Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ)
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In Vietnam on Artillery Hill, was a BOQ about in the center.
That dealt me much misery on my Vietnam venture.
I really hated that BOQ on my stay on that big Hill,
As it seemed like I was a slave working at the BOQ’s will.
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Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ)
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A month after I got to Artillery Hill in my soldiers attire,
An officer fell off to sleep smoking, starting a fire.
That fire burned down that BOQ clear to the ground.
With the enlisted men standing cheering all around.
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We thought it was kind of amusing our leaders were dumb,
But the next day officers moved into our hooch like bums,
Putting us in a rat infested old warehouse so bad,
Making us all the victims from the BOQ fire so sad.
Hmmmm, I wonder if one of these four officers started that fire.
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The first sergeant came and got me for a work detail,
The very next day to guard VC prisoners without fail,
But we got there too late so we had to clean the fire mess,
And then haul all the rubbish to the dump with much protest.
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At night we worked on the warehouse, building rooms,
For our own use to get a little privacy in that tomb.
So we worked 16 hours a day for the next two weeks,
Until the mess was gone and our hootch was sweet.
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I thought I finally got through with the BOQ fire crap,
But I was put on a team to rebuild that BOQ from scratch,
So that BOQ was not yet through dealing me misery,
As we ordered materials to rebuild that place completely.
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So we worked on that place during the daytime hours,
And I worked my parts job in the evening so sour.
They let me go get parts twice a week to keep us going,
At the Air Section so the helicopters would keep flowing.
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When we got the structure up and tin roof and sides done,
Three weeks later, they let me off that detail a happy one.
They finished the insides with plywood for the walls.
And painted it up nice with locking doors to the halls.
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It was a much better structure that it had been before,
So the officers moved back in putting names on the doors.
They told us we could now have our old hooch back,
But we now had a much better place to hit the sack.
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So you see now why I hated that BOQ on that hill,
As I spent a lot of time working hard on it, what a thrill.
And was displaced from my home against my own will.
Because one dumb officer burned that place like a grill.
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The new hooch we built was much closer to the air strip,
So we at least upgraded a little from that little trip.
At least those officers in the BOQ, didn’t burn it down again,
Before I left the Hill a happy dude going back home then.
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By Bill
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Thanks for reading Bachelor Officers Quarters (BOQ),
Bill