On May 15th, 1972,  after two years of banging around the Indochinese Peninsula, I DEROS’d back to the United States of America. DEROS, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, stands for Date Of Return from Over Seas. When I returned, I was missing some paint and had a few rust spots. The USAF, now in its  post war starch-and-shiny-boots mode, didn’t cotton to a Buck Sargent (E-4) strolling in from 30 days leave still sporting camo fatigues and jungle boots in the continental lower 48.

Being horribly naive, I figured they’d give me a  week or so to buy some conventional fatigues that fit and get the legal nomenclature back on my feet. Those beautiful shiny black boots from basic rotted in less than 180 days at Udorn without even being worn. Hell, jungle boots with the green canvas sidewalls lasted an average of 120 days when they were underwater all the time. Sorry, no dice Sgt. Nod.

My new first shirt had served under my dad in 5th AF in Japan and had a stiffy for me. I was always on the wrong side of the fence for every imaginable offense. Putting a water bed in the barracks ( on slab on grade) did not win me any medals for innovation. My back was in an uproar and the military mattresses were no help. I finally discovered that the Air Force and I were not long for a mutually compatible relationship. What happened next took me by surprise.

Senior Master Sargent Robert  “Jack” Frost found me out of compliance with the haircut regulations of AFM 35-10 one morning and ordered me out for a tune up. Simultaneously, I went to sick call for my ongoing back injury from an unscheduled landing in a forest a year earlier. The long and the short of it was I came back to the barracks to grab a pack of Marbs and ran into Jack Frost.  Having failed to comply with the haircut order, I was given an Article 15 and lost a stripe shortly thereafter. Shit happens.

And yes, shortly after that, the Air Force decided I was not re-enlistment material and decided to divest themselves of me post haste. This they accomplished lickety spit. In the process, I got a DD 214 which was woefully short of complete.  See my post >>  https://asknod.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/erroneous-dd214/

This would not have been so hard to stomach except for the fact that they annotated absolutely none of my history in Southeast Asia. My 214 stated I received the National Defense Service Medal-period. Knowing I was entitled to much more was not paramount to my existence in 1973. You cannot eat medals so I sucked it up and moved on.

When I reached a breather in my travails with the VA, I noticed that they continually refused or ignored my requests to be granted §1154 (b) combat recognition whereby everything that fell from my lips was Gospel absent any talk of alien abduction. This provoked a quest for my medals. Unfortunately, some of the fellows who  I flew with  and who were witness to my GSW and/or subsequent medical intervention at a small USAID hospital at Lima Site 20 (Sam Thong) had the misfortune to run into aerial misadventures of their own and subsequently become room temperature. I wish to remember them here as I doubt anyone will ever give them their due for their services over the fence:

AirAm Capt (PIC) Benjamin A.  Franklin – pilot of PC-6 Tail # XW-PCB on 21 March 1971 near Lima Site -72 Tha Tam Bleung ( encountered some tall real estate on final to the drop zone)

AirAm PIC Harry E. Mullholland -pilot of PC-6 Tail # N180K on 29 April 1971 near Lima Site 63  (mid-air collision with  U-17A   approximately 1 klic north of  Muong Nam) .

Lt. (Capt. posthumous) Chuck Engle , Raven 26, augured in 22 Feb. 1971 south of 20 Alternate en route to Lima-08 Wattay (Vientiane).

PIC stands for Pilot in charge.

So after 40 years and almost ten months, the United States Air Force has acknowledged that:

1) I was “never in combat” but they nevertheless have decided to award me a Outstanding Unit Medal with 3 Combat Vs for Valor.

2) I was never in Vietnam but I was awarded the Republic of South Vietnam’s Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60-device and the Cross of Gallantry with Palm for service there.

3) I was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with Silver star for five air campaigns in spite of having no record of even being in  the air.

4) I was awarded the  Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon in spite of no proof of having qualified for it. It could have been the zipperhead I tagged with  my .357 from 600′ ASL at Lima 108 Muong Soui  one morning during Operation Leapfrog in August 1970 because all the pilots talked about it for months. That was pure luck.

3) They were not going to upgrade my General Discharge to Honorable.

 Well, dang. I’ll just hush my mouth  and not complain. I tried for the other medals but apparently I “wasn’t there” to earn them. I’m still not sure how this works but I’ll get back to you when I figure it out. Seems it’s a lot like filing claims with the VA. If it isn’t in your records then it didn’t happen. The Air Force has issued me a new DD 215 that reflects the changes but continues to deny my presence anywhere in Vietnam or Laos. Go figure. It must have been a fig newton of my imagination all this time. I hate that when that happens. It seems I disremember it.