Cary, cant believe you were at Rantoul, Chanute. I was there for tech school late 69. A really depressing place. My best day was when I found out that if you had an A average in your field of training, mine was mechanic, that you got to leave 2 weeks early. So I, who was a C student mostly in college studied every spare moment and too good believe I got to leave 2 weeks early. I used to go 50 miles south on the train to Champaign and Univ of Illinois on free weekends to see some normal people and try to stay sane. I had just come from that idealic type of college environment 3 months before. and Chanute was about as opposite as could be. I just felt like it was a waste of time and didnt have anyone there that I had anything in common with. I dont know what it would have been like if we'd have been in a war like 1942, but there was nothing to feel patriotic nor optimistic about Vietnam at that late date. My only objective was to get out of there. I was sleepy everyday and had a low grade fever, had to eat asprins, but coulnt take time off to go to doctor. When I got home I went to my doctor who said I had the worst case of mono he had ever seen. He diagnosed me even before the lab test result came in, and it took me 4 months to recover.
I never went to Vietnam, so never shot anyone or was shot at, but lots of people were not so lucky.