Vietnam - 1969

This picture of a sunset, in an harbour in Vietnam, of which I have long forgotten its name, was taken 15-Apr-1969, 39 years ago this month. ( I'm finding this hard to believe since it only feels like yesterday to me at times.)


With that feeling in mind, it was 1968 when I received my notice that I had been "drafted" to service in the United States Army. ( what to do... ) There were some choices, one could travel to Canada and ask for asylum; one could refuse to go and be tried by a court and jailed for a certain amount of time; one could be against war for religious reasons; one could ignore the draft notice; if one were in school, that would work, or one could "check the box." The last one was referring to a question asked on one of the written exams that was given during the "physical" which determined whether you were fit or not to serve your country. The question was about whether you had any homosexual tendencies or not. It was a "black and white" question, and nothing in between. To give you a little history of the times, homosexuality was diagnosable as a "mental-disease" and acting upon it was against the law. It wasn't until 1973 that this "disease" was taken off the books and became a variation of normal. So... this was 1968 and those were my options. Running away to Canada would have shamed my family and their families. Refusing to serve would amount to the same thing. I was in enough fights with my peers growing up that trying to pass as a non-violent pacifist would never work no matter how I felt about fighting or killing for that matter. It all boils down to whether I would have the cojones to "check the box" or not. I chose not to check it and was drafted knowing full well that as a gay man, I could have gotten out of it if I pushed it. One has to remember that gays were only known as stereotypes during this time. "Weak, limp-wrist ed, lisping, effeminate," you get the picture. ( not that anything is wrong with naturally having one of those traits ) I was not recognized as having any of those "mannerisms" and worse, couldn't even fake it and one truly needed to present one or more of these actions to convince them you were gay. There were straights who were checking the box by the way. ;-)


This is a picture of me piloting the "Delta Queen," ( how ironic, eh?! ) a ship of 130 feet in length and handling 300 Tons. The fellow who took it had to yell at me to get my attention due to the very loud engines, hence, my look.
Here are two of the ships I used to run up and down the Mekong River and some of its tributaries. The Mike Boat is around 69 to 70 feet long and the "Delta Queen" is behind it. Our company had one more sister ship of the "Delta Queen" named the "Beta-Saigon." It had a more affectionate nick-name which was, "The Wrinkle Neck." I will have to explain that one another time, and hopefully, will bring a laugh. ;-)


We were all getting ready to jump into the water on this very, very hot day. Temperatures have been over 120 degrees F. ( 48.8 degrees C. ) I recall now that if the temperature dipped below 80 degrees F. (approximately 28 degrees C.) I would start shivering and would need to throw a blanket on myself. Now, I do not like hot weather and start wilting from 70 degrees F (around 22 degrees C.) and up.


This was a picture of me posing in front of our M-14 rifle rack in Basic Training. Basic Training for me was at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. I weighed around 205lbs. in this picture and did not lose an ounce during Basic Training. When I came back from Vietnam I was 158 lbs. and hadn't realized I had been losing weight until I tried putting on some of my "civilian" clothes and the belt didn't have a hole in it that would hold up my pants. You may be able to see the difference from this last picture and some of the previous ones. Those pictures were taken in April and I left Vietnam in early January of 1970 so I had continued dropping weight without knowing it.

Would I change my decision if I had to make it today? First of all, I was against the war then and I am against this debacle our "Fearless Leader" has gotten us into in Iraq, now. I hope he and his minions pay for this in the future. That being said, today, I would be proud to "check the box." This country is not ready for us and doesn't want gays and lesbians tempting their straight soldiers. :-) I have found from personal experience that it is usually the straight boys coming on to you, if you look receptive. The gays I knew did their jobs and weren't "trying to undermine the morale of the troops." ;-) Most were worried they might be caught and stayed away from the temptation. A straight boy, after the deed was done, would have afterthoughts of guilt, ( because they are not gay of course ;-) and it has to be someone else's fault they were weak and forced to do it. ) and you can guess who would have been blamed. It will be great when this is not a problem anymore. One only needs to look at the many rapes that have been brought to light recently, to know that there are huge problems in morale with many of the straight soldiers and using gays or lesbians as the scapegoat is not holding much water anymore. Perhaps, in my lifetime, we will see this government appreciate all of its citizens and especially those, no matter their orientation, who are willing to lay down their lives for their fellow man.

Today's thoughts are on the present "troubles" in which my country continues to find itself and there are many questions as to why we are doing this when there are so many other pressing issues. This song says it well, sung by Pink, entitled: "Mr. President."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW7SrM1RfB0