It was the 2nd half of the 60s. I was in ROTC at Texas A&I (now A&M Kingsville, wretch!) mainly to avoid getting drafted but also so that I would be an officer whenever I did get inducted which happened in August of 70 at the A&I graduation ceremony. I wasnt there, however; I was at the NSS Convention at State College Pennsylvania. I got both my diploma and my commission later in the month. I did most of my other induction processing at Ft Sam Houston, Texas but never spent the night there--mostly signing paperwork and buying uniforms. I began my active duty at Ft Gordon, Georgia at Signal Officer Basic school. There were a lot of Boot Camp sort of courses on the syllabus as well. From there I went to Ft Devens, Massachusetts for a few months of Military Intelligence Officer training--spy school. We left there in the early summer and fortuitously was able to stop in at Blacksburg for a week at the muddy NSS Convention. Fort Walters, Texas was the next stop for Helicopter Basic training and when that was completed the whole class moved on to Ft Rucker, Alabama and several more helicopter training courses--Advanced, Tactics, Instrument, etc. It was during that assignment that Phil Winkler came into the picture and we formed the Fort Rucker Ozark Grotto--F.R.O.G. Then I was off to Ft Stuart, Georgia for a fixed wing (airplane) transition then back to Rucker for a multi-engine transition and U-21 (twin-engine turboprop airplane) training. Once that was over I went to Ft Huachuca, Arizona for specific spy plane training--radio intercept. All that training had required 2 years on active duty. Some of the guys Id started Officer Basic training with had already completed a tour in Vietnam and finished 2 years of active duty and were mustering out. I was finally on orders for Vietnam, 25 months after being inducted. With all that flight training, I had incurred a 9-year obligation on active duty. During a 30-day pre-deployment leave Id accidentally broken both ear drums at an A&I Grotto beach party on Padre Island. Still, I went. After checking in at Saigon, VN, I was assigned to an MI aviation company at Hue Phu Bai (which later moved to Danang) but was grounded by an uninformed Flight Surgeon who didnt know that a broken ear drum wasnt a grounding condition. So, I didnt fly a single mission in Vietnam. After 7 weeks my ear drums hadnt healed so the doctor said we needed to get them operated on. I asked Where? Can you do that here? Well, we could have but last night somebody stole all the surgical instruments. Japan? I asked. No, he said; Where are you from? Corpus Christi, I replied. How does Ft Sam Houston sound? he asked. I can take it, I said. Will I come back here? Nope, he answered, Youre through here. I spent a few days at Brooks AMC at Ft Sam getting new ear drums grafted and something like 2 months recovering during which time I hung out in Austin with all my caving buddies and doing a little caving--very little as I had no caving gear. Finally they deemed me recovered and I was assigned to Davison Army Airfield at Ft Belvoir, Virginia flying a helicopter air-taxi job (called Priority Air Transport--PAT) for Generals and other brass out of the Pentagon. Later I moved over to the fixed-wing side of the same unit. About that time--the Vietnam war having ended--the Army declared a Reduction in Force (RIF) and offered volunteers a chance to get out. Much good caving was being done in Mexico which I was missing out on so I opted out of the Army and was discharged in March of 75, with a 1-year Reserve commitment and the flight commitments cancelled. Thus endith my time of glory in Uncle Sams service.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 03:15:04 +0000
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