STORY BEHIND THE PLAQUE
Service Reflections of SSG John Smith, U.S. Army (1976-1996)

My Step Uncle Tommy Shelton was a soldier during Vietnam, I remember him visiting when I was a kid, and he would not talk much about it; when I got older, my Dad asked him to speak to me as my brother, and I had already decided to join the military. My Dad really did not want us to join the Navy because he had bad experiences in the Navy. So my Uncle Tommy, at the time, was stationed at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and was trying to get stationed back in Korea, his wife was Korean, and he really enjoyed the Asian culture; I remember he was very strong and loud-spoken and very quiet and kept to himself when it came to talking about Vietnam, I remember seeing his letters as a kid he was a Master Sergent. Now he was a Buck Sergent, that was why he did not like to talk about the bad experiences he had. Uncle Tommy came over and talked to me; it sounded very interesting and like something I wanted to do. I contacted a recruiter, visited the recruiting office in Carrolton, Georgia, took the ASVAB, and qualified for several jobs. One of the jobs was the very job Uncle Tommy was currently doing in the Army, so I decided that’s exactly what I would take and thought maybe we would be lucky enough to be stationed together one day. As it turned out, I went to Basic Training and AIT in the OSUT (One Station Unit Training) Class given at Fort Gordon in 1976. My Uncle Tommy was still stationed there, and we did spend every opportunity we could get together. He still lives in that area. Unfortunately, he exited the Army before he could retire one day; on a PT run, one of his soldiers fell out of the run, and Uncle Tommy wanted to police him up and get him back to the company. The commander told him they would pick him up on the way back; sadly, the soldier died, and my Uncle Tommy decided it was tied for him to get out. He has regretted it ever since.

I left the service simply because I could not go any further; I was in a dead-end MOS; they retired the UH-1 Helicopter, although it’s still one of my favorite helicopters to this day. I started too late on my education and did not plan my career as a soldier the way the Army thought I should. That being said, I would not change a minute of it. I loved serving and enjoyed every minute I was in the service. The assignments I have been to have been challenging, and some have even been a little overwhelming but worth every minute. The camaraderie between people I met throughout my journey has been priceless.

When I retired from service in 1996, I went to work as a Government Contractor for eight years, Then got hired as a DoD Federal Government Employee for the next 15 years, so although I did not make the Army my career as I had originally planned, I still served in a different capacity and was always on or near a Government Installation. I actually got to go two places I had on my dream sheet in the Army that I never got to go, and I spent one year as a contractor in Hawaii and three years as a Contractor in Japan, and 3 Years as DoD Civilian in Japan and Germany and Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Dubai, UAE, Djibouti Africa.

In 1988, I had the opportunity to participate in a humanitarian aid mission in Guyana, South America, with the 507th Air Ambulance Company and 41st Combat Hospital out of Fort Sam Houston, Texas, when we landed on a very small landing strip in a C-5 Galaxy Air-Force plane, we had all of our supplies and 3, UH-1V Medivac helicopters on board, my job was to ensure that the aircraft where airworthy at all times and that they stayed in operational condition. Guyana was a 3rd world country and needed medical, dental, and vision assistance badly; after help setting up base camp and a perimeter around the 3 Helicopters, we started putting them back together, but daylight slipped away quickly as we resided in a triple canopy jungle. The night sounds were very different from those city sounds we all were accustomed to in San Antonio, Texas. The weather was much the same, with the exception of being cooler at night underneath the jungle. This was a very rewarding mission because we actually helped the people of Guyana, and it truly felt good to see them all so happy; the only thing that scared me was when we would fly from village to village, the young kids would run toward the Helicopter so I would have to exit quickly and move them back for safety reasons, but they always greeted us with baskets of fresh fruit and fresh bread every day. We gave them all the candy we had from C-Rations or MREs. I don’t recall for sure what year we transitioned to the MREs.

