For many months, in training for deployment to South Vietnam, we always heard
about the 'black pajamas'. We heard about the fierce guerilla forces who were
waiting to make our life miserable. Of course we heard about the NVA, in their
green uniforms as well, but it was always 'black pajamas' that we saw in training.
A few days after arrival in country, I led my first patrol outside the wire, into a
relatively safe rural area. Within the first hour, I got the word from my scout by
sign language. "Enemy ahead". Making my way gingerly forward, I did indeed find
someone in black pajamas. A delightful young woman, pulling water up by windlass
from a deep well to tend the Pepper plantation. Yes, the guerillas wore black pajamas.
And so, it appeared, did practically every other worker in the fields and forests.
"Now look what a mess you've gotten us into, Ollie!"
This was the first black pajama "shot" I fired - with my Canon.