Veterans' Stories

[miygaiya 138]

My father has served over 30 years in law enforcement and in the military as airborne, SWAT, EOD, bomb disposal, undercover law enforcer, instructor, patrol officer, riot control, and among other things.

 

The experiences of military and law enforcement personnel is something that I have a borderline obsession with, which is why I made this thread.

 

Here's a story that my father told me, and it's definitely something to tell.

 

 

 

My father was sent in to Vietnam under the 82nd Airborne. Rocket, mortar and gunfire forced him and his fellow soldiers into running to cover the minute they touched down in Vietnam.

 

Stationed in the A Shau Valley, firebases on hills in the valley were scenes of daily and nightly firefights with the North Vietnamese. For 4 months he stayed on one hill, with 1 week a month of patrolling the valley.

 

My grandfather had a disease that required open heart surgery, and my father was emergency airlifted out of the middle of a firefight to return home on emergency leave.

 

The flight that he was scheduled to take was not going directly to the West Coast, instead heading to Chicago. A replacement flight was arranged for my father.

 

The flight back to the United States, after a 4 month stay in Vietnam, was a 21 hour flight on a C-130 shipping back crates filled with the bodies of US Marines.

 

My dad couldn't fly on a plane for the next ten years. He then took up law enforcement for the next 25 years to fill that void left by his time in Vietnam.

 

 

 

 

If you know anyone who has or you have served in the military, and you wish to either vent yourself or just tell your story on this board to the members of this forum, feel free.