In my case there aren't any Vietnam Veterans forums, except for the few sites that prefer to tag everyone brain dead or a sick person. 20 years ago there were many company sites for different units but they all died as their owners died. It was 30 years or more before any of us reconnected. That was due to the rotation system where most of did not arrive together as a unit and left the same way. Even those line units that did come together by the time they were stood down left by themselves, to new units if they had time left. In the end around mid 70 the massive stand down started and they even came up with an early out program in the Army to get as many of us as possible out of uniform and off the payroll. If you had 7 or less months left before end of service you had an offered early out, no reserve and full time for your entire enlistment was a reward. I took that early out because I had been there a long time on extensions. I got all the way to the states and the finance building was last stop before being declared a civilian. I learned the hard way that you would lose a lot of money on accumulated leave time. Had I known I would lose 950 dollars I would have simply have took a leave and gone to Australia for a month and spent the money. Really left a bad taste in my mouth they would do that to someone. So after they handed out the money the finance officer said " gentlemen you are now civilians but still under military control for 24 hours good luck to all of you and there are steaks for you at the Mess ". Not a person wasted time for a steak, I always wondered why it took 3 years to get a steak when the Army menu in Vietnam said we would have steak twice a week. 5 of us grabbed a yellow cab to split the cost to the airport that was about 40 miles or something like that. Cab had duffel bags on the roof sticking out of the trunk and in our laps, no one complained. I ran into a company clerk while mustering out who had been a clerk when I first came to the 336th, he ran across my name and came back to look me up. I had spent the last two years in the 121st so it was special he remembered my name because my discharge listed the 121st as my last company. It is a very small world when you start moving around. One of my XOs in the 121st had married a girl who was raised at Venus Tx 4 miles from my Nike Base and her parents had owned a little store on the highway coming out of Midlothian Tx. He had been shot down two times in one day and was not a happy camper with the way the operation was carried out. It was in 2003 I first got into touch with him because I missed him in 77 while my wife and I were on vacation and visiting the old missile base, I drove to his in-laws house hoping to find him but he was still in the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood. So I finally got into touch with him when his son contacted me and ask me about his Father and his service. His Father left the Army and went back to teaching high school re married because he and the girl from Venus had divorced both remarrying later to someone else. I never got around to visiting him in Fort Worth and have not talked to him since 2003. My Pilot in the 336th was a first Lt and he left RVN just before I left for christmas leave in 68 and he went to San Franciso Nike headquarters as a pilot for the Bn Commander. Don stayed in the Army until retiring and he retired as a full colonel. He went out and started flying fixed wing for a company in Ohio his home state and they were named Bordens not the milk company, retired from that job and started flying a lot on two of our old aircraft they had recovered and restored. Got some great photos of those two aircraft I will try and post tomorrow. Got to close for the night sorry for the long long read.
