At remote fire support bases along the Cambodian border, scores of blacks have banded together to present their complaints against racial epithets and slow promotions.

Aboard the boats that sweep the Delta and on the roads that connect bases, black sailors and soldiers raise black power salutes in common recognition and often fly black flags.

In rear areas black soldiers, attracted by common music, language or hate, live when they can in all black hootches, like "The Little Ghetto" in Danang, "Hekelu" in Chu Lai, and "Hootch 8" in Cam Ranh Bay. On the walls, white pinups have been replaced by black ones; one hootch sports more than 500 such photographs. "I don't want no stringy haired beast broad with 'hidden beauty' on my wall," said one black Marine at the Little Ghetto. "Black is beauty."

Many blacks sit together in enlisted men's clubs, scorning "hillbilly" and "country and western" music, or make their way alone to smoke pot and drink beer.

In Saigon's "Soul Kitchen" black GI's greet each other over spareribs, pork chops, chittlins, grits and cornbread with more than 57 varieties of black power handshakes that may end with vowing to die for your comrade by crossing the chest Roman legion style.

One company commander leading his 1st Air Cav Division troops into the field was startled to find his black soldiers wearing black berets and shirts instead of the regulation helmets and fatigues.

Ron Karenga's Swahili-speaking "US" movement for black culture, pride and self-defense has spread to at least four Marine and Army bases in I Corps. And in Bien Hoa and Cam Ranh Bay, Black Panthers in Army uniform have circulated their party literature.

In the 1st Marine Division, Lance Cpt. Gene Johnson of Norfolk, Va., joined the Ju Ju's, a 200-member black protective (against white prejudice and intimidation) group "because the white man won't mess over us if we stick together. By acting in unity we can make our protest much stronger." Lance Cpl. Roddie Latimer of Washington, D.C., joined the Mau

Mau's, a sister group of similar size and philosophy begun by blacks in the same division. "Whites think we're starting some sort of black power movement," explained Latimer, "or plotting some kind of riot. But if you're not tight with the brothers [blacks] in the 'Nam, you can't get over. We want them [whites] to know that we are definitely together. Mess with one of us, and you mess with all of us."

And in Danang, black Marines have designed a flag for black soldiers in Vietnam. A red background symbolizes blood shed by blacks in the war and in race conflict in America. A black foreground represents the face of black culture. At the center are crossed spears and shield, meaning "violence if necessary," surrounded by a wreath, symbolizing "peace if possible." The flag bears a legend in Swahili, meaning "My fear is for you."

So not surprisingly, 76 per cent of the black soldiers insist on being called "black" or "Afro-American," rejecting the traditional white label, Negro, which only six per cent accept.

The heroes of the black soldiers today are drawn from among the most militant black spokesmen. Eldridge Cleaver receives the approval of 72 per cent; Malcolm X, 70 per cent, and Cassius Clay, 69 per cent. Edward Brooke, the only black U.S. Senator, draws the approval of less than half; black sailors refer to him as an "Oreo"-a cookie, black on the outside, white on the inside. Another moderate, Roy Wilkins, received only 53 per cent backing. The NAACP leader, highly popular with Whitney Young among the black soldiers of 1967, is roundly criticized today for condemning the black studies movement. "I dig the militant brothers," said Jessup. "Nonviolence didn't do anything but get Martin Luther King killed." Young drew the support of 51 per cent.

Nearly 59 per cent of the black GIs said they preferred to eat with blacks only; 60 per cent wanted to live in all black hootches or barracks, and 57 per cent believe that they would be better off in all-black fighting units or an entirely black military.

At the "Little Ghetto," Doby explained his preference for self-imposed segregated living. "It's like you're at home," he said. "You can do your thing and be yourself. You can't-talk and act natural when you're around the beast."

There may be one color-Army or Marine Corps green-in the foxhole, but there are two worlds when the races relax. During off-duty hours 56 per cent of he black GI's seek out other blacks; on liberty and R and R trips, even more travel only with blacks. One in five blacks said he depised whites, and only 17 per cent counted whites among their best friends.