wrote:
On Thu, 05 Dec 2013 07:59:30 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:


This was the time of worrying about being in the Sargent Bilko army.
LBJ was recently elected and he promised we would not go to war.


The reality is that within a couple of days after inheriting the
presidency, Johnson made strong statements about stopping Communism in
SE Asia and well before the 1964 presidential elections had started
sending thousands of troops to Vietnam. There were about 18,000 US
troops there before the end of 1964 and a couple of hundred thousand by
the end of 1965. I was still getting my undergrad degree, and no one
thought we still had a "Sargent Bilko" army.

By 1965 both if us were already in uniform.
In 1964 the Sgt Bilko army was very real.
If you were lucky you got in the Elvis army and went to Europe.
Most people were sitting outside an officer's club somewhere in
Fumbuck USA painting rocks white.
Our only real presence in Vietnam was a few special forces units and
they were supposed to be "nation building" if you believed the
propaganda being churned out by the government.
LBJ was the peace candidate and Goldwater was supposed to be the war
monger.

What a difference a year made.

The joke at the time was "They said, If you vote for Goldwater we will
have a war in Vietnam. I voted for Goldwater and we have a war in
Vietnam"

By the end if 1965 we had lots of soldiers getting killed in Viet Nam. I
was finishing electronics school at Keesler AFB in ground Nav Aids and
Instrument Landing Systems. The army was looking for lots more chopper
pilots. The army Sargent came to Keesler and was offering Warrant Officer
slots to those of us who were top in class and could pass a flight
physical. Decided was not a healthy career move, even though I love to
fly.