have hearing loss. Mastering these complicated and delicate international arrangements, EUD accomplished a large and complex construction program, especially during the 1980s. Most of all, Army bands will strive to honor General George Washington's observation, "Nothing is more agreeable and ornamental than good music. I was able to get into a band there. TCDD, the toxic substance in Agent Orange, may be inhaled as an aerosol or ingested by contaminated food or water or from hand-to-mouth transfer. As my husband likes to preach: expectation management.. Deploy network infrastructure faster and easier than ever before, with pre-packaged yet massively scalable infrastructure components for top packet and optical systems. At least in our case. Veterans (including some Reservists) who state that they flew on or worked on a C-123 aircraft between 1969 and 1986 are eligible for the Agent Orange Registry. When we graduated we lined up in front of a building that you entered one at a time on one side and after getting your paper work you exited out the other side. David Hollander produced the compilation. I thought, hot dog, going to go relic hunting. The guys with the beer with hot food and hot showers, Appy said. If I am sad about anything Vietnam-war, it is how other global players view that period of history when compared to the American perspective. May 31, 2017 in MILITARY HISTORY DISCUSSIONS. To make it even more complicated, just what is a combat veteran? He attributed it to where he happened to be standing in a formation. An official website of the United States government, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters Website, About the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Headquarters Website, Historical Vignette 105 - Engineers Played an Important Role in Europe During the Cold War, Deactivated Nuclear Power Plant Program (DNPPP), Regional Environmental and Energy Offices REEOs, Industry Information Re: COVID-19 Support, Strategic Sustainability Performance Plans, Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Humphreys Engineer Center Support Activity, G-1 Reserve Component Augmentation, Office of Human Resources Directorate, Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. One of the toughest parts of service was seeing people whose lives were ruined or lost because of the war, he said. Boy, I thought I had it made, Shkurti said with a small laugh. Their lot was really rugged, Lomperis said. 7th Army in particular suffered heavily, especially with loses of combat arms NCOs Then He was with the 3rd Infantry Division in Schweinfurt. It was a huge fire. 1. Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy urges more effective air defense, Ukraine: Russia continues to target civilian sites, Ukraine's counteroffensive: Goals, opportunities, risks. They wore dirty boots and dog tags hanging around their necks. The U.S. has had personnel stationed in Germany and South Korea, two of its military allies, for several decades, yet the number of active-duty troops in each country is at a modern low. Many veterans struggled with feeling that their experience didnt measure up. VA decides these claims on a case-by-case basis. While having a positive attitude about any PCS is important, its equally important to have realistic expectations. Back at home over the decades, veterans themselves may have helped camouflage the roles they played during the war. So there was a great need for personnel outside South Vietnam through out the entire period, and the refusal to mobilize the Reserves and National Guard only exacerbated the problem. Combat veterans offered a truly unique and special contribution to the war, but that doesnt mean it wasnt a sacrifice for people who served as support, Lair said. After the defeat of Germany, the relatively small American force in Europe was preoccupied with the administration and reconstruction of their former foe. When I left Korea, the first thing I did when I got to Germany was to find Special Services, which happened to be right next to my barracks," Hitt recalls. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc). Vietnam has come to symbolize certain things that arent necessarily true. A rare photo of East of Underground in performance. You made a deal in Saigon, and the car arrived in Lawrence, Kansas, said Lomperis, who bought himself a $30 radio cassette player during the war, brought it home and kept it until about 2000. There were more prostitutes than bureaucrats, and every kind of club and bar from high-class to low-class. Here are a few of their stories. No matter where veterans served in Vietnam, they were a close witness to danger. The U.S. military presence in Germany peaked at 274,119 in 1962, nearly eight times its level last year. In the late 65 through 1966, the Army Divisions outside of Vietnam, specifically CONUS and West Germany were hemorrhaging personnel for service in South Vietnam, these being primarily if not exclusively volunteers, these numbers had to be made good. They wore fatigues and carried M16s. During the war, these men felt like they were part of the military endeavor, but its not what the public celebrates. They were selected during something called "The U.S. Army's Original Magnificent Special Services Entertainment Showband Contest" let's just call it a battle of the bands. In-depth strategy and insight into critical interconnection ecosystems, datacenter connectivity, product optimization, fiber route development, and more. Upon graduating they lined us and announced that if your last name started with A through J your orders were Germany and K through Z your orders were Vietnam. They worked in intelligence. Country western music blared all over Saigon, Lomperis said. Regardless of how we each served, part of our soul was left in that place with those who never came back alive, and with those who suffered and died after, and we should be honored for our collective loss if for no other reason. The US Army employed 17,000 American civilians in Germany in 2019. The King of Rock 'n' Roll, as Elvis Presley would eventually become known, was drafted in as a soldier and began his military service in Germany in 1958. Soldiers bought goods with their ration cards, which were punched when purchases were made, Lair said. Powered by Invision Community, Vietnam Era Draftees Stationed in W.Germany, South Korea, and CONUS, US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY. The question became: When will someone tell what my war was like? Lair said. I served at the naval hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts, for 18 months. 