TRANSCRIPTION
At what age did you get drafted into the Army?
I got drafted twice…I was 18 and they told me I didn't pass then I got drafted at 24 years old and I went.
How did you feel about being drafted in the Army?
I wanted to go!
How did your family feel about it?
Well my mom….I was supporting my mom and my sister when I left and they were giving some of my paycheck to my mom while I was over there.
Were you the first in your family to be in the Army?
No, my brother, my older brother Jesse, he was in the Army and he went to Fort Port, Louisiana and he was stationed here in Fort Sam Houston.
Was this picture from basic training?
This picture….I just got out of basic training….I went to Arizona for AIT and then I came home for like 28 days or 30 days….then I wrecked my car before I got to Arizona….from Arizona I got a flight to Oakland, California and then from there we flew to Alaska…then we flew to Japan and then to Vietnam…then coming back we landed in Japan then from Japan non-stop to Fort Lewis, Washington.
What was your position in Vietnam/Army?
Well I was ugh…my position was….I was a cook in the Army but when we got hit I just got my M16, went with my friends….got up on the truck and we took off to the boonies at night and we stayed there and guarded for a while and went back to the company.
Did you have past times while being in the Army?
I didn't go anywhere….some people went to Thailand….they went to Hawaii to visit their wives and I wasn't married so I stayed there. We would go to the clubs….or hang around and drink and smoke and listen to music. Like in this picture…we would sit around the table drinking Pap Blue Ribbon for a while and then just went back to our little hooch's.
This is our little hooch's where we lived and ugh we went down the hill….there was a hill…and we were at the bottom of the hill and when the Monsoon season would come down…all that sand up there would come straight inside our hooch's and inside the little hooch's the sand was so high that the Vietnamese lady and guy would have to shovel everything out of the barracks. We took showers with cold water….we used to walk around that side walk with our towel over our shoulders and our soup in hand and just walk around with underwear's!
How hard was it for you to deal with or handle a situation that occurred?
Well when you get over there you only smell nothing but dead people and some people who are in a company they don't give a damn about other people…so when you go to another company area…they know you're from another company…they try to get in a fight with you so you don't go over there anymore…so most of the time we just stayed in our area.
Did you get injured while at Vietnam?
Yup…it was in November…the motor was coming in and so we started running to the bunker….and before I got to the bunker I just flew to the air and hit the sand but going to the air I felt like a bee sting hit my leg…and there was a little hole in my pants….so the next day I just pulled it out and threw it away…it got infected…then my vain started getting black going down…going up…and they said "If it would have reached over here to your family jewels we were going to have had to cut your leg off." So they cut off all that rotten skin and they got some skin from my other leg and put it on the wounded area of my leg…..they shaved to get the skin from this side to put on my other leg. I was just laying down biting a chord in the bed…I was in the mess hospital for 20 days and Santa Clause came to visit us at the hospital! (Laughs out loud)….but I made it….I'm here!
Would you say that war changed your life for the good or for the bad?
For the good! If it weren't for the I would have been in jail or dead because I used to be in a gang when I was younger…it was not worth it….so I learned a lot through the Army…that's why I made it through alright!
Did you make close friends the time you spent at Vietnam?
I lost a couple friends and I made friends with some people but for a while you just stay there and then after a while everybody just ships out and that's it….you lose contact with them.
When you came back from war, was it hard for you to adapt to a more civilized life?
It was hard…it takes a couple years to get back into the rhythm because what you see over there is not the same over here and you still got it in your head….sometimes I have dreams at night….I wake up and ugh…three or four times every night…and I go look outside the window then I go to the back window…look outside and then go back to bed and I wake up again and do that about four times at night and ugh….it takes time to settle down but once you come back from over there you're not the same, you're not the same….in your mind you're not the same. That's why now with the Agent Orange I got all this crap on me.
Can you describe this Agent Orange?
They sprayed an Agent over there to kill all the vegetation and all that stuff but all that agent orange, it affected the GI's over there too….with that I got Diabetes, I got high blood pressure, I got PTSD, I got Paralysis on the nerve, left and right, ringing in the ears and ugh neuropathy in my feet and ugh….I had to have surgery because of my artery because it got all clogged up because of my diabetes.
Do you have a memory of something dramatic that may have happened at war that affected you or still affects you today?
Well ugh….a friend of mine he got his whole face blown off….you could see his brain and everything…and another guy….he was about to go to Hawaii to see his wife and his little girl and this guy was on top of a tank, a JP4 tank, and the Vietnamese just blew it up and the guy just burned under the hood at fuel. That's why I go to a Psychiatrist every 3 or 4 months for the PTSD…..I can't be around people....if I go somewhere where there is a lot of people I get nervous…..like somebody is trying to get me or something…that's the way you get when you come back from over there.
What did you do after you returned home from war?
I went back to work where I used to work at before, at Colonial Cake Company, and from there I worked at a transmission shop…then I went to work at Kelly Air Force Base, where I worked for 20 years and 7 months and retired from there. Then I worked for Standard Aero for a contractor for 8 years and that's it I retired! I got married after I came back from Vietnam too….I was 28 when I got married…I made my wife a big wedding, and ugh I paid for everything and she paid for ugh..I think it was for the invitations and I got the Hermanos Farias to play at our wedding! We have four children together…but I lost my Red…. We've been together now for 39 years!
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Nah that's about it….cause a lot of stuff I used to remember but now sometimes I don't remember….they tell me now that I got to take pills for memory loss and….I guess it's old age!
