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An up close and personal interview with U.S. Army Veteran and Togetherweserved.com Member:
CW5 John M. Harris U.S. Army Reserves (1969-Present)
PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE ARMY?
 As far back as I can recall I expressed a great interest in things involving all military services. My mother worked as a civilian employee for both the Army and Navy during WWII and I had two Uncles who served in combat; one as a Naval Aviator and the other as a surface warfare Chief Petty Officer. I was intrigued by the multitude of adventures and travels they spoke of as a result of their service. At the same time, I found myself reading more and more military history books. During these readings, I was particularly interested in both aviation and submarines.
While still pretty young, I expressed my desire to join the military as soon as I was able and assumed it would be when I finally turned 18.
WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK.
In September 1965 I read an article in Parade Magazine entitled: "Join the Navy - at 14!" It described the opportunities and adventure afforded to young individuals who join the (USNSCC), which was organized closely to the U.S. Naval Reserve (USNR). Since I had just turned 14, I called a  Navy Recruiter and he directed me to the nearest USNSCC unit, located at NAS Los Alamitos. I immediately applied and found out that new "recruits" had to pass both the same aptitude tests and physical exam as "regular" USNR recruits. Within a few months I was scheduled to attend a compressed two week USNR Boot Camp. During my cycle, there were three companies of "regular" USNR recruits and one company of USNSCC recruits.
After Boot Camp, I was assigned to a surface warfare division. After almost one year of training on the USS Vammen DE-644 (Destroyer Escort), our unit leadership decided to think outside the box, and asked the Department of the Navy for permission to offer different types of "hazardous" duty training to Cadets. Of course that was if we obtained written consent from our parents.
The Navy granted permission and each cadet was given a "dream sheet" on which they could  select for the additional training. My first choice was to enter submarine training. Before long, I and about eight other cadets formed a submarine section and we began weekend training on diesel submarines.
For the next two years, we conducted regular weekend drill training on the USS Roncador SS-301 with a "regular" USNR submarine reserve unit. The submarine was vintage WW II and permanently berthed at the Long Beach Naval Station. Several times per year, an active duty diesel sub from San Diego would come up to Long Beach and embark both the USNR & USNSCC trainees for underway, submerged, weekend training. Problem was these wonderful, exciting weekend adventures made going to regular high school classes rather boring and I longed to join the "regular" USNR as soon as possible, which, I understood to be 17-years of age with parental consent.
I was in my senior year of high school when I turned 17 and started the process of switching from the Cadet Corps to the Naval Reserves but was informed that the USNR would not enlist USNR would not enlist anyone under the age of 18, parental consent or not. I did not want to wait another whole year to join active duty service so my disappointment turned into determination. I sought out whatever reserve service could get me in the soonest. One of the other Sea Cadets, James Scott, and I had attended both boot camp and sub training expressed an identical desire to join any service as quickly as we could.
We first tried the United States Coast Guard Reserves, then the United Sates Air Force Reserves but both had the same policies as the United States Naval Reserves: No enlistments until 18-years of age. As a last resort, we checked with the California Army National Guard and to our delighted, they said yes. There was a hitch, however. Due to the draft and a very long waiting list, it would take up to a year before we would actually get to be part of the unit. Scott then came up with the idea of trying the United States Army Reserve. Our local unit, the 736th Transportation Company, told us yes, we could join at age 17. But again there was long waiting list. It was 1968 and most men of draft age were scrambling to get into the reserves. Here we  go again I thought but then we were told there was a HUGE exception: If the applicant was not registered with their draft board (which of course we had not since that was not required until one's 18th birthday) we would be advanced to the top of the waiting list over everyone else. But there was one caveat: We could not enlist until we had started the final semester of our senior year in high school.
I attended Basic Training at Ft Ord and quickly discovered my earlier completion of USNR Boot Camp, combined with all the Sea Cadet experience, prepared me well for Army Boot Camp. I was appointed one of the squad leaders. This was followed immediately by my Light Vehicle Driver AIT at Ft Ord. Once my training was completed, I returned home only to find my unit did very little real driver training on drill weekends. I began a quest for something of greater substance when I read the 63rd Army Reserve Command had just activated a small aviation detachment and needed volunteers to staff it. I contacted a Chief Warrant Officer Two (CW2) Vern Comstock, the first Army Helicopter Pilot I had ever met and came in for an interview. He was a decorated Vietnam Veteran who related many flying adventures. I was impressed and asked if I should strive to become a helicopter mechanic/crew chief? He promptly arranged my first flight in a helicopter of any kind. It was an ancient bubble canopied OH-23C. (Note: The helicopter was quite similar to those featured in the television show, MASH.) Nonetheless, it was a blast: I was immediately hooked on helicopters and said yes to becoming a mechanic.
