Military Intelligence |
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Photo In Uniform |
Service Details |
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Current Service Status
USA Veteran
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Current/Last Rank
Specialist 4
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Current/Last Service Branch
Signal Corps
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Current/Last Primary MOS
05C10-Radio Teletype Operator
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Current/Last MOS Group
Military Intelligence
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Primary Unit
1974-1975, 05C10, HHB, 1st Battalion, 27th Field Artillery
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Service Years
1966 - 1975
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Official/Unofficial US Army Certificates
Cold War Certificate
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Voice Edition
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What are you doing now:
My last job was working with VA, and a VA contractor. Helping disabled Veterans with school, counselling, purchasing quality of life materials, helping with resumes, obtaining employment, and a whole range of connected issues. I LOVED IT.
It broke my heart since I had FINALLY found my post service calling, only to lose it when they had to give up the contract and my job went with it. But it was 3 great years.
Since then, I have lived on first my 50% service disability, PTSD and then at 62 Social Security jumped in to help out. I retired.
Also, since '97. I have run a website, (early social networking) for the Vietnam Veterans of my Combat Alma Maters, 6th and 2nd Battalions, 77th Field Artillery, 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions. ALWAYS BEHIND, But we have had some very gratifying successes. We've had some re-connects with combat buddies, and hooked some of the relatives of some of our KIAs up with troopers who knew their loved ones, and could help them achieve at LEAST a Modicum of closure. Plus, together, we are still keeping alive the Vietnam part of the history of a fine Field Artillery Battalion alive.
In '09 I wrote a book about my and some of my "Non Essential Personnel" cohorts, fellow troopers, whose jobs can not be done during actual close combat, so while under attack, we reverted to what the Army trained us to be FIRST ----- what we were fresh out of basic ---- and were told we would always be -----"Rifleman First"
It did really well, sold about 50 whole copies, LOL~!!!! The the biggest part of it doing well was.....it was a perfect way to talk out my Vietnam Story, and "Get it off my chest" as they say in the movies.
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1966-1967, HHB, 6th Battalion, 77th Artillery
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1967-1967, 05C10, HHB, 6th Battalion, 77th Artillery
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1967-1967, 05C10, HHB, 2nd Battalion, 77th Artillery
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1968-1968, 05C10, HHB, 2nd Battalion, 77th Artillery
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1968-1969, 05C10, Communications Test Company, US Army Electronic Proving Ground, Fort Huachuca, AZ
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1969-1970, 05C10, B Company, 8th Signal Battalion
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1970-1972, 05C10, C Company, 8th Signal Battalion
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1970-1972, 05C10, A Company, 8th Signal Battalion
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1972-1973, 05C10, 131st Aviation Company, 212th Aviation Battalion
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1973-1974, 05C10, 258th Engineer Company, 253rd Engineer Battalion
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1974-1975, 05C10, HHB, 1st Battalion, 27th Field Artillery
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Reflections on SP 4 Pectol's
US Army Service
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PLEASE DESCRIBE WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR DECISION TO JOIN THE ARMY.
Family tradition, and wanting to get away and on my own. While growing up, the military was considered by most people to be among the most honorable of professions and I wanted to 'Be somebody.' Hahahahaha! That's me on the right - being somebody in Vietnam, 1967.
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WHETHER YOU WERE IN THE SERVICE FOR SEVERAL YEARS OR AS A CAREER, PLEASE DESCRIBE THE DIRECTION OR PATH YOU TOOK. WHERE DID YOU GO TO BASIC TRAINING AND WHAT UNITS, BASES OR SQUADRONS WERE YOU ASSIGNED TO? WHAT WAS YOUR REASON FOR LEAVING?
Originally, I wanted to be a Special Forces Trooper. That did not pan out, and I liked the job the Army gave me. But I did want to go to jump school when back from Vietnam. This is me playing with my new camera on one of the rare occasions we were back in base camp for a while. Nov. '67. The camera and ALL its fine pictures got 'sploded at Loc Ninh Dec.9, 1967.
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IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN ANY MILITARY OPERATIONS, INCLUDING COMBAT, HUMANITARIAN AND PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS, PLEASE DESCRIBE THOSE WHICH MADE A LASTING IMPACT ON YOU AND, IF LIFE-CHANGING, IN WHAT WAY?
