Tink Nathan’s tale of PHC serving as a “Green Beret Officer” in Vietnam is chronologically impossible. First, he would need to be commissioned as a 2LT. The quickest route would be OCS which would take at least 3 months. Next he would have to attend Infantry Officer Basic at Ft Benning GA, which is another 3 months. I know because I went through IOBC in 1970. Next would be Jump School at Benning, another 3 weeks. Next would be Special Forces training which takes a minimum of 3 months. Last but not least would be Jungle School in Panama for an additional 3 weeks. Each of these training components would require PHC to wait for the next available class to open up before he could attend, and they had to be completed in the sequence I’ve described. The Army wouldn’t invest all the time and money to train a young officer without at least a 3 or 4 year commitment. PHC just didn’t have the time to have gone through all the necessary training and still live the fascinating life he lived as a writer and PH.
