General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 1968 (Your Help, Please!) [View all]kentuck
(111,089 posts)Last edited Fri Aug 1, 2014, 04:36 PM - Edit history (1)
I was in OCS in Ft Sill, OK, training to be a Forward Observer.
I did not become an officer. I dropped out 3 or 4 weeks before graduation because I had gotten 2nd and 3rd degree burns in the Oklahoma sun and was under a sheet tent for about a week or so and I was told that I would need to repeat a month of training so I could repeat a map-reading class.
I said, "No, thank you."
Capt Santana said, "If you drop out, you will be going to Vietnam."
I was in a holdover company for a couple of weeks and I got my orders for Vietnam. I rationalized that I was not responsible for anybody's life except my own. I lost my rank of E-5 and went to Vietnam as a PFC E-3. But I never regretted not being an officer.