Bolté: Fairly well, although we did have arguments occasionally. For example, at one point, the assistant division commander (ADC) of the Americal Division was offering Tho all kinds of support without my knowledge.

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VN: What kind of support?

Bolté: The ADC would respond to Colonel Tho’s request for, say, a couple of truckloads of barbed wire. However, the Vietnamese had plenty of barbed wire. Well, it was my job to make certain that my counterpart’s logistic system worked properly, and not have him bumming supplies from the Americal. Part of the problem was that some of the Vietnamese were selling all the extra supplies.

VN: On the black market?

Bolté: Yeah! Also, we had an ARVN engineer unit assigned to Tam Ky whose duties included maintaining Highway I. However, they didn’t do anything! There was a U.S. unit already doing that. Instead, this ARVN engineer unit was selling its services to the highest bidder. It was very frustrating. So…I would lean on the province chief and push him to get his people to function properly. Then, when he learned I was telling the Americal not to give him any more supplies, he got angry with me. Another part of this particular problem was the fact that the U.S. military chain of command was urging U.S. units to help the Vietnamese with supplies.

VN: There were allegations that the South Vietnamese government was riddled with corruption. How much of it did you encounter in Quang Tin province?

Bolté: It was everywhere. I had a Vietnamese assigned to me as an interpreter-driver. I discovered that when I was away, he would sell rides in my jeep. In essence, he provided a taxi service in town using my jeep! Quite a few Vietnamese officials were crooked.

VN: In your experiences, was this practice unusual?

Bolté: It was accepted. They felt that skimming 10 percent off of the top was all right. I was told once that the position of province chief cost 16,000 U.S. dollars. So if someone wanted to be one, he had to pay the Vietnamese corps commander that sum to get the job. Then, to get a return on his investment, he had to be involved in corruption somehow.

VN: Did you ever ask your counterpart if he had to pay to get his job?

Bolté: No. He probably would have laughed and told me that’s the way life is. Why else would someone want to be a province chief? It’s their way of operating. Maybe they just have it more structured than we do in this country.

VN: After nearly a year of advisory duty, you were offered the command of a unit. However, you had to extend your tour of duty six months in Vietnam. Why?

Bolté: At that time, I had spent nearly 20 years learning how to be a battalion commander. Now that my opportunity had arrived, I didn’t want to lose it. That’s why I accepted command of the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, and extended my tour. I also thought I could do a better job because of my advisory experience. Fortunately, as I have mentioned before, the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, operated in my AP. I felt I had a better understanding of the war and knew the Vietnamese in Quang Tin. When I was squadron commander, the province chief wouldn’t hesitate to call and suggest a joint operation.

VN: Maybe if other battalion commanders in South Vietnam had had the opportunities you had, it might have proved beneficial.

Bolté: If we ever had to fight a war like that again, and I was in a position of authority, that’s the first thing I’d do. Before anyone got to command a U.S. unit, I’d have him wallow around as an adviser to learn what the war was all about.

VN: What kinds of operations did you conduct with the Cav?

Bolté: The typical ops. Everyday I would send two or three platoons out on a sweep to see if the NVA were coming out of the mountains to steal rice or if we could uncover a Viet Cong operation or obtain intelligence from the villagers. They probably would have done this more often if not for these sweeps. Unfortunately, we found nothing most of the time and lost some people to mines. We had an attrition problem.

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