When you first found out that you were going to be deployed to a combat zone, what was your reaction?

SPC Margaret Higgins — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 21:24:14 -0400

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 29 at 2015 9:26 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 21:26:28 -0400

Honestly, my thought was "Well, looks like its my turn to go."

Response by SSG Toryn Green made Sep 29 at 2015 9:55 PM

SSG Toryn Green — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 21:55:00 -0400

FINALLY! It took me almost 7 1/2 years to get on one. I was exstatic! It was a great experience that has helped shape the leader I am now.

Response by SGT Jonathon Caldwell made Sep 29 at 2015 10:13 PM

SGT Jonathon Caldwell — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 22:13:44 -0400

Excited, scared. A whole lot of emotions rolled into one awesome yet unexplainable feeling. Its different every time you get the order, even then it does not feel real until its time to get on the bus or plane with your game face on.

Response by Capt Seid Waddell made Sep 29 at 2015 10:25 PM

Capt Seid Waddell — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 22:25:06 -0400

I had just received orders to go to Squadron Officer's School days before my orders to Viet Nam. The combat orders superseded the SOS orders.

I was torn; I wanted to do both.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Sep 30 at 2015 2:29 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 02:29:15 -0400

My DIVO knew the Chief and I were constantly fighting and at each others throat. He heard about this Ship that was deploying to Desert Storm with not enough CTOs to see it through and asked if I wanted to Volunteer. I said hell yes. Starting of a Great Adventure and definitely added quite a bit of Color to my Chest Candy Fiery Vigil/Desert Storm/Southern Watch. LOL! Little did I know that the same ship I was TAD too for that one I would be Ships Company on in 1996 for Desert Strike where I got the AFEM.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 30 at 2015 3:07 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 03:07:23 -0400

It was Dec 2001, I was like hell yah, let's get those POS!

Response by PO1 John Miller made Oct 1 at 2015 4:38 AM

PO1 John Miller — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 04:38:37 -0400

"This is what I joined for..."

Response by SGT William Howell made Oct 1 at 2015 7:09 AM

SGT William Howell — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 07:09:20 -0400

Since I joined the Guard I picked a MP Law and Order unit. Our job was to be a garrison MP unit. When I got to the unit they told me we would never deploy to a combat zone. 9 months later I was sitting in Iraq. My reaction. "Shit!" Then I started packing.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 1 at 2015 11:10 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 11:10:57 -0400

I deployed to Iraq in April of 2003, we all knew what to expect and why we were going. I was, and still am, proud to serve my country at war and in peace time. It wasn't the best of times, but I, like many of my fellow soldiers, were doing what we had trained for years to do.. It wasn't NTC or JRTC, it was real life, real bullets, but none of that changed anyone's mind.

Response by SSG John Erny made Oct 1 at 2015 11:33 AM

SSG John Erny — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 11:33:04 -0400

1989 Jungle School At Ft. Sherman with the 3/504 PIR 82nd ABN. "Get the hell out of bed and go to the Arms Room!" Live rounds, Frags, claymores, LAWS, AT-4's were then issued "You support troops are going on line, we need and extra platoon and your it." Operation Just Cause. The pucker factor was quite high.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 1 at 2015 1:23 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:23:50 -0400

"It's about time."

Response by SGT Bryon Sergent made Oct 1 at 2015 3:14 PM

SGT Bryon Sergent — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:14:13 -0400

Well, Desert Shield and Storm. I was Infantry. Scared to death but couldn't wait! The other times meh!

Response by SGT John Rauch made Oct 1 at 2015 3:20 PM

SGT John Rauch — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:20:10 -0400

I was like YESSS FINALLY IM GONNA BE A BAMF!!!!! then I took small arms fire and RPG fire about 2 months in, wasnt so happy after that.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 1 at 2015 3:26 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:26:04 -0400

Exceptionally motivated and happy. We were all fighting to be on the first teams in.

Response by CW3 Kevin Storm made Oct 1 at 2015 5:13 PM

CW3 Kevin Storm — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 17:13:08 -0400

I can tell you where I was, and what I was doing when I listened in on the call. I was an instructor with the Texas Engineering Extension (TEEX) as a WMD EMS Instructor. We went around the country preparing first receivers and first responders how to recognize the signs and symptoms of Weapons of mass destruction. It was May 27th, 2004. I was in the hospital parking lot of Hilo Hawaii. Day two of the class. It was also my 40th birthday. What did I think, frack this sucks, what a buzz kill!

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 2 at 2015 8:04 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Oct 2015 20:04:22 -0400

Excitement... in two phases. I found out I was going to Kuwait to earn a combat patch but there was no combat there. I was really amped when I got to put on the Varsity uniform (Multicams) in Astan! I am still hoping to go over again!

Response by SPC Randall Eichelberger made Dec 27 at 2015 3:25 PM

SPC Randall Eichelberger — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 15:25:16 -0500

I was working the road at Ft. hood in 2006. We were about to hand over the road duties after having had them for over a year (only MP company at Ft. hood) and get told to show up for formation. Commander tells us we just received verbal orders to deploy in May (it was the last few days of March) as part of a rapid fielding force of 5 MP companys. I was excited at first, didn't get nervous until we landed in Al Assad.

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 27 at 2015 3:44 PM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 15:44:56 -0500

I was excited! Being in the military undeployed is like being in the big leagues, but riding the bench.. Seven deployments later and I STILL absolutely hate garrison....

Response by SFC Stephen King made Dec 27 at 2015 4:49 PM

SFC Stephen King — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 16:49:59 -0500

Honestly, Have I been trained well enough to be effective.

