How many Vietnam Vets

  I served from 1965 to 1967, but not in  Vietnam.

 

side note,,, step daughter works for Disney On Ice, is a world traveler,, she seems to like Thialand  a lot,,

 A good friend of mine was, sadly, the first casualty in Vietnam from New Mexico. He didn't tell the truth when he volunteered while still a junior in high school at age 17 and gave his life for what he believed in. We were so caught up in the happening, a bunch of us from Artesia volunteered to the Navy fresh out of high school in May of 1965.  We were going to pay em back for Sammy.

 As it happened, I was the only'ist one out of the group that didn't make it due to failing their hearing test 4 times before the base Commander sent me back home, promising to take me a a couple of years when their standards were lowered. They classified me 4F and like he said,,in two years, they "offered" to allow me to volunteer to change to 1Y and be elgible to go,,,,I told him I was no longer interested,,,lots of mixed emotions bout that war,,,,so many innocent lives lost,,,,,,,,,,

 

I joined the Air Force Jun '60 , 4 years active and 2 years inactive, discharged June 66.

I put in for overseas duty but never got out of the grain belt region,  never did.  When I went inactive I had heard a few things in the news.  A few months after going inactive the recruiters stopped at my place of employment offering MONEY to come back,  I never did get back to them!!

 

Thank you  for your service!!! 

 

Johnson, Nixon, neither one of 'em really knew how to fight that war, and what a disaster.  But no fault of the guys like you guys who served. 

 

I'm too young to have served there.  My Dad served in the Air Force right smack in the middle of Korea and Viet Nam, so he did not see combat by luck of his timing.  But boy I know a few guys who have told me some stories.  The most amazing one is this:

 

When I was my oldest son's cub scout leader, we were using the VFW hall as our meeting place.  The president of the local VFW was the father of one of my boys.  (Yes, he was "quite old" to be a father of a kid that age)  I arrived early to set up, and I could tell something was on his mind.  What's up, I asked?

 

"I don't know how to feel about today.  38 years ago today, as I woke up, and looked to the guy sitting left of me, and the guy sitting to the right of me, little did I know that only 1 of us would be around to talk about it now.  I was at the base where the first shots of the Tet Offensive took place.  Now, how I came to be there is a little unusual.  I had served my tour and went home the summer before.  I went back to work at GM in Flint.  You kept your seniority going while you served.  Within the first week I was back at work, the supervisor decided to give me some grief over NOT taking a break.  Then hounded me the rest of the day about various BS.  I told him, I did not see your name above the door when I walked in this morning.  Looked like it said General Motors.  Same as always.  I was so mad at that idiot, I stopped at the recruiting office on the way home.  I asked the guy what it would take to get back in.  He looked up my records and said how I had only been out such a short time I could step right back into my rank and pay.  And since I'd already served a tour in Nam, I could have my pick of stations.  I told him I wanted to go back!  Go back?  Why?!  You've done your combat, you can do anything.  Because that's where my guys are, and that's where my guys need my help.  So I went back.  And stayed 4 MORE YEARS!  You shoulda seen the look on my guys' faces when I rolled into base!  Sarge, what are you doing here?!!!  I don't sleep at night much even now.  When it gets dark, I usually get up and look out the window....

Blood type OD. religion Infantry with the First Air Cav.

No desire to go back to that s*() hole.

Thanks to all that served.