3 - Pete

It was the middle of December, 1965. I had been in the Air Farce for almost 3 years and at Perrin A.F.B. , Texas just about 15 months. I had about 14 more months to do before I was eligible to re-enlist which was definitely my intention at the time. I was at work in the 4780th Field Maintenance Squadron this particular morning when I received a call from our unit's Chief Clerk to report to Personnel and see some T/Sgt. Not liking the sound of his voice, I proceeded to Personnel somewhat reservedly wondering what it was that I had done. Upon my arrival, I met with T/Sgt. “Whoeveritwas” and to make a long story short, he handed me a set of orders advising me that I was being transferred to Vietnam. I was given a 10 day leave beginning the following week and my orders said that I was to report to Hamilton AFB, in California (SF Bay area) on 3 January, 1966 for “Training”, then deployment “over there” on 7 January, 1966. Shocked by the news, I remember thinking to myself, “I didn't join the Air Farce for this; I'm a Lover - NOT a Fighter”. Besides, you had to have 12 months “retainability” to do the tour. Naturally, with my “Buzzard's Luck” (where you can't kill nothing and won't nothing die) I had 14 months left to do in Uncle Sam's Air Farce so I was eligible to do the tour. Other guys I was stationed with wanted to go. They held the same job classification I did and had the same time in grade as I did. I asked if the orders could be swapped with someone who wanted to go over there and was told “nope”. We had seen stories on the TV News about what was going on over there and at this time, it was even LESS appealing. I had always wanted to go overseas, but this is NOT what I had in mind. The thought had even entered my mind to head for Canada but was quickly dismissed. With my Buzzard's Luck, I'd get as far as coming out of the latrine in the barracks!