I was in the Recon Platoon with the 1st cavalry Division back in 1966. I was in Class A uniform. Class A uniform is a dress uniform that you wear for dress or for inspections. I was being shot at as I was leaving the airplane. I was praying that I would not be killed that day. We had no weapons to defend our selves. The only protection we had were sandbags. Believe me when I say, "I was down behind the sandbags" -- I was really down there.
Do you know how small a sandbag is? They were only stacked two high. Picture me behind those sandbags. In other words I was low enough so that if a bullet were fired my way I would not be hit. Although I was not thinking about it at the time, it really did mess up my . Even so, my interest was saving my life not my uniform .
I was thinking, I've been trained for jungle warfare and before I can even get to the jungle my life could be gone in a second. I was very worried that I would be killed and not have the chance to engage the enemy on his terms. This happened at Long Bin Post Vietnam.
To this day I thank the Good Lord whom I believe saved us that day. It did not take us long to get our gear which consisted of M-16 w/ ammo six hundred rounds, Bayonet, gas mask, and jungle w/special jungle boots. This type of clothing was supposed to keep out the leaches. By the way, if there are 50 leaches on your body at one time for 30 minutes there's no way you would survive -- you would die. That many leaches would drink all of your blood out of your body in that short of time.
Sometimes a wounded animal met their fate that way because they would lie down and then never wake up. We had to learn just how to put on our s uniform to make sure we would be leach free.
The Recon Platoon consisted of only 36 men. Our mission was to find the enemy and maintain contact until the infantry arrived. Sometimes this was accomplished in a very few short minutes and then other times much longer. During the longer times the enemy would think that they could knock us off in a little while and defeat us. They did not know that we had a lot of fire power. I could call in a fire mission at any time, but the enemy never had a chance to catch on to what we were doing.
By the way I was the Platoon Sergeant of that Recon Platoon. I was second in command. The Officer in charge gave the order to fire at will. Once the order was given it was my job to see to it that it was carried out to the letter. In combat in Vietnam you always had to have a standing order which meant fire at will. In other words if you were shot at, it was OK to shoot back.
There were a lot of wounded soldiers that were cared for on the battle field before they were sent to the hospital. Some were so badly wounded that they were sent back to the United States. Because of the stress that they went through, they did not receive the right type of treatment for their condition which caused them to be discharged while they were still sick. This is why you have a lot of homeless soldiers. Some homeless soldiers have themselves to blame since they got caught up into drugs, but I believe most homeless soldiers are the fault of our US Government. I believe this because the Government did not give our soldiers the correct medical dosages and treatment -- they just let them go.
I was fortunate enough to have a wife that saw something was wrong with me mentally once I got back home. I personally had to go to see a psychiatrist for about six months before my mental condition changed for the better. My wife told me I was screaming at night, twitching and grinding my teeth, but once I received the proper help that all ceased.
Although my mental condition has been cured, I still am sick from my exposure to Agent Orange. I happened to get some of the liquid on my right arm and now I am suffering from loss of sensation on my right side. Currently I am looking for my Vietnam brothers that were in the 1st Cavalry Division from June 1966 to June 1971 who may be sick from Agent Orange exposure as well.
I would like to know if you are getting your full benefits? If so, how did you do it? You see, if the US Government acknowledges that you have been exposed to Agent Orange, then they would not be able to deny that I was exposed as well since we were in the same Cavalry Division.
Although I will continue to fight for my benefits, in spite of my condition I have chosen to move on and do all I can to generate my own income as well. In my spare time I have a hobby, and that is surfing the internet trying to earn some supplement income to help me pay my bills.
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I retired from the United States Army with 21 years of service. While in the Army I travel around the world six times. I also retired from Generals Motors with 26 years of service. I also have 15 years of service as a Real Estate sales person. I am now Surfing the internet learn how to make money on the internet. I have found a wonderful website. This kind of website I have been looking for a very long time. They are talking about no money out of your pocket. They also call it “ Zero Out Of Pocket” I would like for you to check it out here: http://www.wealthcreationsnetwork.com/wcn/IA1187 Please let me know what you think. If interested email me here: burth33@gmail.com While I was there in the Army I got some of the liquid on my right arm and now I am surfing from Agent Orange on my right side. I am trying to find out about my buddies that was in the 1st cavalry Division from 1966 – 1971. This happened while I was in Vietnam.