Taking my chances with the draft after our graduation, I earned my master’s degree in Mineral Engineering at Stanford and was offered a job in Australia with Duval Corporation an American mining company. However, my lottery number was 76, and I was ticketed for Vietnam service. Duval assured me of future employment, and briefly they put me to work in Vancouver, BC, before my Army enlistment (rather than being drafted) as a Soils Analyst. Following basic training at Ft Dix in early 1971, I finished advanced training at Ft Belvoir, as a Specialist (E-4) before an assignment in the Central Highlands (a region of old tea plantations) at Camp Smith with the 554th Engineer Battalion.
We were tasked with building and paving an old French road, QL-20 to DaLat as a community pacification project. Our main goal was to do our job as well as possible under less-than-ideal conditions, keep our heads down and as safe as possible, and to return to the World and our families. We relied on Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) infantry troops for protection, a discomforting situation at best. The night made it clear to us that we were in a war zone. Rifle and mortar fire in the hills and fields around us occurred on a regular basis. All of us kept our loaded weapons near our beds in case the action got too close; and frequently, we were summoned to the perimeter. It was hard to walk across Camp Smith without stepping on and crushing small green plastic vials containing heroin. The guys that succumb to addiction were mostly young, poorly educated, and easily swayed by peer pressure. In February 1972, we began standing down. I went home in March. I completed my obligation for nearly two more years at Ft Meade, MD and at Ft Knox KY and with training trips for Reserve and Guard units.
As a Vietnam vet, I almost felt like I walked into a closet and closed the door behind me. Over the next forty-five plus years, I slowly became prouder that I served my country when asked. I have an AZ veterans license plate on my car and a Vietnam veteran decal on my rear window.
I also hoped our government learned a lesson from the long stalemate in Vietnam; but that hope has faded with our government’s adventures in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other areas where unconventional warfare rages and where we do not understand the complexities of their history, culture, social structures, or religious beliefs.