With apologies and thanks to those of you who actually served in Vietnam, my Army tour of duty--09/70 until 06/72--consisted of basic training at Ft. Lewis, WA, followed by 19 months as the company clerk of the medical unit ( read, "Radar" O'Reilly) at Ft. Huachuca, AZ.  I was drafted, even though my number in the first Draft Lottery in 1970 was 215--high enough that under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been drafted.  However, I had received my initial draft notice in the fall of 1969, but my induction had been postponed because I was in graduate school at the time.  That induction notice trumped my high Lottery number the following year.  I had applied much earlier for Conscientious Objector status, but that request had been denied by the Evanston draft board.  Nevertheless, maybe because of that request, as well as a brief interview about what duties I was willing to perform that I had on the day I was inducted, I was one of perhaps 10% of my basic training company who were not assigned an "infantry" MOS (military occupational specialty), sent to Ft. Ord (I think) for more infantry training, and destined for Vietnam.  Instead, I was assigned to Ft. Huachuca, where my wife Emily joined me.  We rented private housing off-post, had 7:30-to-4:30, Mon-Fri jobs, and lived five hours away from my in-laws in Prescott, where we visited on weekends every couple of months.  It was pretty cushy duty, considering how much worse it could have been!  Then to boot, I was discharged three months early as part of the Army's Reduction-in-Force (RIF) in 1972, as the war was winding down.  I consider myself VERY lucky.

SP5 Patrick Furlong

Pat, I appreciate your service, and I thank you.

Thanks, Donna.  As I said, I was very lucky, and I learned a few things about myself in the service--not a bad thing.  Emily and I are looking forward to seeing you next week.