Viet Nam 1968-1969
Purgatory
Leaving the World & Headed for Hell

When I enter college in September of 1962 the foundations of what was to become the Viet Nam war were being laid in South East Asia. The United States had "military and political advisors" on the ground through out South East Asia. In September 1962 I was self indulgent, neither aware of what was going on in the world around me nor how it would come to affect the rest of my life. 

I slowly ground my way through college classes with no vision of what I desired to do with my life. Working weekends and unmotivated by school I managed to keep my grades barely adequate to stay in school. After two year and two quarters of playing at community college I transferred to Central Washington State College (now Central Washington University) in the spring of 1965. Soon the far away country of Viet Nam was being discussed amongst fellow students. By the fall of 1966 I finally became aware that our country was in some sort of "conflict" in Asia. 

Sometime during 1966 my friend Stan, who had quite school was drafted into the Marines. Soon Stan was shipped off to Viet Nam where within months he would be seriously wounded and sent home. When I visited him in the Bremerton Naval Hospital I had no idea that the "Draft Board" would soon be looking for me; after all I was a college student. By the fall of 1966 I was ordered to take the Armed Forces Pre-induction Physical. Still with the sense that I had a college deferment I worried not about the military. 

When I was in high school I had a serious motorcycle accident that fractured my skull, broke my ear drum and caused a permanent hearing loss in one ear. I was told at that time that I should avoid loud noises as it could further damage my hearing. I deluded myself into thinking that the hearing loss would keep me out of the military plus I had a college deferment until I graduated. Armed with a letter from my doctor I informed the induction center of my health issues. 

The military up to 1966 would not draft students or married men. Since I was in school I was not concerned about the military. As the war progressed and the demand for men expanded the induction centers changed the rules on deferments. They were now inducting married men that had no children and informing college students that they must "stay up with their class", in other words be headed toward graduation within four years. Since I was dragging my feet in school I was now nearly a year behind my class. 

The ArmForces Induction Center disregarded my doctor's letters and during the spring of 1967 order me for induction into the Army on June 7, 1967. I contacted the Induction Center and informed them that I would graduate from college on June 10 and requested an extension for my draft date. They granted the delay but soon sent me another induction notice. I was now feeling the heat of war in my head and chose to bring my medical situation to the attention of the draft board by contacting my local congressman who ordered an investigation consisting of the Induction Center sending me to two civilian physicians who examine my hearing and the skull fracture I had received in the accident years earlier. 

The doctor that examined me concurred that I did in fact have a hearing loss and should not be exposed to load noises but that the condition was not serious enough to keep me out of the military but stating that I would not be assigned a military job where I would be exposed to noise that could further damage my hearing. Several months passed and I was ordered to report for induction on March 3, 1968 I was inducted and transported to Ft. Lewis WA for basic training. 

Upon completing basic training I assumed I would be sent to finance school or clerk’s school or someplace where my degree in business administration would be utilized. I was informed that my military occupation was to be "Light Weapons" and was sent to Advanced Infantry School at Ft. Lewis. Our training was mostly on 81MM mortars in addition to 50 Cal machine guns and light anti tank weapons. It did not take a PhD to realize that I would soon be tanning is South East Asia. I made one last attempt of playing the hearing card; visiting the base chaplain who had me sent to have another hearing examination. I was then told that I did have a hearing problem and would be given a medical profile to keep my away form loud noise but that I would have to wait to get to my permanent duty station to request the profile, no question where that would be.

Upon completion of Infantry School I was given 30 days leave and ordered to Vietnam. On about July 24^th I boarded a Flying Tiger passenger flight to Binh Hoa Vietnam via Anchorage Alaska, and Tokyo Japan. We landed in Binh Hoa into a hot humid smelling environment that scared hell out of all of us. We all walked apprehensively into an unknown environment, herded like sweating animals onto a bus to be transported to the reception center where we would anxiously wait for two days while our fate was determined by clerks or chance where we would hopefully spend our next 365 days until DROS (date for rotation overseas) unless sent home in a body bag or on a medical transport.

I was trapped like a caged animal, taunted by those who wheeled power over me; go there, do this, wash pots and pans, take this paper and get on that plane you are going someplace else, “where?”. “You will know when you get there”. We flew through the night tangled amongst our brothers in green lying on the floor of a C130 military transport. Regardless of rank we lay in a slumbering mass as the green beast droned though the night taking us to some other unknown cage of hell. The C130 spiraled into a hole in the valley to Ahn Ka; 1^st Air Calvary Division base camp. Again we would be pushed like animals to the next proceeding station, where we would wash more pots and pans and speculate with our fellows as to what was next. We would drink beer and hear the horror stories of those that had been there for days, weeks or months before us. Hear of the death and sweat of Bong Song, see GIs carrying their belongings in a sandbag, dirty sweaty young boys living like animals trying to act like men, telling stories to put fear in to us FNGs (experlative new guys).

The next day we are “processed”, given equipment to include an M16 and told we would be leaving for Camp Evans the next day for specialized division training. We drink more beer; wash more posts and pans and prophecies on our next assignment. The next morning 25 of us were loaded up a ramp onto a Caribou twin engine fixed wing aircraft to climb out of the hole in the valley off to Camp Evans, we felt certain that now we had M16s and steel helmets we would be fighting our way off the air plane. We were surprised to land at a tent city where we spent three days playing war games and drinking more beer if we could find it.

Now the little boys were finished playing army and we were headed for war shuttled off to LZ (landing zone) Jane the 2/12^th battalion rear area where we were treated well by soldiers who had looked into the eyes of battle. We spend a fearful first night doing guard duty in a dirt and sandbag bunker certain we would be killed by morning. Tomorrow is the big day; we join company C 2/12 1^st Calvary Division Airmobile.

We were sinking ever lower into the haze of war; we had been trained, flown on large civilian passenger planes with seat and flight attendants to the stench of Viet Nam, stacked like cord wood in a transport, shuttled in a twin engine, hauled in a Chinook helicopter now headed out in a Huey helicopter every transport getting smaller, each base camp more austere every step of the way more full of fear. With the sense of a skydiver with an unopened chute falling accelerating ever faster to earth we, now with live ammunition in our M16s were headed for the real thing.