Jim Oliphant didn’t plan on going to war. The San Diego native was studying architecture at Arizona State when the draft caught up with him for the fourth time. After three deferments and stints considering the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, Jim finally enlisted … Continue readingASK A VET EP 40: What They Don’t Tell You About Flying the CH-54 Skycrane in Vietnam

Deanna Halterman Savage graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in 1958 and joined the Air Force Nurse Corps in 1960. Not because she had a plan, but because a split-shift job in an English hospital had two pot-bellied stoves and no housekeeping staff. She … Continue readingASK A VET EP 39: What They Never Told You About Being a Combat Flight Nurse in Vietnam

Richard Colborn didn’t set out to go to war. Growing up in a small rural community in southwestern Pennsylvania, one of six children, he simply couldn’t find work after high school. So in September of 1951, he did what a lot of young men did: … Continue readingASK A VET EP 38: What They Don’t Tell You About Serving in the Korean War

Paul Huber didn’t set out to become a combat veteran. He was a mechanical engineering student at Arizona State who took mandatory ROTC and figured it wouldn’t hurt to see what the Air Force had to offer. What followed was a 23-year career that took … Continue readingASK A VET EP 37: What They Don’t Tell You About Getting Shot Down Over Vietnam

Dick Van Allen made up his mind at age seven. A B-24 Liberator roared over his street in Willard, Ohio, low enough that it looked like it might clip the trees,  and that was it. From that moment on, Dick had tunnel vision. He took … Continue readingASK A VET EPISODE 36: What They Don’t Tell You About Combat Search & Rescue in Vietnam

Patrick Dillon grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, the son of Irish immigrants who brought with them a warrior culture forged through generations of resistance, sacrifice, and survival. Raised in a hard-hat world of cops, firemen, and construction workers, and later transplanted to Long Island, Patrick … Continue readingASK A VET EP 34: What They Don’t Tell You About Being a Combat Medic in Vietnam

Paul Colliton was born in 1951 into a military family on Long Island. Named after his mother’s cousin, a B-24 bomber pilot shot down over the English Channel and never recovered, Paul grew up carrying a name that meant something heavy. By eighteen, he was … Continue readingASK A VET EP 33: What They Don’t Tell You About Being a Combat MP in 1971 Vietnam

Butch Underwood was only 17 years old when he left behind a childhood marked by poverty and tragedy to enlist in the U.S. Army. Growing up in Atlanta, he experienced the devastating loss of his father at a young age, an event that shaped his … Continue readingEP 31: What They Don’t Tell You About Being a Tank Driver in Vietnam