Steel Pot

Curt Stocker began smoking pot in October of 1966, more than a year before he went to Vietnam. In fact, the rumor about the incredible superiority of Vietnamese pot was the only positive aspect about his pending tour. Upon being drafted in 1967, Curt enlisted for an extra year, in order to secure a position in Armed Forces Radio. The plan was to further his broadcasting career, while guaranteeing that he would never be in the infantry. He was totally shocked, however, to be assigned to Psychological Operations, (PSYOPS) in the position of "Foreign Language Announcer". He objected on the grounds that he did not speak Vietnamese, only to discover he was to serve as an "Advisor", to the Vietnamese soldiers, who would be making the actual "announcements": Thus, Curt found himself embedded in the South Vietnamese Infantry, (ARVN) in the Mekong Delta, in June of 1968. The "announcements" happened once the Viet Cong were pinned down and loudspeakers were brought up and appeals were made for them to "surrender or die!" A far cry from "Good morning Vietnam"! Curt Stocker wrote this memoir to depict the unavoidable violence and tragedy of war and to also share a firsthand account of the GI marijuana subculture, birthed by the Vietnamese experience, and the impact it has on our lives today.