Arrived in Vietnam a few days after Christmas in 1966. Stationed with 69Th Signal and Stratcom at Tan Son Nhut airbase. Trained by a Chicago fellow named Pahr and became the night NCO at the Communications Site. Worked 12 hour days, and aside from some scary incidents that area was relatively “Quiet” for the whole year.
At the end of 1967, I was offered a six month “early out” if I went back to the USA for a month, returned to my Vietnam assignment for 6 more months. Said..”No way” and went back to the States for my last year at Remote Receiver site south of Ft. Leavenworth.
My decision to go home was critical, since one month later, as I arrived in Kansas at the end of January 1968, the TET offensive began. We all know how long and bloody that “surprise” was. We won the battle, but it started us on the road to losing the war.
The public and media deserted us and we felt the wrath when we tried to reenter the workforce. I couldn’t get a decent job for 18 months, even though I had nearly six years of electrical and communication background and experience.
My own countrymen punished me (along with many other GI’s) because they felt betrayed. For decades, we suffered in silence that our own people looked upon Veterans as killers and “losers.” Those “Americans” brutalized us in many ways. It took a long time for the USA to remember that we didn’t start the conflict but had to suffer the indignity of being pariahs to our own people.
I won’t ever forget how badly we were treated by folks who looked upon us as the “problem.” 99% of us were kids trying to do their best to support the Vietnamese people and our country’s goals.
We were betrayed in 1973 by our own Congress and negotiators who basically gave us away to the enemy and sacrificed not only the people of Vietnam, but left 50,000+ young Americans dead as a result.
I will always remember that time.