My father is the veteran of choice, although he did not serve his time in actual combat, he had to protect the nation from the very threatening USSR. He chose to enroll himself in hopes of having more control over his destination, and avoid the Vietnam War. His plan worked despite all of things going on during his term of June 1966-July 1969.
Q: What were your first reactions when you arrived at your basic training post?.
A: I left for basic training from the county airport on my first plane ride in an overcrowded and noisy DC-7 4-engine propeller plane. It was quite an adventure, both scary and exciting. I was at a distribution center on Paris Island, Georgia and luckily, I was sent to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky because Paris Island was a Marine training camp. However, when I got there at first it felt as if I was entering Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
Q: What was basic training like in the army?.
A: As I feared, the people in charge were very angry, mean, and forceful when dealing with the new recruits. It was their job to make you fear them as they forced you to do hard work, exercise, learn aggressive skills and develop a mindset that you are not an individual. You were now a solider who could survive combat because you could stay alive and learn in a tough, dirty, disciplined prison that run by both sadist, strong, and talented officers. In the end you learned to endure, shoot a gun, and follow stupid orders that could even lead to your death. .
Q: How did you end up in Europe?.
A: I signed up for a drafting school, that they had to send me to so when I broke my foot in basic training. When I was healing, I missed my orders to go to Vietnam. My school was in Ft Behioir, Virginia, south of Washington D.C. By now, I was very unhappy with the military and discipline aspects of the Army so I applied for a job at the training facility; where the drafting school was located. They wanted me to work there and after 4 weeks of processing papers, I was accepted.
