Juris was in the Signal Corps, his job to relay information about VC traffic on the part of the Ho Chi Minh trail that ran through Phu Bon province. By Viet Nam standards, Team 31 was a tiny operation, “but even our little ‘shot’ keeps us busy with regular radio-telephone-teletype communication. One van with the radio hookup and modulating equipment, another full of backup equipment, one secret secret little van shelter for the crypto teletype operation, and a cement floor, wooden “hootch” housing the switchboard, our living room, office, and bar. Small, but open for business round the clock as we are, keeps the seven of us hopping. Hate to think how many nights we’ve spent coddling this red-eyed monster. And if it’s not the radio, it’s the generator, and if … endless tale of woe.”
Managing the equipment, Juris quickly abandoned “by-the-book operation” for “bailing wire, Viet Nam methods”:
“The generators went off so I took a jeep to jump them. Turned out to be the major’s. I’m acquiring the reputation of an easygoing funny joker with a twinge of wild.
“Back to the wires and batteries and beeps. Beep crackle crackle to you too, you electronic slave driver. You have to talk rough to the damn thing or it won’t work right.
“Have enough static stored in my ears to last me a lifetime. I doubt if I’ll be able to tolerate anything more electrical than a light bulb for quite a while. We all started out patient and conscientious but now everybody resorts to the RM at the slightest indication of trouble. (That’s Rubber Mallet.) Very effective I might add. Really amazing what a few well placed whacks will do for this sophisticated half million dollars’ worth of gadgetry.”