Well, my only claim is to volunteer during Vietnam and I ended up serving the Cold War in the middle if the US in the Underground SAC Headquarters. Vietnam had a large impact on my psyche. I used to feel guilty that I did not serve in country but an old gentleman from WWII once asked me what I did and found that I volunteered and he said I did my duty. That was true because once in you had little choice where you were sent. That brought me some comfort. I never went anywhere during Vietnam due to my specialty and served two tours.
And the country owes you a debt. I got tails, you got heads. I wished I got heads too, don't ever feel guilty, you should only have pride in your service.
I served 63-69,never left our native shore,Ft. Dix,Belvoir and Devens while on active duty, then Camp Drum for active reserves.
9-52 thru 55 U.S Army Airborne. I got lucky. To start off, I was the only man in my basic training company whose medical records were lost. My basic training unit went to Korea but I stayed on at Fort Knox as Cadre till they got the glitch in my records straightened out and the military doesn't do things like that quickly. Finally came Jump School and when that was over it was the summer of 1953 and the fighting in Korea had ended. My only overseas duty was Bepu, Kyushu, Japan with the 187th RCT.
Active duty USAF Cannon AFB, NM 1989-1994 F-111 avionics Texas ANG 1994-1999 F-16 avionics Never went overseas. My son is currently active duty USAF. He has been to Qatar twice and has orders for South Korea soon. He is stationed in Kansas currently.
U.S. Navy Submarine Service from '57 to '60. Once in the Med the "Lebanon Crisis" of 1958 broke out and we were ordered to patrol the eastern waters of the Mediterranean Sea. It took us most of one day to arm a torpedo. When tensions broke out in Lebanon in 1958 the U.S. was asked to intervene which we did.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nimble_Archer, and subsequent Kuwaiti tanker reflagging/escort missions. Was also in the USS Missouri task force in Operation Desert Shield. They gave me an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal. I lost it. It might be up in my mom's attic, but I'm too lazy to look for it. I was the ship's pilot rescue swimmer, and, while we were in the gulf, I got hazardous duty pay(HDP), and hostile fire pay(HFP). It was like an extra hundred bucks a month. Woohoo! Righteous bucks. I spent it all in the blink of an eye when we hit Australia.
USMC 1969 - 1971 In-country June 69 - July 70. MOS 0849 Shore Fire Control Party Man (Air & Naval GunFire Platoon) 1/13 TAD with 1/26 Sub Unit One 1st ANGLICO 5th Mar Amphib Berg 70-71 Camp Pendleton
Vietnam 1970 Gia le/Camp Eagle Complex, Camp JJ Carol support unit for 108th hvy field artillery group.
