When we received the news from President Johnson in late July of '65 that the 1st Cav would go to Vietnam there was a flurry of activity among the wives to get the men packed up. At that time the Army had no camouflage insignia or underwear so our great concern was dying their underwear (two forest green to one black was the standard formula we came down on - I know the Chattahooche river [sic] ran green for months) - inking out the white name tag and the gold U.S. Army on their fatigue shirts.
This led to a flurry of activity among the wives upon receiving news from President Johnson in late July 1965 that the 1st Cav would be deployed to Vietnam, as they scrambled to prepare the men for departure. The main issue at hand was the lack of camouflage insignia and underwear, which prompted our primary concern: dyeing their underwear (following a standard formula of two forest green dyes per one black) - also inking out white name tags and gold U.S. Army logos on fatigue shirts.