Visiting the Army they left behind.
It seems that the students at the Air Assualt School as Fort Hood hand some honored guests. A group of Vietnam veterans got to see the Army they left and all the changes since then.
Decades removed from their military experiences, a group of Vietnam veterans toured Fort Hood on Thursday and remarked on the differences and similiarities from when they served.
“We drove by the (Warrior Skills Training Center) where they can simulate a Humvee turning over or getting hit, and we never had stuff like that,” said retired Army Sgt. J.C. Fischer, who served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968.
But, he said, laughing, “The language is the same — all the bad words. And the rank structure, although the people in charge seem to be a little bit kinder to soldiers than back when I was in.”
But one of the things that these Veterans have done is help make sure that the experences that they had are not faced by those who have followed them.
“It started with the first Persian Gulf War,” said Briggs, 66, of the national shift in attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. “People may have disagreed with the war, but they never took it out on soldiers. During Vietnam, soldiers were the villains.”
Sgt. 1st Class Scott Hansen, 4th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 13th Sustainment Command, helped organize the day for the Counterparts. As the son of a retired soldier who served in Vietnam, Hansen called the opportunity to share Fort Hood with the group an honor.
“(They) keep saying they’re honored we’re taking time out of our day for them,” said Hansen. “It should be the opposite.”
First Sgt. James Williams of III Corps, senior noncommissioned officer of the Air Assault School cadre, said it was a privilege to show Fort Hood’s new school to those who came before. “They paved the way for me,” he said. “It’s a joy to bring them back into the fold.”
Yep and I can think that we would not have the homecoming’s that we have today if they did not take up the fight for us.
Speaking of which, Fort Hood and Fort Wainwright are welcoming back thier Solider’s from Afghastan as we speak.
Category: Real Soldiers, Reunions
Whoa, I remember in 83 when 2/1Cav 2AD ran the school. they had a UH-1B with a shark mouth in front of the barracks.
I was in A-Troop, 2/1 Cav in ’82-’83 and lived in the barracks that the Huey was in front of. D-Troop ran the Air Assault schhol back then. I was A-Troop’s Training/Reenlistment NCO.