July 8, 1970

Hi,

It is about 1:15 in the morning and I am on the mid-watch, so not much happening right now.  Glad all the slides that I have been sending to you all have been getting there.  I should have some more coming back this Friday from the trip down to Thoung Thoi and the softball game.  Not many people play softball in Vietnam do they.

Last night the Viet Cong mined the Krishna, a ARL like us, while she was anchored in the river. It blew a hole 17ft long in it's side.  Only one guy was killed as result of the explosion. He was in a boat tied up along side.  A few weeks ago the YRBM-16, which is about a half mile south of us, found a mine about the size of those big electric wire spools that Bud Young has.  It was found floating in the river.  We have look-outs posted at night that use starlight scopes to see anything moving in the river.  You can see in the dark with them and everything looks green.  We use shotguns to shoot at anything floating in the river.  Hand grenades are also thrown into the river to kill any enemy swimmers.  We are getting messages from Saigon reminding us to keep on the look-out for possible enemy mining attempts.

Have you found a battery the size of the one I sent home. I got the packages OK and drank some of the Kool-Aid awhile ago.

Well that is about it for now, we have another mail call tomorrow so I'll be seeing you all then.

                                                                                                     Love Bruce

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