After being outfitted with jungle fatigues and canvas boots, we were dispersed to our respective assignments, which in my case was I Field Force Vietnam, located in Nha Trang, a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the south-central coast of Vietnam. When I arrived, the headquarters was temporarily housed wooden complex of the 5th Special Forces. We later moved into the “Grand Hotel” on the beach.
My duty at IFFV was as G2 Air Sergeant whose function was to help manage aerial reconnaissance missions in our corps area for both Army and Air Force aircraft. I once sent an Army recon aircraft on a routine mission which resulted in it being shot down killing the pilot. That haunts me to this day
While in that position I was given an opportunity to compete for promotion to Master Sergeant E8 and was selected. Making E8 with only 11 years of service was really unusual. At the time, the average was 18 years.