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There was other guys that went thru basic, AIT and then to Charlie Company together. I would like to hear some of those stories. A couple that was in my platoon that did this was Ed Davis and Bruno Cotter. I would like for one of them to get on and tell their story. If one of them does not, I will tell my version on this web site after they have had time to defend themselves.
Larry
Don’t you be dissing my Hooch Mate Fast Eddie or Brother Bruno……
A big Happy Birthday to you Tate.
Tomorrow is my brother Tate Hayes 67th birthday. Happy birthday Tate. I think I have mentioned it before, but Tate and I were drafted the same day did basic and AIT to Ft. Lewis in the same platoon. Went to Nam siting side by side. Went to Charlie Company and was in the same platoon (the best 2nd). He thought he got a sham job working with the ARVN’s about 2 months before our DEROS date. He was badly wounded while with them. I stayed in the field with Charlie Company until the day before my DEROS date. We both wished we had stayed in the same platoon our whole army career.
Great story about you and Tate, Larry…..Happy Birthday, Tate, Hope you have a great day!!
Did Tate get a medal for putting up with you all that time Larry? I am sure you both were “Tea Teetotalers” then. No beer drinking! Happy birthday Brother Tate and may you have many more.
Tate and I were not teetotalers during our time in the Army. During basic training we did not get any weekends off. The day we got out of basic we put all our shit in our duffel bag threw it up on our shoulder and walked to the other side of the parade grounds to our even older barracks for our infantry training. I think we got the afternoon off to get settled into our new digs. The next day we started our infantry training. In the second week of our infantry training there was a guy in our company in the floor above us that died in bed from spinal meningitis. They also had others that died on the fort. They quarantined the fort and we did not get any weekend passes. I did not see Tate again until the night before our flight to Viet Nam. When we get Charlie Company we are in the field all the time and no beer there. The only times we got to drink any beer together was on stand downs. We did drink a few beers two years ago when I went up and stayed with him for awhile. We both got medals for putting up with each other and it was called a good conduct medal.
I keep waiting for someone to say they did Basic and AIT at Fort Devens.
I can’t do it because I was part of the cadre for the original C 2/1 196ers, having done my basic at Fort Gordon about a year earlier.
I was at Devens in 65-66 but was also cadre and don’t remember a whole lot about it. Your name really is familiar to me though.
Was it WW II vintage?
What a coincidence! I heard from Ed Barcik today and he was part of the “Originalsâ€. We had exchanges some emails years back and then I did not hear from him for years until today. I have updated his contact information to the roster section. Ed wrote me some time back:I believe I was in C21 back in the early days when it was activated at Devens and took the boat ride through the canal to Nam and was in Tay Ninh.
Larry,
I have a feeling this won’t be any better but take a look at https://pipl.com/.
I have never given up on finding some of our brothers that we have lost contact with. Over the past weekend, I did a search for about thirty guys after I took out a subscription to another people search. The one I used when I first started finding guys is out of business and I just cannot find a good replacement search. They all seem to be about the same giving old or bad information locating guys. I still call and usually get the number has been disconnected, no answer or on rare occasions I get to leave a message that I never hear back from. But on most of the searches, it list at least two dozen people that has the same name and different phone numbers. Has anyone out there found a good people search program?
Leesville……..Fleasville……..Diseaseville…Yeah I remember Leesville …..Looks like I got there shortly after you left, Chuck Have you seen the movie “Tigerland” . it is about Fort Polk.
I did basic andAIT at ORD, Block buildings in basic, WW11 barracks for ait. Not a garden spot, never did stay around , always drove home on saturday (LA) back on sunday. Friend had his car there, very good man, he will be with us in Sept.
Took AIT at Ord and have found few that did. Coming out of Leonardwood for basic, I think the 11B’s got scattered everywhere. But I’ll say that Ord was very good news and very bad news. Bad news was the sand, but the good news was the 24 hour pass into Monterrey after our Saturday morning twenty-some mile force march.
