I graduated from the Intelligence Analyst course at Fort Holabird, Maryland as honor student. My rank was changed from platoon sergeant E7 to sergeant first class E7, which was only a change in title, not pay grade. I returned to Fort Hood and was assigned to G2, III Corps, working on contingency plans.
A short time later, I received orders for the Military Advisor Training Academy (MATA) at Fort Bragg, North Carolina to be trained as an advisor to the South Vietnamese army (ARVN). Nobody I knew really wanted advisor duty, including me. The toughest part of the training was learning Vietnames language. It is a tonal language having up to five tones for a word. As I had a hearing impairment I didn’t do well. With about ten days to go I received new orders assigning me to the 55th MI Company supporting G2, I Field Force Vietnam (IFFV) which was a U.S. Army corps level headquarters. I nearly cried with happiness. I didn’t find out until it was nearly time to rotate back to the U.S. that I had been requested by the G2 operations officer (who I’d worked for at III Corps) when he saw my name on the advisors list. He never told me, but I found out from the G2 operations sergeant.
First Vietnam Tour
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. 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. It usually took 18 years. 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.