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MY MILITARY SERVICE,
My name is William Dean and this my HOMEPAGE for my military service, excluding my tour in Vietnam. I served with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam from Nov'69 to Aug'70. You can view that page by clicking here.
I advanced in rank from a Private E-1 to Captain in 3 years.
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Welcome
This is the story of my time in the U. S. Army. I enlisted in June '68 right out of high school. Vietnam was in full swing, the Tet offensive had just ended and there were marchers and rioters in the streets of America.BASIC TRAINING
My basic training was at Ft. Bragg, NC from June to August '68. Basic training, well that was 8 weeks of being shown what bad physical shape I was in and then being reshaped into the type soldier the US Army needed me to be. I was taught my right foot from my left. I learned how to shave every morning, even though at 18 I really didn't need to.
 1st Platoon, Co. D 9th Battalion 2nd Brigade, United States Army Training Center, Ft. Bragg, N.C. July 1968 My basic training platoon |  Pvt William Dean standing to the right of SSG Cox, our Platoon Sgt. |
I was taught how to kill my enemy using an M-14 rifle, a bayonet, a hand grenade and my body if need be. I learned that I did not like the smell, feel or taste of tear gas. I received training in how to drive military trucks and jeeps because my records showed that I had a North Carolina drivers license. This, as it proved, saved me from some of the less friendly training in the months to come. I was called upon to drive the mess and ammo trucks out to the ranges while the company marched.
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| I qualified EXPERT with the M-14 and received a weekend pass. Since Ft Bragg was only 30 miles from home in Southern Pines, you know where I went. During this time I was advised, due to my scores on the military entry exams, that I was qualified to go to Officer Candidate School. A year earlier I had tried to obtain an appointment to West Point. My high school grades and an accidental injury to my right hand prevented that. Now I had my chance. At the end of basic I was promoted to Private E-2. I was told that since I had qualified for Infantry OCS, I was being sent to advanced infantry training. ADVANCED INFANTRY TRAINING I was sent to Ft Dix, NJ for advanced infantry training. At Ft Dix we learned more about how to survive on the battle field. More training with the M-14 rifle and the new M-16 rifle. Training with the M-60 machine gun and other infantry weapons. We received more training in small unit tactics. How to fire and move as teams in combat. As in basic, the fact that I had a military drivers license got me out of some details, KP for one. It also kept me from having to march to the ranges and kept me out of the Survival, Evasion and Escape course. This proved a God send as I got to see what happened to those captured during the training. I drove the POW truck along the roads in the training area. At times I was stopped so that the "enemy" soldiers (played by post support unit troops) could throw captured trainees into the back. I then drove to a POW camp where they received some really rough punishment for being caught. I graduated from AIT in Oct'68, was promoted to Private First Class (PFC E-3), and received orders to report to Officer Candidate School, Ft Benning, Ga. in November. This gave me a week at home to get ready. My father, being a retired Air Force NCO, took me to Ft. Bragg. He told me that for OCS all my uniforms would need to be new and that I would need extras of everything. We had the Infantry School "Follow Me" patch sewn on and then had all the uniforms pressed. After arriving at Benning, my father's help proved to be of great value. I reported to Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Ga. in November '68. I was 18 years old. I was assigned to 2nd Platoon 53rd Company OC, 5th Student Battalion. |
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My Vietnam page
E-mail me @ grandaddydean@yahoo.com
