A veteran remembers

The first thing that Myron Koets noticed when he landed in Vietnam was the smell.

“It was a greasy, oily odor,” he said. “I soon learned that it was the stink of fuel oil being used to incinerate the contents of a latrine barrel.”

Myron and some fellow servicemen were loaded onto a bus. That’s when he noticed the second memorable thing about Vietnam.

“The heat was tropical, and the bus had no air conditioning,” Myron said. “Chain link fence had been welded over the bus’s open windows to prevent grenades from being lobbed into it.”

Beginning of a journey

Myron, who grew up on a dairy farm at Pipestone, Minnesota, was drafted into the Army at age 18 in January of 1966. After completing basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, he was sent to officer training school.

“I was commissioned as a second lieutenant and put in charge of a squad, but I wasn’t old enough to drink,” Myron said.

After a couple of intense interviews with the FBI, Myron was granted Top Secret clearance. He was given advanced training that included such things as how to deploy chemical weaponry and fire tactical nuclear artillery shells. In January of 1968, Myron was ordered to ship out to Vietnam.

“Our flight arrived in Vietnam at night,” Myron recalled. “As we flew over the country, I looked out the window and saw a bunch of fireworks and thought, ‘Holy cow!’ The guy across the aisle from me had done a tour, so I asked him about the fireworks. He looked out my window and exclaimed, ‘Holy cow!’”

Myron’s plane was about to land in the midst of the Tet Offensive.

The realities of war

The military base at Cam Ranh Bay became Myron’s duty station.

“I was assigned to manage the distribution of construction materials to the central third of Vietnam,” Myron said. “I worked with the Korean military, USAID, and Special Forces.”

Myron was on an inspection tour at Phan Rang Air Base when mortars began to rain down from the sky.

“Their bomb shelters were steel shipping containers that had been buried and covered with sandbags,” he recalled. “I dove into the nearest container and stayed there until the explosions stopped. Then I learned that I was in a container that was being used to store ammunition. I would have been vaporized if it took a direct hit.”

Living in a war zone changes the way a person thinks about time.

“You don’t think about what you’re going to do at Thanksgiving or Christmas,” Myron said. “You only think about how to make it through the next second and the second after that.”

After more than a year in Vietnam, Myron was sent to Turkey where he served as chief procurement officer for NATO.

“Everyone in the aircraft cheered when our plane lifted off the Saigon runway. I looked around and noticed that the plane was only two-thirds full. That illustrated the price we had paid in the form of lives lost.”

Finding love abroad

While in Turkey, Myron met a fetching young Iowan named Nancy.

“I had signed up for a program to teach at overseas military bases,” Nancy said. “I didn’t even know where Turkey was when I was told where I would be going. I had to look it up in a book.”

Nancy and Myron soon became engaged. They flew back to Nancy’s hometown to get married.

“Just before the wedding, I went to the lobby of our hotel to get something,” Myron said. “I was wearing my dress blues, and a guy mistook me for a bellhop and asked me to bring him a newspaper.”

After serving for two years in Turkey, Myron was sent to a military base in Thailand where he was put in charge of requisitioning supplies for U.S. forces in Southeast Asia.

“One of my most interesting experiences in Thailand was escorting 1972 Miss America Laurel Schaefer for a week while she did a USO tour for our troops,” Myron said. “Laurel is writing a book about her time as Miss America. She got in touch with me recently to ask about my recollections. It was fun to reconnect with her after all these years.”

Myron was on the receiving end of some vitriol after he returned home from his service in Southeast Asia.

“Our nation was deeply divided over the Vietnam War,” he said. “I was called some very nasty things. It ended friendships with people whom I had known my entire life.

“I appreciate it when people thank me for my service. But what I’d prefer is that they vote for someone who favors diplomacy over the use of force. The best war is the one that is never fought.”

Jerry’s book, "Dear County Agent Guy," is available at http://Workman.com and in bookstores nationwide.