Yes. ALL of them were significant to me. But of course, some do stand out. On Dec.9th at Loc Ninh, FSB GRANT - One morning we had a prairie fire, started by some smoldering trash in a garbage sling picked up by a "Mule Skinner" it caught fire, and the pilot panicked and set it down right by a "Cord" of prepared 105MM howitzer rounds. It caught the grass and the grass caught them, and there was a very very "Hot time" All that day. We were steppin and fetchin tryin not to get 'sploded. We didn't, but most of our equipment did. Our radio rig was lost. HQ and Charlie batteries had to go back to base and re-equip. During all that Chaos, most of us were pretty sure the enemy would recognize a 'golden opportunity' and just wipe us out. We never did figure for sure why they didn't attack. But the good news for that was, we got to spend Christmas at base. NOT part of the original plan. During the phony New Year's Truce, '67 the enemy broke the Truce. It resulted in a big overnight battle at a Place called Soui Cut - A.K.A FIRE SUPPORT BASE BURT. Very Close to the Cambodian border, and we were sitting right on the junction of where the HO Trail came in from Cambodia as BAIT to get them to engage in a pitched battle of attrition. We were over run several times, and the chopper pad I was sent to as part of the "Reaction Force" was attacked several times while my team and I were loading critical wounded, and unloading re-supply. I and probably most of the troopers on that base thought we were dead men walking - but we were determined to make it cost them. After, the 2 Pilots who flew to my pad recommended me for a medal. But since I had slipped in and out of black out mode and didn't remember much of what they said I did, I declined it. One interesting side note, maybe. That battle was used as the model for the final battle scene in the movie "Platoon." So, unknown to me, I was in the Army with Oliver Stone. Most of us who were there were less than pleased with that movie. On the way out to the FSB where we fought that battle, I and 2 of my men were left stranded in our truck which broke down. We had to wait for "The last Mechanized Infantry track from the 2/22 Infantry (M) in the convoy to hook us up with a tow cable and pull us into FSB BURT. We were there most of the day, and there were roughly 10 - 20-minute gaps between vehicles and in between them, we were on 100% alert against being over run and captured or killed. I had decided on Killed. Standing ready with the thermite grenade to drop it down the gas tank, and blow up the rig, and the radio and crypto gear and some of the enemy too. It was VAIR-EE SCAIR-EE, The imagination of an 181/2 year old buck sergeant in the middle of the enemy country with only 2 men and small arms like a ripe fruit for the enemy picking! Then, after a whole month of heavy duty mortaring and rocketing at BURT - on the 31st as TET started - We had to high tail it back to our Base Camp, at Dau Tieng, because G-2 thought there might be some trouble there. They briefed us and told us how to act on a convoy, which we had to do at night if memory serves me, and what to do if the enemy attempted to ambush us. Well, best memory, he did try, and we did blow through it, with the help of air cover, and when we got back to base, there was some stuff happening alright. An in force perimeter probe at one end of the air field by an enemy battalion. Kinda piddlin lookin back -- since we had recently fought off 2 re enforced regiments in a "Grudge Match" for kicking their BAZUSKI back in March '67, plus we were in the way of their attempted infiltration in prep for TET. Anyway, They led us into some trenches behind the berm bunker line, and the whole place was lighting up, big time. We had a chopper shot down and it settled into a tree by one of the HQ buildings and burned, crew and all, and one time when the enemy has climbing the wire fence, We 'sploded the PHUGAS on them and cooked most of the ones in the wire when it went off. From that time on through the rest of the TET offensive, we were at base camp, supporting operations close to the base, and guarding our part of the perimeter. Many attempts to infiltrate the wire, and a lot of bodies. Much of that period I do not remember, so it must have been pretty bad. Especially from the pictures of that period that some buddies sent to me for posting on our web site. Kinda Gory. But such is life in combat. This picture of the truck shows some of the souvenirs we dug up after a particularly heavy mortar/rocket barrage on one of our FSBs in Oct or Nov. '67. Check out the shrapnel and bullet holes in the door. Actually, pick any door, hahaha. We found out Commo especially with all those antennas, PRIORITY targets, along with the antennas making pretty good aiming stakes. Still, they rarely managed to hit anything really important. I think it might have been the captured 81MM rounds out of an 82MM tube. Just a theory. In April '68, around the time of the "Battle of Good Friday", they scored a direct hit on one of our ammo dumps, across the road from where I was pulling CQ. It was raining and when there is mortar/rocket incoming, the CQ has to run up and down the street sounding the alert to wake up those who aren't already, so they can get in the bunkers. But by that time, it was so heavy, that most were sleeping in bunkers anyway. But the OD, had me go out and check the water in the motor pool to see if it was full to help fight the fire. Never mind that it was raining cats and dogs, and the stuff was poppin and 'splodin and whizzin around everywhere, so that if you got within a couple hundred feet of that place, you stood a pretty good chance of getting sliced up, or killed. Anyway, I slipped on the trailer, which was full, and broke the bone in my right hand that leads to the ring finger. They offered me a "legal" purple heart, the 3d time they did that, but I didn't think it was right. That is for shrapnel or bullet wounds, to me. 'Course, later, when dealing with VA, I sometimes wished I had taken them, oh, well.
