Oral+History+Questions+and+response

Questions: 1. What were you doing in your life before you were drafted? 2. Were you anti-Vietnam war? Or were you for the Vietnam War? 3. When you were drafted, what were your emotions about going to fight in war? 4. Were you in any offshore patrols or missions along Vietnams coastline? 5. What do you remember about the end of your time in the war? 6. Did you see or experience anything that you felt was an impact on the rest of your life? 7. What kind of effects have you noticed since the War?

Response:
 * 1) First I was not drafted I was a volunteer. I was a Naval ROTC student at the University of Wisconsin and had a scholarship that started in 1961. I was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in 1966 in the United States Marine Corps. By accepting the scholarship I was committed to four years of active duty. It was my choice to do it in the USMC
 * 2) At the time everyone had an obligation to serve. That’s why one was required to register for the draft when they turned eighteen. Most of my peers went into a reserve unit, got married, stayed in school or enlisted to get the service time completed. Some took the chance and did nothing and hoped to avoid the service altogether. I took a NROTC scholarship. So in September 1961 I was in a reserve unit and not available for the draft. In 1964 we knew that there was a conflict in South East Asia but very little was known about it at the time so I had no feelings about it one way or another.
 * 3) In 1966 the first officers that I knew were returning from their tours in Viet Nam and helped us train for the type of conflict they had experienced. We were trying to do a job of supporting the local population and suppressing the insurgents. At the time I think I was eager to do the job I was trained for. I was in a group of officers that felt the same way, so I’m sure this was not the mainstream feeling of the population.
 * 4) Yes I was. I was a bombardier navigator in A-6 attack squadron that dropped ordinance of many types in both North and South Viet Nam. One type was called seeds. Which were dropped in waterways and acted is mines to stop the flow of war materials from being brought in by boats to Viet Nam.
 * 5) I remember thinking that after I had been there a year that I was still flying missions to the same locations that I had ten months before. So I hadn’t changed anything.
 * 6) The whole experience can’t help having an impact on your life. As I look back I think I feel I was tested and don’t have to prove myself. No need to ride a motorcycle at 120 mph anymore, etc.
 * 7) For me the war was forty years ago but still seems current. The friends I made are still close friends. If anything you no longer get the weird looks when people find out you were in Viet Nam