A Us Airman’s Experience in the Vietnam Era

Robert A. Crothers

Description

Story about a love from high school and lost while serving in the military.
Reading his book took me back to a time and place when I served in the military. He brought back those humorous times during basic training.
He talks about how Lila encouraged him to study hard and progress forward to be the best while serving his country.
He describes his first long flight from Travis Air Force Base to his final destination of Clark Air Base, Philippines, and the 463rd OMS. Warm and enriching memories of those he trained with and those who taught him.
Some of the stories he writes about being in Vietnam are humor-filled, such as when he became a Captain to order in-flight meals for his crew chiefs. Others brought on a sense of sadness from the loss of a friend.
His first sapper attack, how they sent him out to look for trip grenades in his aircraft. He and his good friend from Lynn, Massachusetts, barely missed being hit by a mortar, leaving the flight line. Hearing him say how the warning siren would always go off after the attack, you knew you were safe, was humorous.
A must-read book and a different look at a conflict that had no end in sight in 1968.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Memorias (Katsuhiro Otomo)
• Biography
• Air Force
• Memories
• Experience
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: iUniverse
• Date de parution: 21 janvier 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781663216434
• Langue: English

Extrait

A US AIRMAN’S EXPERIENCE IN THE VIETNAM ERA
 

 
UNFORGOTTEN MEMORIES OF SERVICE AND ROMANCE
 
 
 
ROBERT A. CROTHERS
 
 

 
A US AIRMAN’S EXPERIENCE IN THE VIETNAM ERA
UNFORGOTTEN MEMORIES OF SERVICE AND ROMANCE
 
Copyright © 2021 Robert A. Crothers.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
 
iUniverse
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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6632-1642-7 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6632-1643-4 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021900494
 
