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The Big Red One
Episode 2998 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature an interview with U.S. Army Vietnam Vet Bob Shackelford. He served in Vietnam from March of 1968 to December of that year
During the interview, he disclosed that he was a highly skilled artillery survey specialist. He was originally assigned to the 9th Infantry Division, however things changed the night he arrived at Long Binh. The base was under attack by the VC and all the arriving G.I.s had to hustled to building for safety.
Since he had a critically important job title of artillery survey specialist his orders were changed and he was sent to the 1st Infantry Division because they were short of Artillery surveyors. Bob spent about half his time with artillery units in the field and then was called to run a special fire control operation in downtown Saigon for the rest of his tour.
Poor Bob, for his new demanding assignment, he was forced to bunk in a downtown Saigon hotel to be near his job site. Offsetting the benefits of being transferred from the jungles to the big city was the fact he had to dodge more sniper fire than he encountered in the jungles.
Bob served his country well both in Vietnam and his other assignments in Korea and Germany. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam. Bob left the Army after his tour in Vietnam.
He said that his time in the Army including his tour in Vietnam made him a better man and he said he would do it all over again if called.
Bob Shackelford is one of those Vietnam Vets who helps prove a point often made on this podcast – “The Vietnam Veteran Generation is as great as any that ever heeded the call of duty from out country.
Do yourself a favor and listen to his full interview on this podcast to better understand the Vietnam Veteran experience.
Listen to Episode 2998 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Bob Shackelford.