5) Venice, Italy. Huge streams of paperwork came through military intelligence offices that allowed Lomperis a birds eye view of the war and how it functioned. The fatigues were faded and had rips. The family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where they have been for the past 40 years. You had no say in what your MOS would be. In retirement he wrote Soldiering On in a Dying War focusing on the Vietnam drawdown and The Ohio State University in the Sixties.. In 1972 Thornton enlisted in the U.S. Navy at 17 and trained to be a hospital corpsman. The cover of East of Underground's self-titled LP. Napoleon said, An army marches on its stomach, and the U.S. military followed his advice. HMD found that Reservists who served as flight crew (pilot, navigator, flight engineer, and loadmaster), ground maintenance crew, and aero-medical personnel had regular contact with the aircraft, and would have experienced some exposure to chemicals from herbicide residue. Most of his time was spent protecting government buildings from Vietnam War protesters. Today, he cautions people not to draw quick lessons from the war. Six out of seven served on bases. 3. The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Adopting a variety of organizational arrangements, including an engineer command from 1966 to 1974, USAREUR and its engineers attempted to find the most efficient and effective means to use the scarce resources available for construction and maintenance. Well, one. Engineers and USACE remained in Europe, still proud of their contribution to defending Western Europe and ending the Cold War. We had an Infantry MOS Soldiers on one of our Sheridan Tanks. It's also a mystery what happened to the bands apart from Lewis Hitt, none of the members have come forward. "I met the singers and the other players and we got together and played, and it just kind of all meshed together.". I volunteered for the draft and was sent to Ft. Lewis, Wa. I say 16 months because his orders were involuntarily extended because he was in the ROK when the USS Pueblo was taken. At the end of his service, Shkurti was an executive officer with the 6th Armored Cavalry at Fort Meade, Maryland. would have to use the scheduled bus service to get around the base, Lair wrote in Armed with Abundance.. German Chancellor Gerhard Schrder, knowing the majority of voters supported him, ruled out Germany's involvement. Some Air Force Reservists who were crew members on C-123 Provider aircraft, formerly used to spray Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, have raised health concerns about exposure to residual amounts of herbicides on plane surfaces. The winners toured other military bases and made records. When they got home they were all the same (veterans), but they did not all have an equal experience. In their spare time, servicepeople could go to the library, join a service club or take a spin on the go-kart track. Opposition to the war made military personnel band together. Active duty personnel who served in a regular USAF unit location where a contaminated C-123 was assigned who had regular contact with the aircraft through flight, ground, or medical duties between 1969 and 1986, and who developed an Agent Orange related disability. We served honorably. Despite separate residential districts, there has always been contact and exchange between German and American families. If you call it wrong, thousands of people could end up being killed, he said. visit VeteransCrisisLine.net for more resources. Instead of breaking them up, Army brass sent them on tour. The American military presence in Germany began at the end of World War II. Lomperis served two tours of duty in Vietnam in the Army and Defense Intelligence Agency. She served me milk and cookies, and we have been together now for 44 years, Thornton said. That was where I met my wife. 9) Luxembourg and child care facility in Bad Kreuznach, West Germany (right). East of Underground was one such band a multiracial, seven-piece group stationed in Germany at the tail end of the Vietnam War. Being a noncombatant doesnt mean they didnt feel scared, that there wasnt a looming sense of danger even onthe biggest bases that were considered safer areas, Lair said. Brutal tactics were the norm during the Vietnam War, and no one suffered more than the Vietnamese themselves, both in the North and the South. These facilities supported the large American and NATO forces stationed for almost fifty years on the front lines of the conflict between East and West, ready to confront a Soviet invasion. Especially from the minority groups, our black comrades, because they bore the brunt of the draft, were very unappreciated, and made the ultimate sacrifice above and beyond other groups, and for what? Thornton said. Those recordings were lost for decades, until a collector discovered an East of Underground LP in 1997. You could watch The Beverly Hillbillies, Appy said. They would tell him not to go down certain streets because it wasnt safe, so you would know something was brewing there, Lomperis said. According to the report, from 1972 to 1982, approximately 1,500 to 2,100 Air Force Reserve personnel trained and worked on C-123 aircraft that previously had been used to spray herbicides, including Agent Orange, in Vietnam. They were touted as filling an important gap in NATO's deterrent shield against the Warsaw Pact. They left their families to fight in a war that wasnt