My VietNam Experience

I was only twenty-two years old, naive, and still green behind the ears. I had just graduated from college and was scheduled to work for this chemical laboratory in Cincinatti, Ohio. In fact the recruiter, had come down and flew me back with him and showed me around the place, I was kind of excited, young and still undecided what I wanted to do with my life. Little did I know that my life was about to change in less than six months. The day that I graduated from college, I was already on a hit list so to speak. It was 1969 and the war was still going hot and heavy in the Nam. I graduated in June 1969 and by August I was in the military. You see, in fact I was drafted as that is the way things were during that era of our nation's history.
I was playing basketball the month of June 1969 when one of my neighborhood friends was also drafted and within a month, he was sent to Fort Benning Georgia and a month later, he was in the "Nam." Sadly to say, he was killed withing a week after arriving in VietNam. Believe me, this really got my attention. It seemed during that time, everyone in my neighborhood my age or younger was being sent overseas to VietNam.
As for me, I was able to cross service or should I say I went to my local recruiter and asked, how could I swap over to the Air Force. He stated that since I had received my draft notice with a classification of "IA", this would be almost impossible to change. Anyway, he said that he would see what he could do for me. While in college, I received a "2S" deferment but the moment that I graduated, this classification reverted to a "1A." meaning that I was highly eligible for service in the Nam. About a week later, the recruiter called me back and asked me to come down to his office. I took a series of tests and the next thing that I knew, I was now in the Air Force. At that point, I believed that I had escaped VietNam. Little did I know that within six months I would be there. After finishing my basic training and advanced schooling in the Air Force, I was sent to a base in Northern Michigan called Kincheloe Air Force Base. I was not even there for a month when I received a set of orders for VietNam. So, it really made no difference which service that I enlisted in, I was destined for VietNam.
I left Michigan and was scheduled to leave out of Washington State from a military base called McChord Air Force Base. When I arrived there, I was in the presence of other Army and Air Force soldiers and airman. In fact, on the flight over to the Nam, I was seated between two Hispanic cousins who were in the army and we chatted the entire time over. We flew on a military contract flight called the "Flying Tiger" and it seemed like that plane could easily accommodate over 400-500 GI's. It was unbelievable to me that so many people could fly on any airplane.
It was an eighteen hour flight and if the GI's were not eating, talking, reading watching movies on the plane, we were sleeping. It seemed like we would never land at Cam Ranh Bay, VietNam as that was our final destination. We flew through Hawaii, Guam, Okinawa, mainland Japan, and finally to VietNam. Believe me I was exhausted by the time I arrived in VietNam.
As we disembarked from the plane, the friendly stewardesses wished all of us a farewell and would see all of us in a year's time as during that time VietNam was either a twelve or thirteen month tour.
After I had settled in VietNam, I really could feel a change coming over me. I begin to realize and feel why I was there. My entire attitude about the war changed and I begin to look at the entire situation with a more serious outlook. The sad thing about any war is that you really meet some good people in these type of conflicts. One of my best friends was French-VietNamese who could speak Vietnamese, French, and English, and may I add fluently. It is really funny because even today in 2009, I wonder if he is still alive and does he remember me. Yes, we were in a combat zone and everyday to be alive was a blessing from God. I often think of some of the close calls in VietNam that I personally experienced. One night at Cam Ranh Air Base, the sappers or viet cong had infiltrated through the wire which was called concertina wire, and had disrupted all the power on base. Imagine, at two or three a.m. in the morning hours, the base is completely pitched blacked, horns and sirens blasting throughout the night, and many of us were in our hootches or bunkers unable to see no more than a few feet from us. Believe me, that is an erie feeling. Luckily, we survived that night.
As stated earlier, I really begin to look at VietNam through a different perspective. In fact, when our commander asked us if anyone wanted to serve another tour, I was one of the first ones to volunteer. Some may called me crazy but I truly felt a sense of patriotism for my country and I would do it again, even today. In fact, I did extend another tour of duty for nine more months during the closing days of the war in 1972. And the funny thing is, each time that I returned to the United States on a 30 day leave, each "Flying Tiger" which was the name of the airlines that we flew on, seem to have another 300 or 400 new faces on board. Again, I often wonder if those two first Hispanic cousins are still alive.
There were many more "GI's" that I had befriended and likewise, I think of the same thing. Where are they? Did they make it? Are they in one piece like me or suffered some truamatic injury? I really consider myself lucky to be able to write this brief biography about my time in VietNam.