In 1978, I was stationed in Korea; I was in Seoul picking up a few things as I was getting closer to my PCS back to the States; on my way back on the bus, I drank most of the way as I just wanted to rest when I arrived back at Camp Long located in Wonju Korea, I exited the bus went directly to the Quonset Hut where I laid down and closed my eyes in hopes to rest for the rest of the evening. A couple of later, a few guys from Alpha Company came by and asked if I would go with them out to the field and get a generator running that they were unable to get started. I was quick to tell them that I had been drinking and all I wanted to do was just get some rest. So they left, and it seemed like only minutes later, they came back, and this time my best friend was with them (Kieth Glover). God rest his soul, and they asked again; I responded again, “No, I have been drinking and want to rest. My best friend begged me, saying he would go along, and we could get the generator up and running and come back in no time, and we could all rest from there. So off we went; I was in the passenger side of an open M151 Jeep, I was the ranking person in the vehicle, and I had about three days before PCS; this was a bad idea. I fell asleep and woke up in time to see that we had missed our turn to the area where the field exercise was located; I told the driver he needed to turn around and go back to the road he had missed. The next thing I knew, we were at the bottom of a creek, and my best friend is dead, and everyone else, including me, are transported to 121 Hospital in Seoul; this caused a lot more damage than the loss of life and government equipment, I got extended and was facing court marshal, but nobody could remember all the details and CID, interviewed in the ER and everybody’s story was different. I still have nightmares about this very day.

My Favorite duty assignment has to be Fort Sam Houston, Texas; this is where I met my current wife of 33 years, we both had gone through bad relationships in our lives, and we both have three biological kids together. With those six kids, we have 17 Grandkids and 4 Great grandkids, We have moved several times since those days in San Antonio, but since then, my wife’s three children have made their way back to Texas. We ultimately decided to make Texas our home since this is where we met and where we experienced the most love in our lives.

My Least Favorite duty station has to be Fort Riley, Kansas; this turned out to be my first duty assignment in Aviation after re-enlisting for and reclassifying to an Aviation background. My brother and I had joined the military at the same time frame. However, he went indirectly, and I took the delayed entry program; his term did not last a full four years because they ultimately booted him out for sleepwalking. He and I were estranged for a while because while I was in Korea in the 1970s, I asked him to watch over my family, my daughter, and my ex-wife; little did I know that they had become exclusive, and when she was done with him she used him up the same way she used me up. So I asked him if he would like to come live with me at Fort Riley, and he was working double shifts to get bills paid up, thinking he would eventually make the trip, but he never did. Instead, one day after working a double shift, he was going to see a new girlfriend we all knew from High school and fell asleep and hit an Oak tree head-on and was in a coma for one year; they moved him to the VA, where he developed pneumonia and passed away so this turned out to be my worst assignment ever.

I would have to say that Basic Training really inspired me to become a soldier.

I still have nightmares from a Jeep accident I was involved in while stationed in Korea in the 1970’s my best friend was killed, and another individual in the back seat had a 2-inch hole in his head.

Everyone was injured and hospitalized.

I have to say the professional achievement that I am most proud of was retiring from the United States Army, meeting my wife at Fort Sam Houston, and making my final Rank of Staff Sergeant; she literally supported every decision I made once I retired on Friday, I went on terminal leave, went to work the following Monday and was on the road all year with the exception of about 23 days the first year. Then the second year was even worse. I was only home for about 11 days. On the 3rd day, I accepted a position in Hawaii so that I would not have to travel all the time and my wife and family could join me. Little did I know that Hawaii was so expensive to live in, and without receiving any type of per-deim, it was too expensive to live in.

The opportunity came our way again to move to Japan. This time per-deim was included, and better accommodations for my family, so once again, we made the move, and my wife supported it. I worked a total of 8 years as a Government contractor for ITS, CSC, and DYCORP each time I was either on or near a military installation, so it always felt as if I still was in the military. In 2004 I was working as the Lead Help desk for the Automated log book for Aviation and got an interview for a Civilian position back in Japan, so back to Japan we went; I served 15 years as a Federal Civilian Employee in different capacities but everyone my wife supported me every step of the way. I have had issues these past years with PTSD, Sleep Apnea, and other issues that caused me to ultimately decide to retire at an early age rather than be absent from work all the time and have to explain to people that I just have issues. But that, too, my wife has been supported, and she has ultimately made me most proud throughout my entire military and civilian career.

I have to say my Crew-member wings; when I joined the Army in 1976, I had no idea really what to expect. My Uncle Tommy God bless him, talked me into going into the Army, and I ultimately chose the MOS he was working on because I thought we might get stationed together one day, That never happened, and I stayed in the field a lot. Also, we had to tote weapons on top of all the LBE and any other equipment we had to wear during the field or training exercises. I hated the field, I even learned to hate camping, and my poor kids never understood why?

