I graduated from High School in 1965 and tried to stay out of it by enrolling in Junior college and getting a student deferment. By the time I finished my Associates degree in the summer of 67 the war wasn't over, it was intensifying. One of my High School buddies got out of the draft by pigging out and gaining over 50 lbs to put himself over the weight limit. Rather than go that route I transferred up to the University of Florida and started on my Bachelor's degree.
That didn’t work either. I graduated from there at the end of the 1969 summer term (Aug. 30, 1969) and was re-classified 1-A the following month. So I would be subject to being drafted in November of 1969. But then on Sep. 19th 1969 Nixon cancelled draft calls for November and December. Those were scheduled to be 32,000 in November and another 18,000 in December. 50,000 in all. And beginning in January of 1970 the draft calls would be done according to a lottery. So I breathed a little sigh of relief. I was safe until January of 1970. And then I had a chance of avoiding the draft if I got a high lottery number.
But not so fast. Nixon then decided that the 25,000 that were to be drafted in October would instead be spread over the 3 months of October, November, and December. So on November 3rd 1969 I got my “Order to report for induction” from my local draft board. The date that I was supposed to be inducted was November 24, 1969. I had checked into other options like the Reserves, the National Guard, and the Coast Guard but they all had long waiting lists of other would be draft dodgers ahead of me.
I had already passed my pre-induction physical with flying colors and was classified prime 1-A cannon fodder. I figured my best chances of fulfilling my “Military Obligation” without getting killed lay with either the Air Force or the Navy and of the two I decided to go with the Air Force.
I had already been talking to the local Air Force recruiter and taken their tests and been told that I was qualified for any job the Air Force had. Any enlisted job that is. They already had all the officers they could use so my college degree in Geography wasn’t any help. Pilot was open but my 20/400 vision without my glasses ruled that out. And besides that the chances of being shot down and stuck in a North Vietnamese prison would not have appealed to me even if I had had 20/20 vision.
So when that letter from my draft board arrived I beat it on down to the local Air Force recruiter who I had already been talking to and said “get me out of this!” And he said “Sure kid. Just sign up for 4 years with us and I’ll tell your local draft board that they can’t have you because you belong to us” So that’s what I did. I suppose that meant that my draft board had to move down to the next poor schmuck on their list but better him than me.
Still trying to delay the inevitable as much as possible I signed up for what they called the 120 day delayed enlistment plan. And I had them make it effective starting November 23rd, 1969. One day before I was to be inducted. That way I figured I wouldn’t go on active duty until somewhere late in March of 1970.
But around the middle of February the recruited sent me a letter say to come see him ASAP because I was going in on the 20th of February. What I found out was that the 120 day delayed enlistment meant “up to 120 days or whenever it was convenient to the Air Force which in my case was 88 days.
So on Feb. 20th, 1970, I was on my way to basic training at Lackland AFB. in Texas. After that it was Tech school at Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls Texas, then a 30 day leave and on the McCord AFB Washington to catch a plane to Vietnam. So on August 20th, 1970 with 6 months in the Air
Force and one stripe on my sleeve I found myself assigned as a Medical Service Specialist to the 483rd USAF Hospital at Cam Rahn Bay Airbase.
What's really ironic is that on Dec.1, 1969, less than a month after I had been drafted the first draft lottery was drawn and my number was 298. If Nixon hadn't decided to spread October's draft call over the 3 months of October, November, and December, or If I had been somehow able to delay my re-classification to I-A for just two more months I would have never been called up. Oh well. Now that's it's over, I'm glad to be able to say I am a Vietnam Veteran. What is really disgusting to me is that it is estimated that 4 out of 5 people who claim to be Vietnam Veterans today never set foot in Vietnam. Many of them never even served in the Military.
I guess we all have a similar story. For us Vietnam was kind of like the Tale of Two Cities, the best and worst of things. We had been married just a few years with me in college and my pretty wife making a home for us. I was fortunate to have a reasonable income along with going to school. We had purchased our first home and were excited about sharing it with family and friends, along with hoping for our first child. Then I got a letter from the draft board.
Admittedly I had let my grades slip becoming more focused on the good life we had started. Long story short I was able to delay my induction long enough to settle our affairs, sold our house and one car. I moved my pregnant wife back closer to her parents and reported for duty.
Started out with basic training in the army at Ft. Campbell then went on to Ft. Sill for artillery training; gaining a new born son in the middle of that. I got orders to go to Korea and breathed a sigh of relief, until the night before a two week leave and new orders sending me to Vietnam. I had a brief 10 day introduction to my little boy and then boarded a series of planes and processing that took me to Southeast Asia.
With my artillery training I was posted with the Fourth Infantry Division in II Corp or the central highlands. Looked like I was going to work in fire direction control with a 155 self propelled battery. With the death of one of the forward observers that quickly changed and I found myself assigned as a new forward observer calling in fire for infantry units. Went out on a chopper and hit the bush for 5-7 days at a time then back in to a basecamp for 2-3 days. Most of those months were in Cambodia or right on the border.
I made the choice to extend my tour by 30 days so I would get discharged a DEROS. The the 4th Div was ordered back to the states and I floated from one unit to another up until my last 30 days. Because I was getting short and pretty weary because of all the bush time I was a little relieved to be sent down south to Phan Rang till I would go home. Like all of us guys I was anxious to get back to the world and nervous right up until I got on that freedom bird.
So that was the worst of days, then once again I entered into the world of best of days. I got back into school and updated my major from a general business curriculum to an Accounting major and set my sights on putting our life back together. The GI bill played a big part in that and led me to a pretty good start. Coming out of school I went to work as a cost accountant with Union Carbide.
We had another son, and it was clear to me that I had to move up the ladder to provide for a growing family. My good fortune in those years allowed me to keep moving up and we were very fortunate to have a good income a happy family life and settled into the post war atmosphere. I buried most of the Vietnam experiences and weighed those things down with a career and family.
After working for 40 years I retired. I had reached my goals of being a corporate CFO, our children were grown and settled into their lives. I told my wife I was ready to put it all behind me and retire. I busied myself at first by doing things I had put off on our farm for years, but after a few months I ran out of things on that todo list. We traveled, went to Alaska, Hawaii, Bahamas, and a number of other places we had on a bucket list.
Being bored I looked for a part time job. We didn't need the money that much, but we needed to put some routine back in our life. I landed with an auto auction as a driver of cars through their process of preparation and selling. I only worked 3 days a week and basically could get off work at the drop of a hat, but I met some guys that were something like me. One of them was a career accountant, several were vets same as me, but mostly we were a group that shared some values and life experiences. One of them had lost a teen age son to an auto accident the same as we had.
My wife became ill and experienced very serious heart surgery. I quit my part time job and occupied my time helping her with the issues her health brought to house. So once again we changed the focus of our daily life again. We downsized our housing, leased our farm and moved into a smaller home that was better suited for to oldies dealing with a slower lifestyle, And that is where we are today. That encompasses about a fifty year chapter of our life. I'm now hoping to start volunteering one or two days a week at a Veterans Administration medical center and once again changing our daily routine but allowing us the freedom to enjoy what we enjoy and keep our family interactions in the forefront of our life.
