[jlcoad]

All,

I'm new here and chances are none of you know me. I just want to jump in and say that Farmboy is who he says he is. I have heard from many people who knew him from SF both stateside, and in country.

During the time he was in, the 2 in the MOS meant E4 and 4 was E5. I too was recruited in AIT by SF. In March or April it was announced to us that the age for SF had been dropped from 19 to 18 1/2 and if any of us wanted to take the tests to see if we were qualified to start SF training, as long as we were RA and would be 18 1/2 by July of 68.

They gave the tests after training hours and if my memory serves me correctly the tests took most of the night. Not everyone who took the test passed. When I got to Training Group I was 18 1/2 and a PFC. Most of the guys in training group were in the same boat. I knew guys that were recruited from Basic. I guess Sam was hard up for SF at that time. Actually during that time it seemed that most of the youngsters in the Army were drafted and only doing 2 years. Very few were enlisting. If you remember Viet Nam was not a popular war and patriotism was almost none existent in this country.

I know for sure that at least from 1968 to 1970 one could go to SF right after finishing Basic, AIT and Jump School as long they were 18 1/2 years old, had at least 2 years to go until their ETS and passed the qualification test. Being qualified to go to SFTG didn't mean you were going to graduate. You still had 6 months to a year of training to go through, giving you plenty of opportunity to fail or quit.

There is a difference between being in a SF unit and being SF qualified. Some old SFers get very touchy when someone claims to be a "Green Beret" who actually isn't. Just as some of you would get pretty pissed if I claimed to have a CIB when I never left US soil.

I think this conflict between Farmboy and some of you is just a matter of semantics. I remember in some Infantry AIT units they were referred to Airborne Infantry Training. This, I think, was used to pump the guys up in order to produce stronger, more gung ho soldiers. The actual airborne training didn't come until they got to Jump School at Benning.


To me any man or woman who serves this country is a hero. No one has to inflate their image to impress me. Remember the military isn't the highest paying or easiest job out there. It takes a rare breed to join and an even rarer breed to make it a career.

For those of you who served in Viet Nam, whether you were drafted or enlisted, I want to say, Welcome Home and thank you for your service. The people of this country can't do enough for you to make up for what you went through there and when you returned home. Anything they do will be to little to late.