But before I could even get to mechanic school, CW2 Comstock asked if I would like to become a Warrant Officer pilot? He said as an 18 year old high school graduate with Basic Training behind me, I could immediately take the Flight Aptitude Selection Test (FAST) & flight physical. If I passed both, I could then apply. I passed, and in less than a year, after completing my helicopter mechanic course, I was accepted to Warrant Officer Flight Training (WOFT) at Ft. Wolters, Texas. The course is ten months of combined OCS-style training along with flight school.
 When I got there as an Army Reserve E-5, I discovered I was the only reservists in the class. I felt a little guilt knowing I would be returning to the Army Reserves while my active duty classmates would be deployed to Vietnam upon graduation. Whether it was feeling the guilt or the desire I was generating for going to Vietnam myself, about two weeks before graduation, I asked if I could be deployed to Vietnam along with the rest of my active duty classmates. The Aviation Warrant Officer managers in Washington informed that as a reservist, I would first have to graduate then return to my unit and apply for an individual mobilization and deployment. I graduated in January 1972.
I returned to my unit, the 336th Aviation Company in Southern California in February 1972, and submitted my packet. While it was working its way through the chain of command to the Department of the Army (DA), I was told as a 20-year old Warrant Officer One (WO1) with zero pilot experience and since U.S. troops were being withdrawn from combat, I had virtually no chance of being "recalled to Active Duty." Not one to give up I was on the verge of filing a congressional action in an attempt to get to Vietnam, when suddenly, in April, the North Vietnamese Army invaded South Vietnam with conventional forces in what is known as the "Easter Invasion". At this precise time, my packet made it to DA and with the sudden need to reinforce the remaining U.S. forces, my application was promptly approved. I certainly was not first but I was later advised that I had the distinction of being the last Army Reservist who was voluntarily mobilized on August 23, 1972.
 When I arrive in Vietnam, I was assigned to the 18th Aviation Company, in Can Tho, IV Corps, Republic of Vietnam as UH-1 Huey Helicopter Aircraft Commander.
Our unit was conducting flight operations right up until the Cease Fire was declared on January 27, 1973. We stayed behind for the next 59 days to fly the International Commission for Control and Supervision (ICCS) which was comprised of military personnel from Canada, Indonesia, Hungary and Poland. Our aircraft was unarmed during those 59 days and we were only allowed to carry one .38 caliber revolver per soldier.
Our unit had the sad distinction of losing both the last Army Helicopter pilot KIA in Vietnam, WO1 Anthony Dal Pozzo Jr. and the last Army Helicopter Crewmember KIA in Vietnam, SP5 James L. Scroggins, both of whom are listed on TWS. I have the honor of being the administrator for both their profiles.
Historian's Notes: The two hundred mile flight Mr. Dal Pozzo was flying on January 29, 1973 originated in Can Tho Airfield on to Ca Mau, then to Bac Lieu and to Chuong Thien and back to Can Tho Airfield. About ten minutes after taking off for Chuong Thien, Mr. Dal Pozzo followed a large canal north to Can Tho when his helicopter approached a very large rice mill where a huge Viet Cong flag was fluttering on long pole. A single VC jumped out from the rice mill, took aim and let loose at the Huey with his AK-47 automatic weapon. Mr. Dal Pozzo was struck in his helmet, slumped over, releasing the controls. The co-pilot, WO1 Goodheart grabbed the controls and regained altitude saving everyone aboard.
After Vietnam, I served at multiple posts and active duty pilot assignments to include Ft Lewis, Unit of Choice representative with US Army Recruiting Command, Ft Ord, 8th Army in South Korea. I completed the Huey Instructor Pilot Course, was then assigned to Ft Carson then left active duty and returned to my former USAR unit, the 336th Aviation Co.
 I subsequently became in Instructor Pilot in the Cobra as well, and taught at the US Army Aviation School, Ft Rucker, AL. I later joined the CA-ARNG and served as a full-time flight instructor. For two years, I was assigned to the US Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica and acted as an adviser/instructor pilot to the Jamaica Defense Force (JDF) Air Wing which awarded me JDF pilot wings.
I returned to the CA-ARNG and served for several years in Air Cavalry Troops as both an Attack and an Aero Scout Pilot followed by service as both a Brigade Aviation Safety Officer and as a Brigade Tactical Operations Officer. Eventually assigned to an Aircraft Maintenance Company, I acted as a section chief and twice served as the unit's Commanding Officer when there were no commissioned officers available. I have also been attached as an Aviation Tactical Operations Officer to the Joint Staff of Special Operations Command Pacific (SOCPAC).
I was then attached to the NTC Aviation Company at Ft Irwin for two years, as a Huey Instructor Pilot, until we were forced to retire them in Dec. 2011. I am currently serving as the Senior G-5 Aviation Officer on the staff of the 91st Training Division at Ft Hunter Liggett, CA.
DID YOU PARTICIPATE IN COMBAT OPERATIONS? IF SO, COULD YOU DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH WERE SIGNIFICANT TO YOU?
