I see my Vietnam combat tour in the
Marine Corps as a remarkable youthful adventure. I experienced first-hand
similar circumstances my WW2 veteran Dad and Uncles had told me about when I was a kid.
When I watched old war movies, then, I often wondered what I would do if
I were in the same combat situations, and now I know those answers. I made a lot more acquaintances than
friends as life expectancy was short for infantry in a combat zone. One thing I
took away from our battalion’s combat operations was an affirmation of
the statement which is on the Marine Corps War Memorial “Uncommon Valor Was a
Common Virtue.”
My unfading
experience began as an 18 year old Marine infantryman in 1966.
I was assigned to Battalion Landing Team 3/5, a Special
Landing Force that completed multiple amphibious operations from aboard the LPH-5
USS Princeton. We were well trained as a group in California,
Okinawa, Japan and the Philippines before landing in ‘Nam. After the
apprehension of our first combat contact, I found any fearful expectations were
gone and replaced with a sixth sense of extreme caution which I called “the
edge” that remained with me for the entire tour. Like the majority of my
adventurous youthful peers, I did not have any “stateside” responsibilities
to be concerned with at this time in my life. The countless adrenaline surges during the actions that took place on our numerous operations added to
the number of times you were actually aware that you had defied death.
After a couple of operations, the
Battalion became combat seasoned, and the basics of our combat tour were a
routine i.e., the boarding of a UH-34D Sikorsky helicopter from the deck of our
converted aircraft carrier; flying to a designated clearing in the jungle that
would be our first Landing Zone; then beginning a search and destroy operation lasting
ten, twenty, or thirty days at a time. We were continually on the move with
intermittent resupplies of water, food and ammunition from the copters.
The individual combat operations had varied rules of engagement. On most of our operations the rule was “caution; there could be friendlies in the area.” Occasionally we would enter a designated “free fire zone” where anyone observed was considered to be the enemy and eliminated.
The individual combat operations had varied rules of engagement. On most of our operations the rule was “caution; there could be friendlies in the area.” Occasionally we would enter a designated “free fire zone” where anyone observed was considered to be the enemy and eliminated.
Returning to the “world” I completed my single
Marine Corps enlistment near the end of ‘60’s. Not being in any immediate hurry
to join the workforce and jump into the civilian “establishment,” I decided to
do a roving “beach bum” thing for several months to acclimate myself to the
civilian world from which I’d been estranged. Amid the distractions, in what
appeared a paradoxical existence to me, I determined my “American Dream” would
be to achieve and maintain a consistent personal comfort zone in this civilian
environment.
Nowadays, following the current media stories of
returning combat veterans has made me aware that their (and my) predecessors,
from all past conflicts in history, have faced re-entrance into the civilian
world. Our learned priorities from combat experiences are unique only to a portion
in the military, which are the minority of the total population. For me, I’ve
accepted the fact that to blend in with the civilian majority, you have to
learn to ignore “their” priorities when you deem them shallow or insignificant.Andy Syor
