I went up to the VA this morning to get my eyes checked. I sat across from a Vietnam Vet. He had lost his wife two years ago...so we talked about grief, loss, and folks we cared about. Since we were both almost an hour early for our appointment, we chatted for a bit longer than usual. I asked him about his Service. And how he ended up in Vietnam was a pretty cool story.

So he graduated from Basic and AIT. His AIT was at Ft. Jackson, SC. He said all I had to do to go to my new Duty Station was take my duffel over to the Permanent Party Barracks.
"Here I am a just minted PFC, and teaching the kids stuff I just learned a month ago. All the DI's were Vietnam Vets. In fact, all of the Cadre, but me, were Vietnam Vets. It didn't take me long to figure out that the Combat Veterans were operating at a different level of both training and understanding than I had. "

At this point I brought up my own view on Combat versus Trained Soldiers. I feel that the difference between a Combat Soldier and someone like me who had great training and trainers...is the difference between a woman who has had a baby, and a woman who might want to have a baby. The possibility is there but the gulf of experience is huge. He liked my analogy.

"Yes, that is exactly right! So after just one cycle of being alongside these Combat Veterans, I volunteered for Vietnam (1967-68). When I came back to finish my enlistment, I was a different kind of Cadre. Like the other Combat Vets teaching AIT, I wanted those kids to come home safe!