Remembering Them Forever (RTF)!

Military Information:

• US Army
• BSM: Bronze Star Medal
• Vietnam Veteran
• TVHOF Patriot Award
• Rifle Marksmanship Medal (Expert)
• 1-Alpha List
• Marksmanship Badge
• National/American Defense Service Medal/Award
• Vietnam Service Medal
• Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
• TVHOF Class of 2025
• Army ACPT Electrician

Dates of Service 1:

Service Start Date: NA Service End Date: NA

Dates of Service 2:

Service Start Date: NA Service End Date: NA

Bio:

Three months before my sixteenth birthday I became an American Patriot. As I was listening to the radio, I heard that three US marines had been killed by a mortar attack in Vietnam. Until that moment I had never thought about war or patriotism. But that moment was life changing. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of patriotism and the need to go fight for my country. I had to go to Vietnam!

Fast forward three years… So even though the Vietnam war was very unpopular, remember, I wanted to serve. But I did not want to oblige myself to three years active duty in case I didn’t like the military life. And besides, I liked the scary odds of ending up infantry as a draftee. Fortunately for me the Vietnam Draft Lottery came along. Eligible draftees were born between January 01,1944 and December 31, 1950. I was born July 24, 1950.
My lottery number was twenty-three out of 366. It was for certain I was going. I finished tech school July of ’69. I took my exams and was certified an airframe and power plant mechanic. I took off to Hawaii and waited for my draft orders.

I’m in the Army now! First year stateside, basic training at Fort Lewis, WA. It was wet, wet, wet, foggy, cold, and even had snow in the mix. The sun shone maybe three times while I was there. I grew up in the Las Vegas desert and had never seen so much rain.
I graduated Basic Training and got my posting orders and MOS designation. Some soldiers went to Advanced Individual Training (AIT) to gain their MOS. I was given a MOS code of 68F30, (aircraft electrician). I received no AIT as I had graduated from tech school as an aircraft mechanic.
From basic training, I went directly to Ft. Carson, Colorado, assigned to a helicopter unit. On the same day of arrival a number of us were reassigned to a Post Transportation unit. We drove deuce and a halves, fuel/water tankers, buses, jeeps and just about anything that had wheels.
Nearing a year of service, I resigned myself to not going to Nam. So, I enrolled in some college courses. I attended my first night of classes and wouldn’t you know it?! I had my orders for Nam the very next day.

I arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam in February 1970 for processing and unit assignment. This was a major installation used by the US Army, Air Force, and Navy for logistical operations necessary for war.
On my third day, I am thinking that maybe the war was over. There had been no enemy action. Boy was I wrong! That night I awoke airborne, hearing a most blood curdling scream. We had had a rocket attack, and everyone was scrambling out of the barracks to get to the bunkers. In the process several bunks had been overturned, mine being one of them.
The next day I had my orders. I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, 159th Aviation Battalion (air mobile). We were a CH-47 Chinook assault support helicopter outfit. I was put in charge of the electrical shop on arrival. It was an okay position but with my civilian aviation experience I had flying in my blood. Soon I figured out that I could fill in for some of the aircrew members as a door gunner. I only got to go up a dozen times or so but Wow!
For me flying was an addiction before I went into the army. And now I was flying in helicopters and in a war zone. What an adrenaline fix!!

Well, almost twelve months had passed. It’s time to go home or re-up. I didn’t have anyone or anything waiting for me back home. But I wasn’t all that keen on military life. I pondered re-enlisting or going home. I decided on Officer Candidate School (OCS) and Flight School. I took the OCS exam and passed it. Next was the pilot aptitude test. I was told I could go down to Saigon and “hang around” to take it. Something didn’t feel right, and I had nothing in writing, so I opted to go home. It was rumored that soldiers were re-enlisting and not getting what they were promised. “Xin lỗi” (sorry), I am out of here!

Like many war veterans, I packed Vietnam in a footlocker and mentally buried it as deep as I could. I wanted nothing to do with it or anything military related, including and especially the Veterans Administration. Big Mistake!!
In 1982 I left America, ten years after Nam, to live in the United Kingdom. I spent thirty-three years there and returned ten years ago. I was appalled to find what America has turned into. The UK and much of Europe leans toward or practices Socialist policies. I have seen and experienced what Socialism is firsthand. I have also known people who escaped Communist countries. These types of government are not about individual freedoms or equality or individual privacy or freedom of speech! They are the self-proclaimed enemy of all these things we tend to take for granted and are quickly disappearing before our very eyes. Open them and take a close look at where America is today.

I have attached a poem that took me thirty-six years to assemble and finally put on paper. It was painful and still is. Countless times I asked myself, “would I do it again?.” I love my country but until recently, I could not answer that question.
So, the answer now is a resounding “Yes! I would do it again.” I know there are many veterans, battle experienced or not, who are still suffering and probably always will. I pray this poem and a belief in God, can help you heal. I pray you realize you are not alone. I pray healing of hearts and minds of all veterans, active military, police officers, first responders and their families.

I love my country and I pray you do too. I make no apologies for my patriotism.

John 15:13 KJV
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.


Would I Do It Again?


We were told it was for the freedom of man
To stop oppression in a distant land

In the name of just and right
Off we went to fight

With romantic patriotic notions, with naivety of youth
We went the purveyors of right and truth

Some were dragged in, protesting, kicking and screaming
Perhaps they knew this was only scheming

Some went head held high, with feelings of pride and might
Doing what we thought was right

You come to realise, your tears for the fallen were in vain
They were the lucky ones, their hell ended there and then

Years pass and you try to bury your regrets, your hell
But you know you never will

Some live with guilt, with shame, some with anger, with blame
But mostly, we all live with pain

You know more than most, the value of life
You saved it and you took it, in circumstances of trouble and strife

As the years pass if you’re lucky, the nightmares lessen
At last, you think, I’ve received a blessing

But what replaces that, is this picture in your mind
Heaps of bloody, broken bodies of men, women, and children, we call mankind

A repulsive sight, yet you are drawn to look and closely stare
Hoping to find yourself in there

For if you did you would surely bet
At last, you have finally settled your debt

Ironically the ones we went to save
Will haunt us to our grave

Would I do it again


David Cortez Salinas 6th February 2008