Chuck,
I was there May-July of 1968 for basic & AIT. I was in Vietnam Nov, 68-Nov. 69. Went to Bloomfield, NJ to see my brother-in-law’s family instead of Leesville. Could see NY city from Bloomfield. That was the big time for a boy from Kentucky. Never made it to the city then but made it there numerous time during the 80’s when I lived on Long Island I upstate NY. Most of the guys were from the northeast & made fun of my accent & of course I thought theirs was funny. Got a charge when some of them got orders for the Red Stone Arsenal in Alabama.
Happy birthday Chuck…….I did basic at Fort Gordon and AIT at Fort Polk .
Bill
I’ll bet you used to go to the ville…… Leesville that is…..
We may have crossed paths down there. I was a platoon Sergeant pushing AIT there around May, June & July of 1969.
Why thank you guys…….
Here’s wishing Charles Missar a happy 66th birthday tomorrow.
What a young thing! I have almost 5 years time in the world on him! Happy birthday Chuck!!
They sent the real men to Ft. Dix, NJ for basic & AIT. That way we didn’t sweat as much as you did in Ft. Folk and could sleep in our two man dorm rooms during AIT.
Hey Bill,
How did you rate 2 man dorm rooms at Ft. Dix? I took Infantry AIT at Ft. Dix and we were in WWII barracls.
LT,
We did our basic in those wooden WW II barracks with everyone in one large room. I was on a top bunk and slep on top of my squared away bed so all I had to do was square it away before roll call. When we went to AIT we had brick barracks with two men too a room. As an E-2 they didn’t tell us why. Guess we were “special”!
Hey troopers,
Charlie two one is with the 2nd stryker something, 7th Inf. Div.
in Ft. Lewis. We should invite them to our reunion!! In the Iraq
war, C-2-1 had one guy awarded the DSC and another a silver
star. 2=1 was awarded the Valorous Unit Citation for Heip Duc.
Way to go guys!!
Extend them a invitation or get us the information on how to contact them and we can send them an invitation.
Good Old Ft. Lewis. I came back to the world in Aug 70 through Ft. Lewis. And after my 35 day leave (ya, I got an art15), I had to go back there as a new member of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Too much time in the motor pool, and too many bad F Troop memories, so I rode out my 6 months on Reg. Guard Duty. And lived on cashews and Olympia beer. The area wasn’t too enjoyable back then. I don’t remember being appreciated that much off base. But surely a great trip now. Is there anything left of Ft. Lewis today?
Russ,
You wouldn’t believe your eyes looking at Lewis today! It looks nothing like it did in my time there which was Jan 71 until Oct 74. All Px and commissaries are new. Housing totally new. The combination of F. Lewis and McGuire Air Base is really nice!
I did my AIT there and recall visit to 4th & Pike street to see the ladies……
LT and I visited it in 2011 and couldn’t find the housing we were in. Only thing I recognize is the airfield by the front gate. And Chuck, the location in question has always been (still is) 1st and Pike but I can understand the confusion, too much Oly and Rainer beer! LT, it’s McCord AFB, many of us flew in there on our way home,
Hey Terry,
I must have had a brain fart when I called it McGuire instead of Mchord. I came back through there on my way home from Nam. You didn’t mention the Space Needle as a ;possible site to visit. Still viable?
OK guys, I have a question. I was watching a documentary on Vietnam. Were any of you greeted by protesters when you got home. They spent quite a bit of time on this. When I left Ft. Lewis on 11/23/69 I was in dress greens all the way home to Louisville, KY. We could not land do to fog. Never in 12 1/2 months did I dream I would have trouble getting home. We flew on to Cincinnati and landed. I rented a car with two business men and they would not let me pay for anything. They dropped me off at a parking lot down town where my parents and wife were waiting. No one said a negative thing to me all the way home.
