OJT SF Vietnam Combat Medic

[Doc Russell]

I volunteered for and arrived in Vietnam on 28 March 72 from 2/504 82nd ABN DIV. I was assigned to 3rd Field Hospital as a Security Guard. In June of that year SF was looking for medics so I was recruited and sent to B-36. From 28 Jun to 30 Nov I was the Jr Medic on A-362 and A-364. Rotating between those two teams I spent 3 weeks out of each month in the field with Cambodian trainees. I was nineteen years old when I got in-country and turned twenty in the bush on 5 Sep 1972. When we turned Long Hai over to the ARVNs on 30 Nov I was the last enlisted medic there. Next I was assigned to B-51 and served as the Sr Medic on A-512 until the ceasefire. After coming out of the bush Saturday morning 27 Jan 73 we were greeted to the sight of the flag of the Republic of South Vietnam planted in the middle of the railroad track west of Highway 1. About ten minutes later when we raised camp and told them we were coming in we were told that the war was over effective at midnight. Later that day myself, SSG Andy Curry and 10 Cambodians were guarding a conex on the runway at Cam Rahn Bay. There were no people, no planes,no equipment nothing. I spent part of the day shooting parachute flares down the runway. Nature was starting to reclaim the place in some places sand was covering the roads. When the ceasefire went into effect that night, Andy and I were the only Americans on the ENTIRE peninsula. I left country on 7 Feb 73.

I am now a 57 year old professional student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA.

[namsf]

i left b-36 june 71, i wonder if we know each other.