gregpresley wrote:

Paul, I forwarded your message to my brother, with whom I'm having an
internet battle over these swift boat ads. But his response to your
message was "how does a person have two involuntary tours of duty to
Vietnam?" I'm presuming that you were given two separate assignments
consecutively there, but maybe I'm wrong. I will forward your response to
him.

I originally enlisted in the U.S. Army in July, 1965. I was going to be
drafted so I enlisted for three years hoping to get some schooling.

The recruiter told me I was going to be a radar repairman. He lied. I was
assigned to an Army Air Defense Command Nike Hercules site as an On the job
trainee as a radar "operator".

After one year, one was able to do what is called taking a "short" and
re-enlisting. I did this. This effectively ended my original three year
enlistment and I started on my second enlistment. This second enlistment
was for four years.

As part of my re-enlistment, I was permitted to select a school. I choose
Radio Relay repair school. The School was 7 months long and was at Ft.
Gordon, GA. After the 7 months, everyone in my class got orders for Ft.
Bragg. We thought we had lucked out of going to Vietnam.

When we got to Bragg, we were issued M-16s and told to report the the JAG
and fill out last wills and powers of attorney and we began training for
Vietnam. The company I was in all went to Vietnam on a boat (what a trip).

My first tour was in support of the 9th Infantry Division at Bear Cat and
Dong Tam. Dong Tam was also a base for the swift boats and "Brown Water
Navy". After one year in Vietnam (June 1967 to June 1968) I was sent home
on leave and then assigned to Ft. Hood, Texas. I served in both the First
Armored Division and Second Armored Division at Hood.

A little over a year at Ft. Hood, I came down on orders for Vietnam, AGAIN.
I complained and was told there was nothing I could do about it even though
I had slightly less than a year to go in the Army and my wife was pregnant.
The post chaplain said it was "God's will". I told him what I thought of
his god and said I did not see any god damn Vietnam medals on HIS uniform.

I shipped out again for Vietnam in September 1969 and my tour ended when my
enlistment was up in July, 1970. That is how I served TWO involuntary
tours in Vietnam. At least in those days, when you were sent to Vietnam
you KNEW when you were coming home. There were no INVOLUNTARY extensions
like there are today.

If your brother has any other questions, he can email me. Hope this helps.