iUniverse rev. date: 03/01/2023
CONTENTS
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter 1Selecting a Branch of Service
Chapter 2Air Force Tech School
Chapter 3Heading Home from Tech School
Chapter 4Blind date
Chapter 5Ice Capades
Chapter 6Hugo’s Lighthouse
Chapter 7Nantasket Beach
Chapter 8Departure to San Francisco
Chapter 9San Francisco
Chapter 10Flight to Guam and the Philippines
Chapter 11Clark Air Base Philippines
Chapter 12Letters from Home
Chapter 13Engine-Run School
Chapter 14TDY to Vietnam
Chapter 15Stories from the Philippines and Vietnam
Chapter 16Herky Hill is under attack
Chapter 17Sapper Attack
Chapter 18Death of a Friend
Chapter 19Tracers
Chapter 20Leaving the Philippines
Chapter 21San Francisco to Boston
Chapter 22Leaving Pease AFB
About the Author
DEDICATION
My entry into the Air Force would not have been possible without the help of our family doctor, Doc Whiting. He had compassion for me when I told him I failed the entrance exam because of iron deficiency. With his caring and empathy and knowing that I wanted to be part of the military, Doc made it possible for me to pass that second entrance medical exam. He gave me the secret to changing my iron output. With that, I passed the AFEES entrance physical and was able to join the Air Force.
A successful start to my military career could not have happened without the help of all those Crew Chiefs stationed at Clark Air Base. To all who have seen hundreds of A1Cs (new tech school graduates) coming in as your replacements. And to the senior NCOs who had to devise a plan to get us qualified in less time than usual. You ensured we were taught the aircraft and all its quirks, along with those tricks to keep the plane in flying condition.
I want to recognize and thank all involved with training me while I was stationed at Clark. Especially Sgt Steadman, my first trainer upon my arrival and assigned to his aircraft that first day on the flightline. Once my training was complete, Sgt. Steadman took me to Vietnam as his assistant crew chief to learn how to be a crew chief.
When Sgt. Steadman rotated back to the world, Sgt. Fiske took over. It was Sgt. Fiske brought me to a new level of becoming a lead flightline crew chief.
And my tour wouldn’t have been successful without the help of Technical Sergeant Huckabee and his constant encouragement with his ongoing counseling on the benefits of applying myself to my profession. He and Sgt Fiske’s motivation changed my outlook towards the military and my career from a very immature airman to a more responsible airman. It was TSgt. Huckabee assigned me more responsibility for jobs given to more senior and experienced crew chiefs. He saw in me that I was a capable and qualified A1C to become a quality crew chief needed on the flightline. It was exciting when TSgt Huckabee assigned me to 349 jobs that would have gone to a more senior rank. My changes in attitude, learning, and outlook got me selected to attend an engine-run school. Even after he saw me write a letter using aircraft form 781A. His lecture on using aircraft forms did not deter his decision to send me to engine-run school. I had just six months of experience and completed my upgrade training to five-level maintenance mechanic.
Technical Sergeant Haines, you taught me the management of the flightline and people during one of my TDYs to Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam. TSgt. Haines brought me under his leadership as his expeditor driver. He taught me to manage our assigned aircraft and their personnel. The timing was essential, ensuring that each aircraft with its ground crew would complete its maintenance requirements. Flight crews would have a plane they could count on for their mission. Complete fuel and maintenance on time to prevent a canceled mission. Additional help from the crew chief lounge to assist those who needed assistance. And the recognition and pride (Professional Results in Daily Effort) towards the on-time C-130B launch. This allowed the flight crews to do their job within their duty time. Our planes must supply forces in the field. Whether we were bringing troops to the battles or returning from fighting and their needed supplies. At times, returning soldiers, sick, injured, or who lost their lives doing their job, were brought back. Returning them to Cam Rahn and then sent hospitals or their homes and loved ones.
INTRODUCTION
Soon after graduating high school, I enlisted in the United States Air Force. It was the only thing I wanted to do while I was in high school. I wanted more out of life than what college could have offered had I been college material. I wanted to travel, excitement, and a career, and the military would bring all that to me.
I needed structure in my life as well. Home life provided no structure in being ready to enter the workforce. I needed training in a specialty that would lead me to more than just a job. I wanted a career following my enlistment. Something that would give me a good life, enabling me to support a family someday. Whether it be the Air Force, Army, Navy, or maybe even the Marine Corps, the military was the way for me to receive that training that could put me on a path to a promising career.
1968 The D raft
Though the Selective Service System as we know it today was not in use, the United States has used conscription systems (draft) since the Revolutionary War era. Conscription was used in World War I, with the draft mechanism in both instances being dissolved at the end of hostilities. In 1940, before U.S. entry into World War II, the first peacetime draft in our nation’s history was enacted in response to increased world tension. The system was able to fill wartime manpower needs smoothly and rapidly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the war’s end, the draft law was allowed to expire. Still, it was reenacted less than two years later to maintain necessary military manpower levels due to the Cold War.
U.S. presence in Vietnam expanded with increasing intensity. The Selective Service encountered protests about unfair deferments fueled by anti-war sentiment. The Selective Service provided 20% of the men in uniform during the Vietnam War. Total # inducted: 1,857,304 The last man inducted entered the Army on June 30, 1973.
About two-thirds of American troops volunteered during the Vietnam War, which was never declared war. The rest were selected for military service through the draft. At the beginning of the Vietnam Conflict, the Selective Service System collected the names of all American men of the draft age. When someone’s name was called, he had to report to his local draft board, comprised of various community members. They would then evaluate his draft status. Therefore, local draft boards had enormous power to decide who had to go and who would stay. Members of these boards were often pressured by their families and those with wealth and power to potentially exempt draftees.
Most of us that became U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guard, and marines were registered with our local hometown draft board. During our war, as we put it, the Vietnam Conflict, we were primarily men from poor and working-class families. We were young men who would not get a college deferment, nor did we have a political connection or a family doctor that could give us a medical deferment.
American forces in Vietnam broke down into 55% working-class, 25% percent poor, and 20% middle-class. Many of us came from rural towns and farming communities. Congress authorized troop deployment to Vietnam, but because it, being congress, did not issue a declaration of war on North Vietnam or the Viet Cong, the Vietnam War was technically not considered a war to us in the United States. It was also, by some, known as the Second Indochina War. In Vietnam, it was known as the American WarThe day Vietnam fell was April 30 th , 1975.
Draft lotteries were conducted during 1970, 1971, and 1972. With the Paris Peace Accords signed on January 27, 1973, thanks to Operation Linebacker II, active U.S. involvement in Vietnam ended. And the draft saw the last men conscripted on December 7, 1972. The Selective service system continued to assign draft priority numbers in March from 1973-75 in case the draft was extended, although it never was.
In 1977, on his first day in office, then