Chapter 5: How did your time in the military changed you as a person?

My parents, especially my mother, taught me to respect others. It doesn’t matter if someone is very wealthy or very poor, we are all equal as people. After joining the military, I was able to visit foreign countries. I was able to learn firsthand how true that was.

Before joining the Air Force, the only foreign country that I visited was Vancouver BC, Canada. It was no different than living in Washington State. After basic training in Texas and then technical school in Colorado, I was sent to my first permanent base in Viet Nam. It was a complete cultural shock. I became friends with people who were “dirt poor,” literally. Their “kitchen” floor was dirt. They didn’t have a refrigerator, so we drank Ba Muoi Ba Beer, or “33 Beer” on ice. That was my first of three times that I got food poisoning.

The most impressive thing that happened to me was at Qui Nhon beach in Nam. It was about a 45-minute drive from Phu Cat, where I was stationed. Most of the guys would hit the beach and eat 50-cent burgers or one dollar steak and fries and drink 25-cent beer. I wanted to walk around the town and get the feeling of how the people lived. There was a house that was lower than the road. I looked down into the window and saw a round table with several children and an old “grandma” eating lunch. Each person had a small bowl of rice and one dish of greens in the center. I couldn’t believe how little food there was. The grandma looked up at me and offered me her rice. I wanted to cry, I could have been eating a hamburger deluxe and a cold beer for less than a dollar, and here she was offering me her food. I will never forget the kind look on her face.

I was also stationed in Thailand, Okinawa, and Mainland Japan. Of my 22 years in the military, I spent 18 years in Asia. I tried to learn the customs, culture and a little of the language at each location. These experiences have opened my mind and taught me to accept people who are not the same as me. Since I have lived in Japan for more than half my life, the culture and customs have become part of me. Of course, I am a foreigner living in Japan, but I sometimes feel like a foreigner when I visit the States.

Photo on left was at Qui Nhon beach and on the right was at Cam Ranh Bay beach in Vietnam.