Individual regiments and battalions developed their own off-duty amenities, some of which, even in deployed infantry units, were extensive. The 2d Bat�talion, 1st Marines, south of Da Nang, described its troop services in language reminiscent of a resort ad�vertisement:
The Enlisted Club has a large outdoor theater which fea�tures nightly movies and weekly floor shows. An outstand�ing beach on the South China Sea with facilities for parties is very popular, A lifeguard is on duty and swimming is per�mitted at noon and late afternoon on a daily basis. In addi�tion to nightly movies. Special Services provides a weight room, a well stocked reading room and a wide assortment of athletic equipment. Commercial services in the cantonment include a Marine Corps Exchange, laundry, photo shop, and gift shop. Camp Lauer, the battalion headquarters can�tonment, has an efficient mess hall which provides three hot meals to approximately 600 men on a daily basis.'112
Ground combat units, however, found very little time or opportunity to cycle units to the rear for recre�ation even as redeployment approached. "During my stay (at Camp Lauer) we were far too busy to utilize much recreation," recalled Lieutenant Colonel William V. H. White, commander of 2d Battalion, 1st Marines, "but during low threat periods we did bring individual platoons from the rifle companies to get a little rest and time on the beach."113
The clubs and other recreational facilities, exten�sive as they were, only partially alleviated the discom�fort and boredom of life in often crowded cantonments in a tropical climate. For units in remote or outlying Marine positions, for example at Chu Lai, the ameni�ties were much less elaborate. In many commands, reductions in military activity increased the burden on spare-time amusement facilities to, and in some cases beyond, capacity.
To meet the troops' religious needs, each III MAF battalion or larger organization had one or more Navy chaplains. These hard-working men, besides holding regular worship services in the cantonments, used ev�ery opportunity to carry religious support to Marines in the field- In the 7th Marines, according to Colonel Edmund G. Derning. Jr., "on Sunday afternoon, my whole command and control helicopter package went to the chaplains, and I wanted to see the plan where they made every effort to get out to every . . . unit and hold something .... It's just symbolic. It's what you stand for." Chaplains conducted Bible classes, re�ligious retreats, and discussion groups. They counseled troubled Marines and visited the wounded and sick in the hospitals and prisoners in the brig. They played a major part in the civic action and personal response programs, as well as assuming much of the burden of teaching race relations seminars and drug abuse classes.*114
Each Marine had the chance to take at least one week of "Rest and Recreation" (R&R) outside the coun�try during his Vietnam tour. Under a program ad�ministered by MACV, regularly scheduled military flights left Da Nang each month for Hong Kong, Bangkok, Okinawa, Manila, Tokyo, Taipei, Sydney, and Honolulu. The division, wing, and FLC received monthly allocations of seats on these flights. Through the Special Services officers of their G-l staffs, the major commands apportioned seats among their subordinate units in proportion to their manpower strength. Individual Marines could apply to their unit commanders for particular R&R cities and dates. The units distributed the available leave on the basts of their own internal policies, usually giving Marines longest in Vietnam preference among dates and places. Commands occasionally used extra R&R as a perfor�mance award. During early 1971, for example, the 1st Marine Division offered a "mini-R&R" to Hong Kong or Bangkok to any man who uncovered a Communist rocket.115
Marines bound for or returning from R&R passed through the III MAF R&R Processing Center, part of the larger III MAF Transient Facility. Operated by the Headquarters and Service Battalion, 1st FSR, the Tran�sient Facility was located near Freedom Hill. Navy Sea-bees had completed its construction early in 1969. The facility included two terminal buildings, a mess hall, and Southeast Asia huts and barracks for temporary housing of Marines awaiting transportation to R&R, as well as those joining or leaving III MAF. Each month, the R&R portion of the transient facility accommodated over 10, 000 men from all American commands in I Corps. Ill MAP operated the facility until 1 July 1970, when USARV took it over as part of the Army assumption of common service support.116
Ill MAF and the 1st Marine Division provided ad�ditional R&R opportunities within Vietnam. All officers and men were eligible for three-day rest peri�ods at the III MAF China Beach R&R Center. Each quarter, organizations received quotas for China Beach, as they did for overseas R&R, and distributed them according to unit internal policies. A Marine us�ing China Beach retained his right to a trip outside Vietnam. The China Beach facility, located in East Da
*For a detailed account of Navy chaplains with III MAP, see Bergsma. Chaplains with Marines in Vietnam.
