This audio is an oral history interview conducted by The Army Heritage Center Foundation to preserve the memories of Soldiers’ and their Families, honor their service, and help educate the American public about the Army’s and its Soldiers’ contributions to the Nation.
“”I wasn’t afraid to die. I was afraid of dying stupid.”
Joe Boslet – US Army, Silver Spring Township
A college graduate with a degree in engineering, Joe hoped that by enlisting he could get into military intelligence. Willing to serve, he hoped he could avoid going to Vietnam.
The Army sent Joe for 16 weeks of counter-intelligence training, but when they sent him to the Defense Language -Institute to learn Vietnamese, he knew the game was up. They also promoted him to sergeant and offered him the chance to attend Officers Candidate School. He declined.
“I’d rather be a smart sergeant than a dumb lieutenant,” he says. “I didn’t know enough to be an officer in the infantry, which is where I would have ended up. I didn’t want to be responsible for other people’s lives in a place where bad decisions could get someone killed.”
Joe flew into Saigon in October 1970. “We arrived about 30 minutes after a rocket attack and saw all this smoke and confusion, and I thought ‘Holy cow, what am I doing here?'”
(Read more stories from this veteran and others at: Voices of Service )