1C  U.S. ARMY QUICK SUMMARY 1965-1970.

My military adventure began on 5 August 1965, when I was inducted into the Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey. This first stage of my training lasted for nine weeks and covered the basic requirements for a soldier to survive in the US Army. I breezed through basic training, but since I had been drafted, I had no idea what additional training I would eventually receive, or whether Vietnam was in my future. During the last week of basic training, the entire company was called together and informed that all draftees were going to Advanced Infantry Training (AIT) and Vietnam. After the meeting, four of us were pulled out of formation and offered an opportunity to avoid Vietnam and get any schooling for which we had an aptitude.
Plus, we got to pick our base assignment (what a deal!).
All we had to do was go Regular Army for four years (uh, oh).
When offered the Avionics School at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and Germany, I took the bait. It turned out that the Army wasn’t bluffing, as my whole class wound up going to Infantry AIT.
I spent the next six months training on Army Avionic systems. The classes at Fort Gordon were extremely intense, and the students actually had to mentally tear the radio schematics apart and then analyze the circuits while troubleshooting them. This was the highest level of aircraft electronics schooling available in the Army, and it had an equally high dropout rate.
Upon completion of avionic schooling, I had an eighteen-month assignment with the 3rd Infantry Division in Germany, where I ran a fourth-echelon repair shop. The shop managed all major repairs that might be needed on an aircraft radio. If we couldn’t fix the radio, it was shipped back to the factory for repair. Very few radios were shipped back, due to the cumulative skillset of our technicians, plus their mindset—nobody accepted failure.
During this period, I was promoted to E-5.
Even though I enjoyed my time and mission in Germany, I wanted to move on to another challenge. I sent a request for either Airborne or Ranger training and was told there were no slots available in my battalion. I also found out I had a critical military occupational specialty (MOS) and was not eligible for the combat arms. The only other way around this was to apply to Officer Candidate School (OCS), and then to Airborne or Ranger school. If I got accepted into OCS, a vacation in Vietnam was mandatory.
I thought about OCS for another three months before I sent in the paperwork. After more tests and two officer review boards, I was accepted into the OCS program. My critical MOS was to haunt me again, for when the Army review board noticed all the schooling that went into my electronics training, they stipulated that I could only attend Signal OCS. I was initially disappointed with my options, as I still wanted to attend Airborne or Ranger training after OCS, but it was either Signal OCS or stay in the safe haven of Germany with little chance of promotion
I chose the challenge of a warzone.
After a one-month leave, I set off for Fort Gordon, Georgia, to attend six months of OCS. Once I was commissioned a second lieutenant, it was off again to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, for another three months of advanced officer training. My final assignment before deployment to Vietnam was as a platoon leader with the 2nd Armor Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
My flight to Vietnam left from Oakland, with refueling stops in Hawaii, Wake Island, and Okinawa. I arrived in Vietnam on January 5, 1969, at Tan Son Nhat airport, surprisingly cool.
My first three months were spent inside a small cyclone fenced-in area located inside an old French Fort in Tay Ninh East. The fort was built during the First Indochina War out of red brick and the walls were at least two feet thick. It usually housed anywhere from 300-500 Vietnamese Special Forces, Popular Forces, and CIDG troops. My team had anywhere from five to ten men, depending on the missions. During my time in the fort, I had no idea what our true mission was there. In theory, we were a small detachment from the 25th Infantry Division on an intelligence gathering mission. I am now convinced that we were part of a clandestine mission called the Phoenix Program and run by the CIA in Tay Ninh East. Overall, I spent three months in the fort until the Viet Cong blew up the ammo dump and destroyed the compound.
My next assignment on Nui Ba Den turned out to be the ultimate military adventure for me. I was placed in a once-in-a-lifetime assignment with almost unlimited power if I wanted it. My primary job was signal officer, but my other job as executive officer for the Nui Ba Den Provisional Company was where I had a free hand in about any project, I felt was important for the security of the mountain. Major Campbell, the commanding officer, had absolute trust in me and gave me his approval for all my projects. Everything I did was to increase the mountain security and our safety. I had fifteen different Army units, including A-324, 5th SF, US Air Force, and two Vietnamese relay teams on the mountain top.
The Sapper attack was the high point of my time in Vietnam. It gave me the opportunity to assess my combat skills and prove to myself that I could lead men in combat. I lost four brave men during the attack, but the Vietcong failed in their attempt to destroy our signal complex, and not a single Army signal unit went offline that night.
After six months on Nui Ba Den and three months in Tay Ninh East, brigade had decided that I had spent enough time in the field and brought me back to Tay Ninh Base Camp to function as the Assistant First Brigade Signal Officer. The assignment was a staff job with low stress and no challenges, but I did get to attend the daily combat briefings for my area of Vietnam. The only danger was avoiding the daily mortar and rocket attacks. Luckily, the Vietcong would usually fire only one or two rounds a day. The last three months went quickly and before I knew it, I was on that freedom bird heading back to the States.
THIS SUMMARY IS JUST A QUICK OVERVIEW OF MY YEAR IN VIETNAM. THE STORIES BEGINNING WITH 1D DESCRIBE IN DETAIL THE EVENTS THAT I ENCOUNTERED DURING MY YEAR IN VIETNAM