Vietnam 1967-1971: Danger, Affliction, Toil, Heartbreak, and Stolen Years

The greatest American disaster of the twentieth century, the Vietnam War. President Johnson and Nixon both lied to the American public to gain political advantage over their opponent to win a presidential race.

As presidents, neither had a winning strategy to end the Vietnam war as American youth were sucked up in a vortex of deceit to serve a war fought with ill-prepared and deteriorating World War Two naval ships. These naval ships were plagued with personnel shortages, inadequate trained personnel, a lack of critical talent, lists of discrepancies and predictable casualties. I was a enlisted sailor who served on an ill-prepared aircraft carrier, forced to endure extreme mental and physical working, living, social conditions that included extended separation from my wife. The toil, affliction, danger and heartbreak lead to four stolen years of my life.

As a youth graduating from high school in nineteen-sixty-seven I had three choices. Wait for a draft notice to arrive in the mail (which was a sure thing), enlist in the military or flea to Canada. Reality, none were good choices.

My story details the life of an eighteen-year-old enlisted sailor whose life changed overnight on the day he reported for duty. The extreme working, living and social conditions aboard a naval ship deployed to a war zone where short of inhuman. The politics surrounding the war created untenable conditions I describe during my service aboard the USS Hancock. There are tens of thousands Vietnam veterans that could write a story equal to or worse than the story your about to read.