to start a new project, do i have to have Vault

I got civil 3d 2008 and 2009 now and my IT guy didnt put vault on 2009 cause we didnt need it.

am i understanding this right? i must have Vault to start a new project

My boss has civil 3d 2006 and LDD 2005 and he is able to start a new project w/o Vault

also i notice that his C3D06 has a projects drop down menu...did autodesk get rid of that menu?

Well, Civil 3D itself doesn't really support Projects. It's true there's some project functionality in the Vault, but it comes at the price of the Vault. It's a mixed bag.

You don't need Vault, and doing without it allows you to avoid many issues and headaches. But doing without it means that you are also missing some features that many people like (in particular, the ability to resurrect drawings if things get trashed, as well as the support for Project Points). So, if you really want Vault, keep hammering your IT guy.

Even with Vault, though, support for Projects in Civil 3D is very minimal. It's one of my long-standing "rants". We don't use Vault, ourselves.