1969

About the Book

A pivotal year for me was 1969. Of course that year was pivotal for the whole country. It was the year I graduated from high school and received my draft notice. It never occurred to me that I had choices about serving in the military at the time. Like a lot of citizens, college was not an option. I had neither the grades nor the financial resources for college. My only options were to take a factory job at $2.10 per hour or the Army at $93.00 per month. Both were in 1969 dollars. After receiving my draft notice I decided to enlist. Coming from a financially poor family it was my best option. At the time I didn’t understand all the protesting, free love, radicalism going on around the country. I saw the SDS, Weather underground, and Black Panthers as un-American. But then I was very patriotic as a teenager. I felt I had a responsibility to serve in the Army and to volunteer to serve in Vietnam. I was safely stationed in West Germany, where I 8 Edward Paul Heard was assigned to HHC, 507th US Army Security Agency in Augsburg, West Germany. That’s where I met my first Vietnam Veteran. It was at gashaus where a lot of GIs hungout. He made a point of telling me that he was in Vietnam. And, I remember feeling intimidated by him. He threw a stein of beer on me. I didn’t do anything about it. But the next day I volunteered for Vietnam. My military service was during the Cold War, and so I believed that I would be fighting Communism in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia. I didn’t know how naïve I was then. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t regret having served in Vietnam, but I didn’t know how much or why America was divided over the Vietnam War. I don’t question my motives for serving in Vietnam. I was righteously motivated. I didn’t know there was a big picture to consider. Little did I know then that I would spend nearly forty years stuck in 1969-1971. Yes, 1969 was a pivotal year for me. In June I had received my draft notice exactly one week after high school. I had decided to enlist though. That month I reported to Fort Jackson, South Carolina for Basic Combat Training (BCT). I was assigned to D-10-2, or D Company, 10th Battalion, 2nd Brigade. Where I spent the next eight weeks learning basic soldiering, along with 250 other trainees. It was the first time I had been a minority. There were a lot of Blacks 1969 9 from New York City, Cubans from South Florida, and Puerto Ricans from the island. I was the only one from Evansville, Indiana. Looking back I realize now that I was a country bumpkin then. We didn’t get to bed till 23:30 that first night so, it was a rude awakening when the drill sergeant turned on the lights and stood at the entrance of WWII vintage barracks banging on a trash can lid, blowing a whistle, and yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to get up. This would be the routine for about every morning of the next eight weeks. Monday through Saturday the daily routine included: Wakeup at 04:30, personal hygiene till 04:45 for fifty trainees on two floors, formation at 05:00, then breakfast till 05:30, barracks cleanup till 06:00, 06:30 a second morning formation for info, orders, and instructions, call to attention for reveille and to salute en mass the raising of the flag. At 07:00 we began training which included such things as how to wear the uniforms; how to set up the footlocker; how to make the bunk; how to line up uniforms in the wall locker; map reading; how to zero the M16 rifle; and how to throw the grenade and other basic soldiering skills. Each day included physical training and a two mile run. 10 Edward Paul Heard During the morning of our third week of training, a trainee by the name of Huffman who was from Boston, Massachusetts was singled-out by our drill sergeant for wetting his bunk. He was given a “GI Party”. He was chased around the barracks; then manhandled to the showers where he was scrubbed with wire scrub brushes. I refus

About the Author

Served eleven years in the army as a Medic in a 2nd Armor Division. Nine years in the US Foreign Service as a Communications Officer. I’m currently pursuing a Doctorate in Psychology, at Argosy University. I like to read fiction, and I like to write stories. I had lived in Germany, Panama, Venezuela, Mexico, and Iceland. I earned a Bachelors Degree in Political Science at the University of Southern Indiana.