serious look came over him. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing good about war in any shape or form,\u201d Rod stated. \u201cIf you\u2019re not prepared to see things through, you shouldn\u2019t start one.\u201d His beliefs are firm. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to get involved in the war,\u201d he said, \u201cyou go in there full bore. You go in there, you kick ass and take names. If you\u2019re going to have a war, go to war. There is nothing nice about it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting to the Bottom of the Bottle of Drambuie, Part I \u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOh,\u201d he said he remembers saying. \u201cThis really isn\u2019t a good place to be.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0The First Nights \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe went to the reception center at Bien Hoa,\u201d Rod said. \u201cAll they had was tents and they didn\u2019t have sandbag walls on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6875"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6875\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8227,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6875\/revisions\/8227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}