Harold (Hal) Keim

Veteran of the Month, December 2004



Brief Bio: dob, service

Harold (Hal) Keim AKA: Doc.2/47 DOB: 14 March '48 POB: Nashville Tn. Active duty Army: '68-'70 USAR: aprox.'75-'90 Final rank: SFC

Why did you decide to join the Armed Services?

Guess I'd have to say that the draft notice I recieved had a lot to do with it. Haveing recieved my draft notice I decided to go ahead and enlist in the hope that I could get some training that would benifit and interest me. I have to admit that getting myself into a specialty that would not require getting shot at had it's appeal also. This didn't work out quite as planned. If I EVER find that recruter...

Training: I went through the 8 wk. basic course at Ft. Campbell Ky. Following basic I was sent to the 10wk. Med. Corpsman (91A)School at Ft. Sam Houston, San Antonio Tx. Somewhere around midway through the course it became obvious that I was not going to be offered the school that I thought I had signed up for. However a combination of some decent test scores and being RA served to open up some interesting alternatives. I was offered OCS, NCO (shake & bake) school, and was recruited by CID. I might have considered CID but they refused to tell me who they were, what they did, or even what the initials "CID"stood for. Said all that was "need to know". Told them I needed to know if I was going to consider signing on with them but they didn't agree. Besides they had me pretty well spooked (pun intended) what with all this "At 2200hrs. You will stand on the corner of A St. and Patton Ln. You will be met there by a man wearing a suit with a flower in his lapel who will say to you: 'The dog is barking at the moon.' You will answer...' stuff. Heck, I was afraid that if I signed on the dotted line I'd find myself in the KGB! I was also offered Clinical Specialist (91C) School which was discribed as at least 12 mounths of advanced medical training and I signed up for this. Figured this sounded pretty interesting, and maybe the war would be over in another year or so. I was assigned to Letterman Gen. USAH in San Francisco Calif. I began to think I'd finally managed to do something right. Students were assigned OJT in the Hosp. until each new class started. A new class was started every 6 mo. for the 1 year course so there was always a Sr. and Jr. class at all times. The folks (there were female students also-which made me very happy) in the Sr. class when I arrived for OJT were all assigned to hospitals in Germany. The next class to graduate was assigned to hospitals in Hawaii. One of them wrote back to say that they were under staffed and needed more folks (YES!!!). I began to stockpile sun screen and saltwater fishing tackle. My class graduated in the summer of '69. All males in the class were assigned to RSVN. No mention was made of hospitals.

Where were you assigned during you tour?

My arrival in Vietnam was delayed (which didn't hurt my feelings a bit) somewhat due to pre-tour leave, inpatient status in the Ft. Campbell hosp. for aprox. 6 wks. with a bleeding ulcer, and some medical leave. But the dang war was STILL going on. I processed through the 90th replacement Bn. aprox. mid December '69 and arrived at my first unit about the beginning Jan. '70. My first unit was C Co., 7th Spt.Bn., 199th LIB. We maintained a dispensory with a small lab, X-ray, minor surg. and treatment areas downstairs and an aprox. 25 bed ward upstairs. I functioned as ast. wardmaster for the ward. In April I was transfered to the 2nd Bn.,47th Inf. Regiment (Mech), 3rd Bde., 9th ID. where I worked aid stations. In Sept. the last (3rd Bde.) of the 9th ID was "withdrawn" from Vietnam to Hawaii (Yes!!), however only those guys with only 2-3wks remaining until DROS were actually withdrawn (@#%#*&!!!) while the rest of us were transfered to other units and I spent my last 6 wks. or so with the 25th ID. More aid stations.

What were your most memorable experiences in the military?

Can't think of many that WEREN'T memorable. My single most memorable experience was finding a body. Checking for signs of life. Packageing the body for transport. Puting it on a chopper. Then later realizing that it was one of my two best friends.

How did you feel about going into combat?

As might be infered from the above, given any reasonable choice in the matter, I am a devout and practiceing coward. I hope it will be noted, however, that I do not consider failure to do your job, failure to stand with your buddies, or to protect the wounded qualify as "reasonable choice".

What was your homecoming like?

Sucked. Big time. Following my tour of duty I spent the remainder of my time until ETS working at the hospital on Ft. Stewart Ga. Following my active duty service I had some fairly serious problems with nightmares, ect. PTSD had not been invented yet so I attempted to deal with this by doing my best to forget and move on. This required that I put as much distance as posible between myself and anything, or anybody, related to Vietnam. For this reason I have never been a member of any vets organization and have only recently begun to make contact with other Vietnam vererans. I passed my State Board exams for LPN and spent the next 25+yrs. in nurseing. I joined the USAR and spent around 15yrs. with them-mostly training new medics.

What do you consider your greatest achievements?

Two wonderful kids that I've helped turn into class A1+ adults. Other than that-if you measure "achievement" by the yardstick of wealth and power, or celebrity, or civic awards- I'm a real loser. On the other hand if "achievement" is measured in the numbers of folks who are alive, well, and able to use arms, legs,and minds who might not have been had I not been there, I haven't done all that badly.