And Saigon Fell

On April Saigon fell, and that effectively ended the Viet Nam war for the United States. I was still in High School back home in the red dirt country then, although I am sure some of you think I was there. I was not, but the fall had extreme effects on me, I guess even as a junior in high school. For one, I could assume that I would not be drafted to have to go there, or maybe even then I knew I was destined to spend my life in the military and feared that I would have no war to be a part of. Foolish thoughts of a young man.

I joined the United States Navy in 1979, four years after the fall. To this day I can never forget those who wore the Viet Nam service ribbons on their uniforms. Those were the guys who trained me in the basics of being a sailor, and in how to keep aircraft flying. They were a rough and tumble lot. They smoked like chimneys, and lived off black coffee that came in five pound green cans that was government issue, not foo foo Starbucks. They wore wash khaki uniforms, many were stained, and the expression "cussed like a sailor" was coined because of these men.
We did not have mentorship programs, they would teach you what you needed to know and that is all you needed to know. Questioning one of those guys was out of the question, because you might be picking yourself up off the deck if you did. They had lived and seen things that none of us could imagine.

The Navy and the armed forces were in a low state at that time, but some how we were still at war, be it a cold one. The guys that hung around, saved the Navy back then, and never asked for anything in return. In truth they received very little in return or thanks. Many more returned home from Viet Nam and suffered the rest of their lives because of what they were asked to endure.

Not that every thing was perfect with the Navy back then, a lot of changes have been for the better. Though now as we are once again mired deep in a war it occurs to me that we as a nation have forgotten too much of what these young men and women had to endure. They never had all the feel good people programs that we have today, yet some how a few of us old guys did alright and I am hoping they would think we turned out alright because of what they taught us.

I guess this is my fumbling attempt to that thank all those guys. I am proud to have been trained by them and followed in their foot steps, you truly are "Not Forgotten". So from the generation who followed you from Grenada to Iraq, and all stops in between, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I belive that when you reach your final duty station, the good Lord will know, you served your time in hell and welcome you aboard.

Old Chief Sends.