You Don't Lose 'Til You Quit Trying by Sammy Lee Davis & Caroline Lambert & Gary Sinise

Author:Sammy Lee Davis & Caroline Lambert & Gary Sinise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-03T04:00:00+00:00

8

WELCOME HOME, SOLDIER

On March 3, 1968, I landed at Travis Air Force Base near San Francisco. For the first time in a year, I walked on American soil. It felt good to be home, where everything was familiar and no one wanted to kill me. I was relieved I’d made it back alive and in one piece. I looked forward to putting Vietnam behind me and moving on. I looked forward to a life of no crouching in mud, no radio shifts or perimeter guard, and no fire missions or mortars coming my way. I still had eighteen months left in the military until the end of my three-year service, but right then, I couldn’t think past the thirty-day leave I’d been granted before reporting to Fort Hood in Texas. Thirty days to be with Mom, Dad, and the family. Thirty days to be with my buddies and chase girls. Thirty days of freedom. Thirty days of sleeping. Boy, was I ready for that.

I wasn’t prepared for what was coming.

For three days, I stood in line at Travis Air Force Base to get my shots and navigate the unbelievable amount of paperwork I had to sign to be allowed back into the United States. We were processed in groups of one hundred, and we walked or were bussed from one building to the next, wondering when we’d see the end of the red tape. On the third day, we lined up on a parking lot. We were given a choice: those of us who wanted to fly home on a military aircraft were instructed to go to one side, and those who preferred commercial airlines had to join the other line. Flying military cost nothing, but it meant going the long way round, being routed through Anchorage or Guam or wherever, before eventually heading to your home destination. That could take four or five days. Not one of us on that parking lot was willing to wait that long. We all fell in the commercial airline group prepared to pay for our transport back home. Then we were informed that, to fly commercial, we had to pack up our military uniforms. I was confused. I wanted to go home like my dad, my uncle, and my brothers had done before me, wearing my uniform. I had earned it. I had served my country, and I was proud of that. Why did I have to take off my uniform? That really upset me, but I could hardly question an order. I figured I could put it back on once I was at Mom and Dad’s house.

Fresh out of Vietnam, none of us had much civilian clothing. We were instructed to get on a bus that took us to the base’s commissary store to gear up. With the influx of troops coming home, the store didn’t have much left to offer. They had suits, but none of us wanted to wear a suit. So we settled for the only other outfit available:

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