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FROM YOUR ENTIRE MILITARY SERVICE, DESCRIBE ANY MEMORIES YOU STILL REFLECT BACK ON TO THIS DAY.
See, that is a HARD question - for a combat veteran - to try to pin down ONE memory out of the hundreds or thousands of incidents they may have experienced. There were around 10 of what most combat veterans call "Guardian Angel" episodes or Close calls, where I should have been maimed or killed. But got a so-called miracle. But guess one of the most traumatic was Getting Stranded for almost all day on a dusty jungle road on the way to an FSB. That is the FIRST time I was sure I was a walking dead man and it was only a matter of time. But that also is a miracle story. The enemy had observers and scouts ALL along our convoy route, and we KNEW they were out there. And they knew we knew. I still don't know (Except for GOD giving me a yes to my prayers) why they didn't attack and kill us. Over there on the right is a picture of what the RATT Crew's "Office" looked like. This was one of our OOPSIES on the way to one of around 100 FSBs we built and used while I was there. Oh, I'm the guy on the left, with the smokie.
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WHAT PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF FROM YOUR MILITARY CAREER?
No medals for Valor. But the one I turned down was for the Battle of Fire Base BURT. Couldn't remember all those Heroics they accused me of, hahahaha! Below is one of our after shots. One of the 2 APC's they roasted before they overran our perimeter the first time.
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OF ALL THE MEDALS, AWARDS, FORMAL PRESENTATIONS AND QUALIFICATION BADGES YOU RECEIVED, OR OTHER MEMORABILIA, WHICH ONE IS THE MOST MEANINGFUL TO YOU AND WHY?
Two of them. First of all, the Expert Rifleman's Badge. Since when combat happened, I and all soldiers no matter what their job, revert to being what they are trained to be in basic - A Rifleman - That badge is the biggest part of what kept me alive over there. The second - I did NOT receive. Except I received if from myself. I designed what I called the "Artillery Rifleman Badge" and copyrighted it in '09 as part of my book, "A Rifleman First". That's it up there.
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WHICH INDIVIDUAL(S) FROM YOUR TIME IN THE MILITARY STAND OUT AS HAVING THE MOST POSITIVE IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?
Nah, That is just too impossible to answer. There were so many who helped me stay sane, and some even to grow a little bit. Every single one of them was the most important person for that particular time period. But they are all almost equal parts of the makeup of the whole veteran I am now.
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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?
Well, it wasn't funny to ME at the time, but it was to everyone else. The short version is I was in the shower at Dau Tieng, 3d Bde, 25th ID base camp, VN, and it was within around 150 yards of the perimeter fence. Anyway, Soon after I got started, The enemy started lobbing mortars into the camp. First I hit the floor in the corner while thinking what to do. Decided I was NOT gonna risk dying nekked in the shower. So, wrapped a towel round me, and hot footed it outta there, but then the mortars started again, and they were getting closer, "walking in" so I looked for the closest likely cover, and it was the drainage ditch by the side of the road. But that road ran in front of the little Army Style "Strip Mall" where our laundry, barber shop, tailor shop, etc. were. I took a dive for the last step as they were getting closer. The ditch was muddy. I hunkered till it was over. As I was starting to get up, I looked into the road and noticed that not only was my towel in the road, but the Girls from all the shops were lined up on the makeshift boardwalk/sidewalk, pointing at me and the towel, and giggling and chirping in that sing song language. Boy, was I embarrassed and mad! You babysans numbah 10! You no haha me! So, I had to crawl on my belly, with them enjoying the show, and then wrap the towel 'round me, then turn with my back to them to get up. Hustle back to the shower, re-shower and get the heck outta there with my Towel between my legs, and the laughter, and chirpin following me all the way 'round the corner of the last shop in the row. Musta been funny to someone, cuz the guys at the club were laughin and snortin and hee hawing like a bunch of drunken donkeys, hahahaha! Then of course, when I thunk about it later, and pictured it in my own mind, it WAS kinda funny! I sure was a steppin and a fetchin!
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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?
