Background of Pat Campbell:

I was drafted in the first lottery in 1969 (#60 - went at the end of February 1970). I had been at school through 1969, but I did NOT have an understanding draft board - I pointed out that I was in a five year program and they pointed out I had four years to complete it - and my four years were up.

I took basic at Ft Polk and AIT at Ft Sam Houston. By July I knew I was going to Vietnam (my class had a lot of Reservists and very few draftees and regular army)- and by September I was there. I served as a combat medic (91A/91B) with an infantry battalion in the First Cav Division. Since I was there in the time after Cambodia, things were, objectively speaking, very calm. We only had contact a few times while I was in the field, although one of the contacts turned into a 6 hour firefight - apparently we caught the local VC Provisional government when we moved AO's unexpectedly.

I was lightly wounded and when I was ready to return to the field, they didn't need me there, so I spent the balance of my tour as a REMF on the firebases and Brigade logistical base. My individual awards include the CMB, Silver Star, Purple Heart, Bronze Star (Service), ARCOM (Achievement), Air Medal (Combat Assaults), and the usual Vietnam Service Medal, NDSM, and Vietnam Campaign Medal.

I returned to the states 364 days after I left (Army succeeded in screwing me out of a month's combat pay). I was assigned to a base near my home of record (Ft Sill - my parents lived in Oklahoma City) for my last month in the army (I got a four month early-out to go back to school).

I finished my Master's in Chemical Engineering at Rice University and went to work for a multinational offshore construction company. I have been there for 26 years, doing various process, project, and development projects. For a while I seemed to pull communist nation assignments (Angola, Russia, China) which I found amusing.

One thing that my travels have taught me is that those of us who live in the US are right to have feared the communists and their plans and that the quickest way to make someone a patriot is to send him to some of the places in the world I have seen since I spent my 20 months in the army.

I feel that too many of the stories about veterans and their response to the world are twisted and I relish the idea to be able to tell the stories I know. Hopefully I can also get across the point that there is no "Vietnam Experience" - there was a war experienced by 2.6 million Americans in that many different ways.

Honor and Courage
Blackfoot Bravo 2/8 Cav (70-71) 1st Cavalry Division
Pat Campbell