Another FNG

[Rafter]

I am a new guy here. I am one of those who enlisted Arborne Unassigned in March 66. Basic and AIT at Ft Ord where I took a battery of tests and qualified for SF Training. So it was to Jump School following Infantry MOS at Ord. After Jumo School it was to SFTG (Special Forces Training Group) at Ft Bragg in Aug 66. I was PFC E3 at this point and 21 years old. I spent the next 9 months in SFTG where I received traing as a 12B (Engineering and Demo) and then 05B (Commo) which became my primary MOS. I then went to the 3rd SFG where I ws promoted shortly afterwards to Sp4. In August I sent in a 1049 request for transfer to Vietnam and in Nov 67 I reported to the 5th SFG at Nha Trang. I was assigned to the C Team at Bien Hoa and shortly thereafter to the B Team (B32) at Tay Ninh. Following that I was assigned to A322 at Katum as the radio operator and oh yeah, along the way in March was promoted to Sgt E5, 2 years after my enlistment. I remained at Katum until Sept when I was reassigned back to B32 until I DEROSed in Nov 68 and received an early out as I had less than 5 months remaining.

The ideal was for all SF to come from the ranks and to be E5 or above, but in the 60's they needed bodies so they recruited from Basic and AIT. You had to have a GT score of 110 or better to take the tests.

I hope that this sheds some light on the subject.

Now....I live on Maui and am dodging rain today.

Mike