popular. The enemy was the Soviet Union and the other signatories of the Warsaw Pact, including the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany. Hitt says he had already been in one Army band by the time he joined the group. Additionally, not all Vietnam-era veterans served in-country. Thornton returned to school later in life and is now finishing his doctorate in business administration in the field of cross-cultural competency and conflict management. The US soldiers also brought American culture to Germany. Drug abuse, overdoses, crime and traffic accidents led to several deaths within his unit. One of the biggest lessons Dr. They also ate pretty well. Is it just the guy with the gun? So he was off to Camp Casey and the 9th Infantry Manchu's for 16 months, I was in the same unit a couple of decades after him. His unit lost more men to overdose and traffic accidents in Germany than to combat in Vietnam. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide,
He was awarded the U.S. Veterans must show on a factual basis that they were exposed in order to receive disability compensation for diseases related to Agent Orange exposure. For the next 17 years the Europe Division of the Corps executed the Army and Air Force construction programs in Europe and supported the NATO construction program. Some 20 years later, US President George W. Bush went to war with Iraq over its alleged program to develop weapons of mass destruction. Find out if you qualify for VA health care. His unit in Germany lacked the leadership and necessities to get their job done, he said. Over the years the US Army has become firmly entrenched in the German landscape. WebActivated during the Vietnam War, the Brigade oversaw all Military Police operations in the country for a large portion of the conflict, undertaking a wide variety of missions throughout the country and providing command and control for other military police groups in the region. The high rate may have been attributed to our being an Infantry MOS, but the only way you didn't go to Vietnam was because of the above reasons. I was in Boston when the Chelsea fire occurred in October 1973, received a meritorious unit citation for fighting the fire that consumed a large portion of Chelsea 18 blocks one way, 16 blocks another. I know that was very dependent upon where you called home, but that was my reality, Thornton said. Both Germany and Vietnam were on the front lines of the Cold War. In November Thornton journeyed to Da-Nang, Vietnam, with his wife as a keynote presenter at the Asia Pacific Mediation Forum. During World War 2 Volunteering for the draft was a common term, that is that after a point enlistment in the Army was halted for the duration, only draftees where accepted (This is for the Army only, the Navy and Marine Corps still took enlistees), and if a 18 year old or in many cases older guys in their 20s/30s who have not yet received a notice, or had a deferment, and gave up their deferment could "Volunteer for the Draft", this also applied (within the Army) for those 17 year old's who wanted to go into the Army. WebIn An Army in Crisis Alexander Vazansky analyzes the social crisis that developed among the U.S. Army forces stationed in Germany between 1968 and 1975. "Bear in mind that these bands were all engaged in a show band contest in 1971 and 1972, and the winners of the that contest would then be able to tour Europe, and would also record an LP in the Armed Forces Network studios in Frankfurt. I expected it would be worse in Vietnam, but it was a more satisfying experience, Shkurti said. US MILITARIA FORUM - COLLECTORS PRESERVING HISTORY After discharge in 1976, Thornton took his 4-year-old daughter and pregnant wife home to her family and used the GI Bill to earn an a degree in allied health sciences from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. It's kind of both complicated and disjointed, it was a struggle to be sure. For military intelligence officer Timothy Lomperis, the constant whup, whup, whup of helicopters flying overhead is one of many things that stand out in his mind about the time he spent helping make critical war decisions in Saigon serving under Gen. Creighton Abrams, commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, from 1968 to 1972. There were Viet Cong all over the place, but if you were street-smart you stayed safe, Lomperis said. The liner notes of East of Underground: Hell Below conclude with a sort of benediction, lifted wholesale from the U.S. Army Field Manual: Because of the unique ability of music to communicate, bands will serve in different capacities of publicity and recruiting, and in the support of civil affairs. Even today, many see otherwise, but only at home., One place the guys in the rear and combat soldiers would cross paths was at rearward bases, which ranged from isolated fire bases less than a city block in size to major bases like Long Binh Post that resembled an American city, said Chris Appy, author of three books about the American war in Vietnam: American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity, Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides and Working- Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam.. He wasn't wealthy or connected in anyway and he also had an Infantry MOS and he was one of three soldiers out of his basic training platoon that went to the ROK. "I'm just amazed that [the band's] three singers didn't have hit records after they left the Army. Is it if you might be in danger of a mortar attack versus projecting violence and delivering it to the enemy? GRAFENWOEHR, Germany More than 30 veterans of the Vietnam War living in Germany were awarded pins Tuesday by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post in recognition of their service. WebHere are our top 13 places to see while youre stationed in Germany: (click on any city name below to learn more) 1) Prague, Czech Republic. was told," you are going to Germany, get your wives in german class". 