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I went in-country to Nam in January '69 arriving at
Bien Hoa Airbase in Saigon. Flew from there to
DaNang and then by chopper to Camp Eagle, Phu Bai,
not far from the DMZ and North Vietnam. I was a 91A
trained medic out of Ft Sam Houston and was
considered an "old man" at 22yo. 101st field units
were -very- short on combat medics, some companies
operating down or without due to the high casualty
rate of medics, radiomen, and 2nd Lieutenants. All
these positions are vital to the morale and fighting
effectiveness of a combat unit.
At 101st HQ I was processed through personnel to be
assigned to my field unit. The clerk, one of
several in a line of desks, noticed that I had an
unusual secondary MOS* qualification. He asked "Is
that computers? It seems like I've seen that
recently...oh yes I think we had a guy rotate out
from admin a couple days ago...maybe they could use
you down there...would you like to check it out?"
And so with some fast talking I was assigned to
admin support. Three (three!) computer positions
were available in a field division of then about
10-15,000+ men. What are the chances that someone
in that MOS had just rotated out -and- I just
happened to find the desk of the clerk that out
processed him? There would have been a slim-to-no
chance that a trained medic would be assigned
anywhere other than in the field. God's hand, as far
as I'm concerned. The computer was a Univac 1004
(4K) housed in a truck trailer with a generator
outside for power. We produced assignment orders,
transfers, promotion papers, and other reports.
No one in the 101st, however, was in what would
generally be considered a "rear area". We served
regularly on the wire perimeter, encountered sapper
contact and took incoming mortars and rockets, even
as a division HQ. I was happy enough to finish my
time without a purple heart or worse. Many others
weren't so fortunate.
*Military Occupational Specialty. Possible job
assignments in the service. Very few draftees had
an SMOS. How I got mine is another story
altogether.
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