Cacti Power

by Vaughn Brauer
1967

Cacti Power

Vaugn Brauer

B 2/35th

I served as the XO of B Co 2/35th Inf Jan-May 1967. At that time, the 3rd Brigade was still in there own base camp and had not moved over to Camp Enari. One of my duties was to periodically accompany the brigade supply convey to the coast and back. In addition to the normal resupply we had requested, we always had a scrounge list of items we couldn't get thru normal channels. One item that was always on that list was generators. We never had enough generators to provide the power the brigade base camp needed. On one such trip, while the S4 was supervising the loading of our normal supplies, the rest of us were given copies of the list and told to wander around the supply depot and see what we could find. As we were assembling for the return trip to Pleiku, an enterprising young PFC came in driving a 5 Ton Tractor. He was pulling a huge diesel generator permanently attached to a 25 foot trailer. I don't recall how many KWs it was but it looked big enough to power the entire base camp. The S4 took one look at it, gave the PFC a big attaboy and told him to take it back to where he found it. As he said, It's just too damn big to hide.