Rear Echelon Serviceman
I admire Larry Wood’s honesty (“Perspectives,” December 2006) on how he felt about not doing his part in combat. The point is, he was called to duty by his country and he answered the call. Many who were called burned their draft cards and ran to Canada or Europe.

I was a career soldier, and served in Vietnam from 1967-68 including the Tet Offensive. I was assigned to a South Vietnamese Popular Forces infantry company as an intelligence adviser. When I went on operations with them, I never knew if I would be coming back; you see, we had VC in our own company.

Even if Wood didn’t care for his military occupation speciality (MOS), he can always look back and say, “I served my country in Vietnam and did my job.” Those who ran out will always have the guilt of not serving their country when called to do so.

Command Sgt. Maj. W.C. Garrett Jr.
U.S. Army (ret.)
League City, Texas

Vietnam Magazine brings back a lot of memories, and Larry Wood’s article was an example of this. I was in Vietnam in the same situation he was, but I don’t feel as if I didn’t give much. We all served our time, and it didn’t matter if our job was burning sh— or whatever; we served.

I was there for 20 months, June 1970 to February 1972. My first MOS was 67N20—aircraft maintenance. After 12 months I was put in charge of the motor pool. We were mortared a few times, and we lost men and aircraft. We all had to face that, no matter what our job was. I just wanted to let Larry know that he is not alone. I stay in touch with lots of my old buddies from the D 3l-5 and C 3-17 Air Cav. It helps.

Stan Strack
El Paso, Texas

I would like to tell Mr. Wood to be proud of his service. I am a disabled combat vet from that war. I gleefully joined in on all the talk about REMFs, but if I had been offered a rear echelon post I would have taken it in a minute.

The really sad part is that there was still a need for Mr. Wood’s services three years after my dustoff.

Barry J. Orner
Johnstown, Pa.

Larry Wood’s story really hit home with me, as my experience was similar. I was drafted in May 1969 here in Milwaukee, had Basic at Fort Campbell and Military Police advanced infantry training at Fort Campbell, where I turned 20. Since I, like Mr. Wood, had civilian typing experience, I was assigned as a company clerk to the nearby 2nd Civil Affairs Company, which was part of II Field Force, adjacent to Long Binh.

I figured out in short order how fortunate I was to wind up in a “rear” position. Over the years I have felt almost too lucky to have had such a safe experience, when more than 58,000 fellow veterans paid the ultimate price, and hundreds of thousands more were wounded, many having their lives changed completely. Only after my first visit to the Wall in Washington, D.C., in 1991 did I finally say to myself, I did what was asked (and more) of me, and can be proud of my service. I hope others feel likewise. God bless America.

Ed Thompson
Milwaukee, Wis.

Larry Wood’s story was a carbon copy of my tour of duty—one that I, too, pondered for many years afterward. Did I serve with honor? A profound “yes.”

Late one night I began thinking about this once again and realized that there was no front line. The entire country was the front line. There was no rear echelon. The entire country was dangerous. I worked “safely” in a restricted compound in I Corps surrounded by the 3rd Marine Division. I was trained on the 81mm mortar by a Marine captain even though I was an assigned “spook” to the 8th Radio Research Field Station in Phu Bai. Our area received a lot of action in late 1967 and early ’68, and I lived in a trench the last month in country to avoid being “dicked away” before leaving. Our compound was hit and fired upon several times, but I never fired a shot from my M-14 and fired only luminaries from the mortar. Was I considered “rear echelon”? Probably. Guilt? Yes—until I realized that from “KP Kapi­tan” to Green Beret, no job was any less in the big picture of Vietnam than another.

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