Yes, as a Huey pilot in Vietnam and as a Cobra pilot in Mogadishu, Somalia.
I also deployed as a staff member with the 1st Cav Division in Bosnia, the 1st Armor Division in Kosovo, Special Operations Forces - JSOTF-N/5th SF Group, to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF-1) and again as a staff member with CJSOTF-W/5th SF Group, to Jordan for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF-1)
During OEF-1, I was embarked on an AC-130 Gunship for a six-hour mission against the Taliban over Afghanistan.
OF ALL YOUR DUTY STATIONS OR ASSIGNMENTS, WHICH ONE DO YOU HAVE FONDEST MEMORIES OF AND WHY? WHICH ONE WAS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE?
 My 13-month assignment to the 128th Assault Helicopter Company at Camp LaGuardia, Uijongbu, South Korea. Flying both Hueys and Cobras along the DMZ, we had extremely high esprit de corps, and believed we could kick the North Korean's butts if we only got a chance.
FROM YOUR ENTIRE SERVICE CAREER WHAT PARTICULAR MEMORY STANDS OUT?
Being selected to be a Huey Aircraft Commander (AC) in Vietnam. As an AC, I was entrusted with the responsibility to conduct combat operations and accomplish the assigned mission, while at the same time, safeguarding the lives of my crew and passengers.
IF YOU RECEIVED ANY MEDALS FOR VALOR OR AWARDS FOR SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT, PLEASE DESCRIBE HOW THESE WERE EARNED.
No, just a Bronze Star for Meritorious Service in Vietnam.
OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, QUALIFICATION BADGES OR DEVICE YOU RECEIVED, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE ONE(S) MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
 My Army Achievement Medal as it was awarded by my Air Cavalry Troop for being the First Army National Guard Aviator to fly actual combat missions while performing weekend drill duty (in Somalia).
WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
CW2 Vern Comstock - the first helicopter pilot I ever met. He was such a positive, helpful and motivating role model, that he made me want to excel and to become a Warrant Officer pilot just like him. When I had bad days in Warrant Officer Candidate School with fleeting thoughts about washing out, I would realize that I couldn't bear to disappoint "Mr. Comstock? after all he had done to help me get there. I would then get back on track!
In 1981, we later got to work together commercially as well, flying helicopters for Catalina Airlines.
CAN YOU RECOUNT A PARTICULAR INCIDENT FROM YOUR SERVICE WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN FUNNY AT THE TIME, BUT STILL MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Even though I have been serving continuously in the Army for over 44 years in all three components, I have not yet qualified on either the M-16 or M-4 rifle.
For my first field training exercise at Ft Irwin, in July 1969, my assigned weapon was a M-1 Garand.
When I then went through BCT at Ft Ord in the fall of 1969, we were in the last 1st BCT Bde cycle that used the M-14. Once I attended Flight School, my TOE or TDA assignment has always been as an aviator and that has always listed my assigned weapon as a pistol; first a .38 revolver followed by an M-9 9mm automatic which remains my assigned weapon to this date.
Maybe I will still get to qualify on an M-16 or M-4 before I have to retire in Oct 2013!
WHAT PROFESSION DID YOU FOLLOW AFTER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW? IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY SERVING, WHAT IS YOUR PRESENT OCCUPATIONAL SPECIALTY?
 After four-plus decades of continuous Army service, I am fortunate to still be serving as an Aviation Warrant Officer in the Army Reserve. I flew as a Commercial Helicopter Pilot for several years; even owned and operated my own helicopter. I am also a retired Political/Military Officer for the U.S. Department of State.
I currently fly former Army Huey helicopters for Fire Fighting/Search & Rescue work for both the Santa Barbara and Kern County Fire Departments.
WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
I am a Life Member of both the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) and the Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA). I am also a member of the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI).
I am most active with the VHPA as it reflects the single most intense duty period and the highest shared comradeship of my military service.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER?
 I try to adhere to the Army values and to live up to them each day. Values such as focusing on mission accomplishment and fostering teamwork and respect for junior soldiers, peers and superiors alike and most importantly, stand for what is right.
Hopefully, I treat everyone as I would like to be treated.
BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE ARMY?
Make the most of your service, follow the older Army slogan of: "Be All You Can Be" and take care of your family and friends and they will take care of you.
IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
 I "recruited" my two best friends from my Sea Cadet service of 47 years ago and both are now listed on TWS. In addition, numerous other friends from my Army service are listed as well. I usually find another old friend on TWS every couple of months.
Together We Served is also a great place to read the history of soldiers from World War II and Korea and to see the photos they have posted.
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TWS VOICES
TWS Voices are the personal stories of men and women who served in the US Military and convey how serving their Country has made a positive impact on their lives. If you would like to participate in a future edition of Voices, or know someone who might be interested, please contact TWS Voices HERE.
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