It took me a long time to find out why all of a sudden I was "Crazy." my military job was locked up tight. Good jobs that people "Die" in. Had to just do whatever dead end job I could find to survive. Tried school, something always ruined it.
Now, I am on PTSD 50% disability, and I guess I am semi-retired. Officially retired later this year. I help disabled people around the house, and I do veteran's service work in the form of running a web site for the Veterans of my Vietnam Unit. The can sign in and list who they would like to re-connect with, and see the history, we constantly as we are able to update it. So, it is sort of like what you people do. But it is free.
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WHAT MILITARY ASSOCIATIONS ARE YOU A MEMBER OF, IF ANY? WHAT SPECIFIC BENEFITS DO YOU DERIVE FROM YOUR MEMBERSHIPS?
I am a member of the 77th Field Artillery Regiment Association and the Charlie Co., 3d Bn. 22nd Infantry Association. Fairly closely associated with the 222 Inf (M) Association. Past member of the 22nd Infantry Regiment Society, and the 25th Infantry Division Association. From the Artillery Association, of course, I benefit from the camaraderie of fellow Artillery Combat Arm Veterans. We know what each other did in our parts of the war, and that understanding makes it's better to talk to them than anyone else. Civilians do not understand things like that. we understand each other in a way no 2 Civilian friends can, unless maybe they are police or fire men who have under gone lots of danger and maybe almost died together a few times, or seen some of their own dies. It is actually pretty much the same with the infantry brothers. One difference is that the infantry really appreciates the big guns bailing them out. Hahaha, that is about the same as we appreciated them for handling most of the security of our FSBs and keeping the enemy off us, so we could give them accurate timely and devastating support fire. You can see the mutually benefit from that relationship, right?
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IN WHAT WAYS HAS SERVING IN THE MILITARY INFLUENCED THE WAY YOU HAVE APPROACHED YOUR LIFE AND YOUR CAREER? WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT YOUR TIME IN THE SERVICE?
I have a much better sense of team work, and more respect for my fellow team mates than many civilians do. It also taught me that life is NOT about just me. It is about me and all the people I interact with in it at work and away from work. Having had some REAL worries in my military career, I have I feel a better sense of what is and is NOT worrying about and what is and is NOT really important, at least to me. I learned also, not to take small luxuries, comforts, etc. for granted. Having been in combat, I am not prone to panic or indecision in some situations that might 'freeze' other people. Never was able to have a career, but if I could have those things would have been beneficial in that, too. Respect for people, etc.
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BASED ON YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECENTLY JOINED THE ARMY?
Do your very best to be the very best you can be at your job. They are ALL important. Respect ALL of your fellow soldiers. They all fit into the green machine and make it work smoothly. If you find out early you don't like your job, as soon as | |
possible, look for opportunities to train for a new one, that you will like. It is not always carved in stone that you will start and end your career in the same job. Document EVERYTHING Good and Bad that happens to you. If they offer you a medal, take it. It may not matter to you now if you are Gung Ho, but it COULD make a very BIG difference in how difficult it will or will NOT be to get certain benefits you deserve post service if some sort of disability or other issues come up. If you get medals, Awards, etc. get copies of them and keep them in a place AWAY from the military personnel office that stores the originals. Injuries, wounds, etc. ---ALWAYS get treated for them, and ALWAYS obtain and store separate copies of the diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, etc. Documents such as those can be INVALUABLE later in your career, or after you get out. Periodically make an appointment with your personnel records division, and make sure all that has happened to you is reflected by orders, certificates, etc. IT ALL counts, for promotions, and other stuff. So qualification badges, letters of appreciation, etc. make sure they are in your 201. Educate, Educate, Educate! Both in your primary MOS, and secondary if you have one, and in the job of the immediate superior you hope you will one day replace when they retire or PCS, and other military subjects, and skills, as well as civilian things that interest you. Also, use the school benefits they give you for finishing high school, and get in some college while still in the service. that will make it easier to go to school when out. You will need to carry fewer credits, and you will likely have more free time, or be able to work a part time job instead of a full time one possibly. Prepare the way NOW, while you are in, for the time when you are OUT. Even if you are planning a career in the military.
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IN WHAT WAYS HAS TOGETHERWESERVED.COM HELPED YOU REMEMBER YOUR MILITARY SERVICE AND THE FRIENDS YOU SERVED WITH.
Well, so far, none really. It hasn't connected me with any of the troops I was looking for - yet. I have high hopes, though. High hopes have kept me fairly sane for all these 43+ years.
DS 8/1/17
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