Response by PO2 Sam Messer made Sep 4 at 2016 12:53 AM

PO2 Sam Messer — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 00:53:53 -0400

I knew from the day I joined the Navy & then got out of boot camp as a Seabee I was going to Vietnam so when the order to deploy came I had already made peace with the man above ! This was my war & after listening to stories from my Dad & his Brothers I knew I HAD to go nothing to prove just my turn.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Oct 2 at 2016 1:22 AM

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 01:22:12 -0400

I went home of leave and when I returned I found out a had orders for Viet Nam, mostly I wanted to find out a little about the place I was going, i'd never heard of it. A lot of the guys in the unit had returned from Viet Nam so i got a little insight from them. I wasn't upset or anything I figured it was just My time to go and went.

Response by SPC Roger Giffen made Oct 9 at 2016 4:26 PM

SPC Roger Giffen — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 16:26:02 -0400

I was never deployed to a combat zone as we were not in a conflict at the time. But, I did come down on orders to go to West Germany. Didn't exactly make me happy.

Response by SPC Dale St. Pierre made Oct 9 at 2016 5:25 PM

SPC Dale St. Pierre — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 17:25:31 -0400

ecstatic and scared , great group of people to go over with. But the leadership we had had more people in my unit feeling like long tail cats in a room full of retired people in rocking chairs. By the grace of god we lost no one in '09-1-'10 in Iraq.

Response by MSgt Mike P. made Oct 20 at 2016 12:52 PM

MSgt Mike P. — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 12:52:36 -0400

I was scared that I wouldn't be able to do my job adequately. Lack of confidence was running rampant!!!

Response by SPC George Long made Oct 27 at 2016 12:48 PM

SPC George Long — Thu, 27 Oct 2016 12:48:20 -0400

I had been in the Army 18 months and knew my MOS was in critical need in Viet Nam. I was actually relieved to know when I was going.

Response by SFC George Smith made Oct 28 at 2016 10:28 AM

SFC George Smith — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 10:28:00 -0400

Had no reactions... Just started Getting ready ... Packing Company and Team Gear and Personal Gear... Just as we had planned Rehearsed and trained for... personal feelings cane when I got back and had time to sit and think ... alone

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 28 at 2016 12:17 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 28 Oct 2016 12:17:57 -0400

Aww Hell Ya !!!!!!!!!!!

Response by SSgt Nicholas Merchant made Nov 6 at 2016 10:53 AM

SSgt Nicholas Merchant — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 10:53:32 -0500

When I received my orders in 2003 we knew by the nature of our job something was up 6 months prior we were sent to nevada for desert airbase defense training we were retrained to work as a flight 30 man team prior to this in my job we primarily worked in small teams 2-4 fastforward to orders we were told it was a humanitarian mission to non hostile area as we loaded our packing requirements said otherwise we were sent with 6 humvs all mounted with 50cals we knew we werent building churches we didnt know where or what until we were in flight this was my first deployment and first lead in as an nco i was sick to my stomach nervous and affraid but we were trained and ready

Response by PO2 Marty Sharpe made Nov 7 at 2016 12:23 PM

PO2 Marty Sharpe — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 12:23:19 -0500

Since were were already in WestPac it was just another day. Plus maybe all this drill will finally be useful.BTW it wasn't. It was all different. October 1964 Gulf of Tonkin.

Response by SMSgt William Law made Nov 18 at 2016 12:00 AM

SMSgt William Law — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:00:52 -0500

Actually, I was in the 1st Mobile Comm Group at Clark in the PI. Was there during Tet68, and went into Vietnam on several occasions, and during Yet took 8 days to get out from one site. Would not have changed anything. The Mob was like a family, and you knew the black hat, a lot of people had your back.

Response by 1SG John Highfill made Feb 10 at 2020 4:53 PM

1SG John Highfill — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 16:53:49 -0500

Frightened and excited at the same time

Response by 1SG John Highfill made Apr 25 at 2020 1:25 PM

1SG John Highfill — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 13:25:15 -0400

I was cross leveled got a call on June 30 was in Ft Bliss in July 5 didn’t return home for 15 months

Response by 1SG John Highfill made Apr 25 at 2020 1:27 PM

1SG John Highfill — Sat, 25 Apr 2020 13:27:07 -0400

Shock I was cross leveled as a 1SG at 55

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Jul 30 at 2020 1:11 AM

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 01:11:53 -0400

I went home of leave and on return was told I had orders to Nam, the orders had a unit and APO SF address, then I found where it was, to the 12th Combat Support Group at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. I never had heard of the place before so one guy that had been in Vietnam told me where it was. I don't recall any particular reaction from Me though, I didn't volunteer for Vietnam but it was a place I had to go and did.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 30 at 2020 1:58 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 01:58:37 -0400

I was relieved and excited! Finally! I was also anxious. As all who have deployed before, there are so many unknowns and it can be incredibly overwhelming.
I left the OSU ROTC program to deploy with my National Guard unit and was glad I made the right choice. My unit has a storied history (documented in the book The Devil's Sandbox: With the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry at War in Iraq) and I was excited and nervous to follow in that path.

Response by 1LT Voyle Smith made Jul 31 at 2020 10:45 AM

1LT Voyle Smith — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 10:45:17 -0400

I was scared. Not terrified, but concerned that I wouldn’t perform my duties as I should, that I might get someone hurt or killed by doing something stupid. That if I survived, I might come home missing some body parts & would become a burden to my family.