being a vet

When I was 18 they still had the draft system and I knew I did not want to sit and wait to get drafted. I knew the military was not going to be easy but one thing for sure I just wanted to get in and out and get on with the rest of my life. I never had a clue how that choice was going to chnage the rest of my life forever. I joined the army because it was a 3 year gig and all of the rest were 4 and 3 years of my life was enough for me to give up. Besides I was 18 and had nothing better to do. What do you do when you are out of high school and don't have any cash for education? I knew the party as over for me and it was time to make some choices. I did not have a clue what was going on in the world I just joined and the army told me I could be a helicopter mechanic and to me that was a cool job. Little did I know that job was going to take me half way around the world to a place I never even heard of called South Viet Nam. ( French indochina ) When I got off that plane in Siagon I thought I was going to die from the heat. It was about 10:00 PM and at least 100 degrees. I had never been to a third world country before and that is when I found out what poor was all about. People were living in grass houses and happy to have them. Others lived in a house that was made out of anyhing that they could get their hands on. People did back breaking work for a few pennies a day so they could have food. I was a PFC making about $120 a month and I felt wealthy next to these people that had nothing. I knew I was in a bad place and it didn't take a genius to figure out when you have nothing you have nothing to loose. Poverty made the Viet Cong a very tough foe. They had nothing to loose and everything to gain. My group did just as much flying as any other in that country and we saw a lot of action but God had to be with us because we lost so few boys. Most of the guys like my self were just kids out of school and 90% of them were under 22 years of age. Even the piolets were young guys I think most of them were under 25 and yes a few older but not many. When I got back to the states I could not quit thinking about the hard reality of the military that most of the men were boys out of school putting their life on the line because that was what their job was. I had it good doing what I did most of my war was in the air, and the Viet Cong were lousy duck hunters. Don't let this fool you at all because on the ground they were on their own turf and were proficent killers. Once I was out of the army I did find my self in a VA Hospital and got to see first hand how good the Viet Cong were at getting men out of the field. I saw young boys missing most of their body parts some had all of them gone others were missing arms and some legs but one thing that they all had in common was they were all boys. When I left that place I cried all of the way home and to this day I cry when I think about them and what they lost. That was my biggest fear when I was in Viet Nam not to die. To me to die was nothing next to living the rest of my life with out arms and legs. These boys are the real heros they gave up a lot and suffered a long time. Think about this the next time you get some mail from the disabled vets. They did not ask for this fate they were boys like me they had a choice join the army now or get drafted later on but you are going to go one way or the other. God is good he has watched over me all my life.