Buddha Buddy

1969.  He was an Air Intelligence technician on a one-year assignment to U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.  His job… constructing strike kits for B-52 bombers.  The targets were in Viet Nam and, as would later be revealed, Nixon-ordered Cambodia.  It was basically artsy-craftsy work but demanded precision and double checking at every point.  

One task was to draw radar predictions that would accurately reflect the terrain depicted on topographical maps.  This was to give the navigator a preview of what to expect during the bomb run as he would see it along a certain axis of attack.  Another was to build strike charts that were custom foldouts of topographical maps that also followed the axis of attack or strike route. 

There were typically a couple of sets of charts, one for the high level approach and one for the low level bomb run.  The low level charts were prepared on close scale maps and included the radar predictions.  Rapidograph pens were used to plot the planned course of the bomber during the run.  Course and target information were also plotted on the charts.  He worked steady ten hour shifts, 6 days on and 3 days off.

The base was, and still is situated right on the Gulf of Siam.  Among other things, it had its own beach, an outdoor theater near the beach and several busy clubs including one for Officers, NCOs and a USO.  Early on, he found the USO and became addicted to its first class stateside-type hamburgers and malts.  Those became his favorite staples.  He also discovered the game of double deck, four-handed pinochle and it was played tough in that club.  Most of the players were black and they brought a lot of passion to the game.  They had a way of slamming their cards on the table to take a trick that displayed plenty of emotion. It could be intimidating to a newcomer.  He learned the game in that environment. At first he took some relentless criticism for his rookie mistakes but then, over time he learned the nuances of bidding cues, counting cards and playing out the suits.  He also learned the fist-slamming play of a card expected to take the trick.

About half way through his one-year tour, he got a part-time job running a small team of Thai workers at a warehouse on base.  The warehouse was stocked with food, drinks and other items for the Officer and NCO clubs.  Each day, they would fill orders for delivery to the clubs.  The Thais were good natured, hard workers so the warehouse job turned out to be a pretty good way to pass some of the time the one year tour entailed.  Like him, one of the Thai workers was in his early 20’s.  The Thai had a fine sense of humor and they became fast friends.  Their jokes suffered from their limited grasp of each other’s language but they somehow got the point across.  He learned his new friend had a wife, two children and was an ex kick boxer. 

Once, the boxer invited him to have dinner at home with his family. He accepted and found himself in a small Thai village.  It was mostly one room bamboo huts constructed on stilts.  At his friends hut, he met the family and they had a good meal of kao pad (fried rice).  At one point, he asked his friend if he planned to have more children.  The boxer’s response was, “No money for one more mouth to feed.”

Soon after, he invited the boxer to bring his wife and join him for a movie at the base outdoor theater.  His friend accepted and they all spent an evening enjoying a movie and refreshments consisting of popcorn, beer, sodas and candy… the works. At one point, his friend was so overwhelmed with the evening he leaned over and gave him a Thai kiss (hawm kaem) on the cheek.  This act is a traditional, nose on cheek sniff and can be quite startling if you haven’t heard of it or seen it and he hadn’t.  He had learned some of the cultural “don’ts” like not touching another’s head and not pointing the bottom of your foot at another but he had not yet learned any of the “do’s”.

Eventually, the time came for him to leave the warehouse job and prepare to return home to America.  When learning of this, the boxer became uncharacteristically solemn and presented him with a traditional gold looking chain that had a tiny, antique Buddha encased in a small plastic bubble.  These were as common in Thailand as rosaries are among Catholics and meant just as much to the natives. 

This photo of the American and his wife was taken a few months after he returned from Thailand.  He is wearing the Buddha and chain.

Almost thirty years later, he would include the Buddha among the amulets he attached to his motorcycle jacket so good fortune would ride with him.  It did… and has for over ten years since. 

(For more on biker good luck charms, look for a chapter “Of Amulets and Things” from “Badass, The Harley Davidson Experience” on this blog: http://harleyandme.blogspot.com/)