Extended Tours in Vietnam

[Sgt_Tropo]

I know of several guys who served two or more tours, and some actually volunteered for them. I spent two tours myself. My brother (one year older) did two tours in the Marines. first tour he was a door gunner on both Chinnocks and Hueys and spent the second as a doorman on a medivac slick ! Talk a bout a suicide wish ! He is one vet I am extremely proud of ! He was shot down three times during his first tour and twice more during the second. God must have been watchin' out for him, cuz he survived all the soot-downs and only suffered a few scratches. In fact, he out right refused three out of five PH awards because he didn't feel the the wounds deserved any recognition.
e was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze stars w/V device, three Air Medals, the two Purple Hearts and the "normal" RVN fruit salad. He now runs his own comapny working with kids around the world. His specialty ? Learning and teaching ancient and cultural games from all over the world, to kids of different cultures. What better way to help end the horrors of war and its effect on our future generations ? He has lived with several NA Indian tribes, Eskimos, many different African tribes, Russian mongolians and Siberian natives, SA Indians, Australian Aborigines and many sub-cultures throughout Europe. He is the world's oldest and most consumate eight-year old . Not a bad legacy for a 56 year old Marine.

[exlrrp]

I'm a 2 tour vet now: '67-'68 and 2003. (tom--yr still one up on me) I volunteered 2 times and the government paid 2 times--trips abroad are always funnest on the government tab.
I'll be at least a 3 tour vet by the end of next year. Maybe they'll pay for that one too. I might do like the Republicans do--just add it to the deficit for our kids to pay off. Wot the hell, I'll be dead by then.

James

PS Sgt Tropo--yr brother sounds like One Excellent Marine

[VIETNAM 1968]

When I did my one and only Tour of Duty in Vietnam during 1968, it was voluntary as I requested reassignment to Vietnam from my Stateside assignment in Texas. I know it sounds rather CORNY now, but I actually felt it was my duty, as a Patriotic American, to help DEFEAT THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM.

After getting to Vietnam, I was told that if any G.I. volunteered for an additional tour in Nam, while still In Country, that G.I. would be granted thirty days FREE LEAVE anywhere that the G.I. wanted to go. The leave was not to be counted against accumulated leave already built up by the G.I. either. In addition, the military would pay for all transportation fees to and from the chosen location. After going to Sidney, Australia on my R&R, I almost took the Air Force up on the offer as I really wanted to go back to Sidney and be able to stay more then one week there. The prospect of Uncle Sam actually paying for the transportation, and not being charged for the Leave Time, only sweetened the offer.

After ducking Rockets, that I strongly suspected had been fired directly at me personally; By ungrateful Vietnamese that did not seem to have any appreciation for the fact that I had come to their country to save them from Communism in the first place; I then decided to decline the FREE LEAVE offer and returned to Stateside duty for another year and a half before being discharged from the Air Force.

I believe that others in my unit did take the military's offer and volunteered for an additional Tour of Duty, just to get the FREE LEAVE however. Now that I look back, I realize that our Government was actually asking us to LITERALLY GAMBLE OUR LIVES, just for the chance to have thirty days of Free Leave. Just so the Government would not have to locate a replacement for us when it was our turn to RETURN to the WORLD on THAT FREEDOM BIRD. At the time however, we did not see it that way. We only saw the chance to have a completely paid for vacation anywhere we wanted to go.

Some of the guys in my unit actually did not take very well to STATESIDE DUTY and it's regimentation. For the most part, most of the SPIT AND POLISH was left back stateside, when a G.I. shipped out for Vietnam. In Vietnam, that G.I. was permitted to have boots without a shine on them, a uniform that was not so Starched that he would cut himself if he accidentally touched the crease in his sleeve or pants, and a haircut that was not Stateside Regulation. In addition, while most G.I.s worked many more hours then they would have done in the States, and were exposed to much more danger as well, those G.Is also had some time for a weekly PARTY that was always going on somewhere on the Base. A chance to drink until you passed out and do other things that would have been REALLY FROWNED UPON by Stateside Duty Stations. As a result, some guys in my unit decided to volunteer for another Tour of Duty, rather then return to that SPIT AND POLISH that Stateside Duty demanded.

I am sure that there were more reasons why some G.I.s volunteered to stay in Vietnam, rather then return to a much SAFER Stateside Duty. Those reasons were much more personal in nature and probably not readily discussed with others. The prospect of Free Leave, and a much more lax military discipline, were probably the two biggest reasons that most G.I.s decided to remain in Vietnam when they could have been reassigned to Stateside Duty after surviving one Tour.


To all my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I now state:


WELCOME HOME:


VIETNAM 1968