WATER

While trying to keep my new trees alive the other day, I got to thinking about water.  You are probably aware that bottled water is a rather new phenomena.  It has as much to do with the advances made in plastics as anything. 

In 1966, I landed in Vietnam with our unit and we had to establish a new base.  Of course, there was not running water anywhere and bottled water didn't exist.  As we were making a plot of land suitable and filling sandbags and erecting tents, water was a problem.  We erected two wooden a-frames from which we could hang large canvas bags containing water.  The canvas bags had a spigot at the bottom which we could open to fill the metal cup of our mess kit. 

We got our water from other troops in the area.  I assume it came from a well, somewhere.  In any case, it was terrible.  We could hardly drink it at first.  After a few days, someone came up with some pills to put in it that made it a little more palatable.  Eventually, we had flavored tablets to put in our cups to make a kind of cool-ade.  I din't drink much water that year.

Now, I try to have water with me all day long.  I drink a lot of water.  That year in Vietnam,... not so much.
:-)