Long story short, I re-enlisted for Aviation and Transitioned into Helicopters; life was good, no more long field duty, no more M16s, 203 grenade launchers, or 50cals. But we did have 60 Cals and M9s, and door gunnery was a blast. It was like being in a movie. The only thing I am not happy about as far as my Crew-member wings go when I retired, I should have been awarded the Master wings as I had 16 years of Crew status under my belt, and your only required to have 10, so my DD214 only shows Senior Crew Member Badge and not Master Crew Member Badge.

I would have to say my Commanding Officer at Fort Sam Houston when I was assigned to the 507th Air Ambulance Company, Maj Greg Griffin. Maj Griffin was an Enlisted man during the Vietnam War and was a very knowledgeable individual. He was also a medical doctor and a UH-1 Test pilot and was a very approachable person as long as you did not get on the wrong side of him. He organized and executed the whole deployment of our humanitarian aid exercise to Guyana, South America. Then in 1990, he Organized and Executed the full deployment of 25 UH-1V Helicopters and three units, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Sill Oklahoma, and Fort Hood Texas, to the Gulf War for Operation Desert Storm and Desert Shield, Bringing 23 Helicopters and all but four people home. He went on after I PCS’d to become the Medical Service Corp Commander and was promoted to Colonel. He probably would have made General if we had not had casualties in Desert Storm.

Julio Lopez, Fort Sam Houston, TX, and Germany just loved to have fun and would love to contact.

John Quesada, Atlanta, Georgia, and Fort Sam Houston, TX, good friend, would love to contact.

Edward Mitchell E Co 5/158th HHC 3/58 Germany, a good friend would love to contact.

Don Cofer Fort Sam Houston TX This guy had a photographic memory. A great friend would love to contact.

Marcel Pieran Fort Lewis Washington 9th Sig Bn, a good friend, would love to contact him.

Carry Watson Fort Lewis Washington 9th Sig Bn/Ft Riley Kansas good Friend would love to contact him.

Absolutely in 1981, I was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, assigned to the 62nd Aviation Company, and my buddy Glen Boepple and I had gone down to Saxon Hausin for a night on the town. We did not return until the train started running again, so it was really early in the morning. I had just gone to bed, and all of a sudden, there was a knock on the door, so I answered the door to discover we were going through a health and welfare inspection. My room was almost at the end of the hallway, so now they were heading back down the other side, and everyone was coming out into the hallway, and they get to Glen’s door, and they kept knocking, and the dog started barking and acts crazy so now they really want Glen out in the hallway he keeps yelling Smitty go to bed we just got in.. finally they CQ gets the master key and lets them in, and Glen comes out they go in, and the dog goes crazy they come back out and tell Glen you should not keep cookies in your wall locker. So now and then, I think about it or see Glen on Facebook, which cracks me up.

I started out instructing automated Log Books. This did away with the awful penmanship of people trying to make entries in log books and then trying to decipher what exactly they meant. I did this as a contractor on a fielding team and went from Installation to Installation until all units were fielded, then the National Guard and Reserves were fielded. Then the system got upgraded, so I went through several iterations with that and ran the Help Desk at Fort Lee, Virginia, until 2004. I was offered a Federal Employee position as a Logistics Management Specialist at Camp Zama, Japan, until 2007.

Then moved to Aberdeen, Proving Ground, As an IT Specialist until 2008, where I took a position in Fort Lee, with a Laison Position in Germany for 2 1/2 years as an RFID MAnager and software development specialist. I returned to Aberdeen Proving Ground in 2013 and did that until retirement in 2019.

I would say it has kept me organized and on time. It molded me into a man from a 17-year-old boy. It took 20 years to accomplish that, and according to my wife, I still act like a kid sometimes. When I do get the opportunity to visit areas where some of my friends live that I have tried to keep up with, I definitely make it a point to stop by, even if it’s just for a cup of coffee. Sometimes my wife gets irritated if I mention stopping places, but she’s made a lot of this journey with me, so she understands a great deal of it, and what she doesn’t, she does her best to support me with it. I miss the camaraderie of some of the old stories and definitely the people themselves.

Get all the education you can. Strive to be the best at what you do and always do what you’re supposed to do. If somebody is wrong, don’t be afraid to call them out. Just be tactful and go about it the right way. Don’t ask somebody to do something you would not do yourself.

In many ways, It’s given me the tools I need through these questions to help me try and put together some type of reflection that I would not have ordinarily had the ideas to think of. Some of the people that have served at some of the units I have served I know, Not all of which I would contact, and some of the ones I would love to contact are not part of this at all, but maybe someday they may join. I wish the Basic training Photos were more available, and hopefully, one day, someone will join and upload the one I no longer have.