2. They lived in an apprehensive state. The conventional wisdom was that everybody carried a rifle, patrolled the jungle and faced death daily, but thats false, said William Shkurti, who served as an artillery officer in a remote area about 300 yards from the Cambodian border in fall 1970. More military personnel played support roles than combat ones. Germany will remain strategically important for the US. I was in Infantry AIT at Ft. Polk Nov. 68-Jan 69. I worked in an air-conditioned office and wore khakis, starched shirts, spit-shined shoes and a belt with a shiny brass buckle. Don't forget Panama and Alaska, Alaska itself in that time period had two Infantry Brigades separate stationed there. Outdoor Recreation Center. Along with its allies, the US had liberated Germany from the Nazis. From the end of World War II until the end of the war in Southeast Asia, the Army component command in Germany, the U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR), managed military construction in the theater with its own Engineer organizations. Maybe they didnt risk their lives but they risked risking their lives, said Meredith Lair, a Vietnam War historian at George Mason University and author of Armed with Abundance: Consumerism and Soldiering in the Vietnam War, which examines the non-combat experiences of American soldiers in Vietnam. WebDuring the Vietnam War, the U.S. Air Force used C-123 aircraft to spray Agent Orange to clear jungles that provided enemy cover in Vietnam. Men facing shipping out exhibited many types of behavior. Right, I got you, very interested to know that fine point. While older Germans were friendly, younger ones were hostile and aloof, Shkurti said. They deserve our respect. We had each other, and we understood it takes so much honor to serve during the tough times. During the era of the Vietnam War, American troops and facilities were neglected forcing Engineers to marshal their slender resources augmented by host nation contributions to keep American forces ready for war and take care of Army and Air Force personnel and their families. Even before Erhard succeeded Konrad Adenauer as West Germany's second chancellor, the conflict in Vietnam had When we got home, everybody was the same, said Lomperis, a Saigon warrior who served in a support capacity at MACV (U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam), also known as mafia HQ or Pentagon East.. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow. If youre stuck on the base for days on end, visit the Wild B.O.A.R. Life athome goes on without them, and it must have been difficult to navigate when they returned, she said. We wore different uniforms. You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links. An average of 311,870 troops were stationed in Europe per year during 19861990. Buddy C. Thornton learned from his military service was Always live for the day. Peace activists, however, saw them as a threat and held massive demonstrations. Youre in the hot seat. Dotted around US bases are numerous residential districts for American soldiers and their families, such as this residential district in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim. The experience that most people likely associate with Vietnam is the horror and deprivation of war, so its ironic that that wasnt the real experience of most Vietnam veterans, Lair said. Once we got our orders, the guy Just below me went to Germany. Please switch auto forms mode to off. The songs East of Underground played weren't your run-of-the-mill patriotic marches in fact, some of them included controversial lyrics about race and politics. One would fly overhead about every 60 seconds, remembers the professor emeritus of political science at Saint Louis University. The report determined that it is possible that this exposure contributed to some adverse health effects. In response the Corps of Engineers drastically reduced the size of EUD and reconstituted it as the Europe District. It's there to boost morale, it's there to provide entertainment and comfort for soldiers, it's there to sort of represent what the U.S. is musically, culturally to the rest of the world.". Those aircraft were used for military airlift, medical transport, and cargo transport operations in the United States and internationally. At any moment all hell could break loose, Lair said. Thanks, your message has been sent successfully. Morale was bad, and there were racial problems, Shkurti said. Given the popular conception that being drafted during Vietnam was a guaranteed ticket to the combat zone, Ive always found it amazing how many of the people I know who served in the Army or USMC during the Vietnam War never actually went to Vietnam. The rule was to always go out in groups of two or three, but I often went by myself unarmed. Grafenwoehr is a tiny base compared to almost anywhere youve been stationed in the US. Abook describes and analyzes the important Engineer effort in Europe. Thats not how the military works, though. Ammunition storage facility, Heilbronn, West Germany (left); Out of our entire class I believe two, maybe three guys got orders for Korea. You need to be a member in order to leave a comment. To prop up sinking morale and keep soldiers safe on base rather than heading into Vietnamese towns, the U.S. military strove to make bases as home-like as possible, Appy said. I am focused on peace and conflict reduction on a global and local scale, he said. They proudly served their country, but were derided by combat troops as REMFs or rear echelon mother (insert expletive here), Appy said. The book became the first volume in aCenter of Military History series, U.S. Army in the Cold War. But in Vietnam, the Cold War became an inferno. Dave. I had surgery shortly after the fire, then spent convalescent leave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Steven Stayner Children,
How To Remove Yourself From Google Calendar Event,
What Is The First Step Of The Spider Method,
Order Kwik Trip Uniform,
Mt Anthony Primary Care Patient Portal,
Articles S