The 173rd Airborne Brigade was the largest brigade in Vietnam with over 10,000 men attached to it. The troops wore what they damn well wanted to wear, including beads and bracelets. Every careerist who could weadle his way was over there drawing combat pay while citizens back home were getting bled for the bill. It wasn't that our kids didn't fight well in the field; it was just that so damn few of them ever got there.