Bill, in April 70, I was in SeaTac airport waiting for my flight back to N.Y. I was accosted by 3 young guys . They started with the baby killer nonsense and we got into a pushing and shoving match. A cop broke it up. When I got on the plane, the other passengers treated me as if I had some disease [ yes ,I was in full dress greens]. When we landed, they kept blocking me from getting up;and I was the last person off the plane. At that point, I found that my wallet was gone with all my mustering out pay!! Regarding that documentary and all of the others including all the books; you will notice that after Hamburger Hill in May of 69, the rest of that year was dedicated to the protesters ;even though 69 was the second highest casualty rate of the war. I guess they forget about the NVA offensive in August . Remember Hiep Duc fella’s? Tooch
Remember that offensive well as well as the one in March, 69. Sorry about your experiences. I am glad our men & women are NOT getting that kind of treatment when they return today.
I would have done the same as you. I thought I was the baddest guy around at that time.
I forgot to mention earlier about my travels that I stayed in the same RV park that we stayed at when we went to our first Charlie Company reunion in Decatur, AL. The purpose of the visit of course was to see Don and Freda Perry, which we did on the trip. We had a great time seeing them. The motel where the convention was held has changed it’s name and is no longer a Holiday Inn.
Hey Larry,
I wonder if the hotel changing its name had anything to do with us being there? What a wild time that was! I remeber the round table full of beer bottles and “Gabby Hayes” girlfriend.
Terry,
You didn’t mention Pike Place Market which is a must see!
Love you guys!Ken
We are looking at Sept 8-11, a usually good time for the weather and still lots to see and do. One expression of interest is to see the big Boeing plant where the 747, 777, and the newest one the 787 planes are built. Open to suggestions for people to see things they may have seen in ads of this area. No trips planned for Ft. Lewis though as this may bring up bad memories of basic and AIT for some. Looking forward to some fun!
Tate Hayes and I went thru basic and AIT at Ft. Lewis before we both went to Charlie Company. There probably is not much there that was there when we was in our training. We had WWI barracks. I talked to Tate last week and he gave up being on the internet, land line only. He will come to the reunion if someone will pick him up as he does not like to drive in Seattle.
Terry,
Ft Lewis, I remember it well. Arrived in Seattle after 9 p.m. the day before my report date. My now I knew a little of how the Army worked. I figured they would put me on KP if I showed up early. Found a motel outside Ft Lewis and slept until arrived at 11 am on my report date and time of noon. I was correct. I don’t remember what but they put me to work immediately. I also got out of the Army there on Nov 23, 1969.
What’s good about being single and retired is that I have no real schedule to follow. So I can be sleepless in Seattle any time.Tooch
Anytime after Labor Day would be fine!
I think we can make it any time in sep. but labor day weekend.
Any time after Labor Day would be great. I should be able to work it into my schedule.
Any date is fine with me. I would like to make a strong effort to get there!
Terry Roberts is planning the 2016 reunion in September in Seattle, WA. I do not think he has set a date yet. Does anyone have dates that will not work for them? I hope the overwhelming replies that I am expecting will overwhelm this site.
HAPPY NEW YEARS 2016 TO ALL YOU C/2/1ERS OUT THERE!
Talked briefly with Danny Buskirk today. He’s in an Illinois rest home suffering from terminal cancer. Keep him in your prayers. If anyone would like to talk to him, Lou LaParl has the contact information.
That’s sad to hear. I met him at the Deadwood reunion when he traveled with Lou and Sherri LaParl. I wish him the best. Do you know where he is so we can help him deal with his health issues?
Merry Christmas to all my Nam brothers. Love you guys!
Merry Christmas to all my C/2/1 brothers and to all a good night!
Ken and Tai
Santa won’t be flying by us in a huey again this year, unless of course I have too much enriched eggnog, you all have a good safe Christmas, see you next year!
Merry Christmas to all my brothers.