I was in the Vietnam War. I went for two reasons: 1) I always wanted to sail on a big ship and 2) I would have been drafted and I wanted to serve in the Navy rather than on land or air. I became a radioman on an Oiler, the USS Ponchatoula. Our job was to refuel other ships off the coast of Vietnam. These ships included aircraft carriers from which planes flew to bomb the Vietcong. We operated day and night. At night the planes would fly with their running lights on, dive down and drop the bombs. You could see the flashes and a few seconds hear the boom-boom-boom.
I liked being in the Navy and liked the job I did. I did not drop the bombs, but without my ship (and therefore me) the rest of the fleet could not conduct operations. I was not, and am not, sorry for my Navy time.
When I got out I never talked with anyone about my Navy time because it appeared that most people did not support the war or our government’s participation in it. It didn’t seem as if people believed this war accomplished what other wars have, like WWII, Afghanistan and Iraq. I felt I would have little respect from most people for having been part of the military in the Vietnam era.
I am proud of, and thankful for, our men and women in the military. I believe their work is keeping me and my family reasonably safe.
