some photos from Vietnam 1965-70; First Infantry Division Recon Platoon 1 - 16

[Stand_watie]

http://devour29.com/

Friend from work gave me this link. He took a number of the photos at the website.

[Hawkmoon]

Interesting!

Nobody ever told me I qualified for the Vietnam Campaign Medal.

[RoadKingLarry]

Dad has one of those. He was USAF. Although he claims he was never "in country" though did make 2 unnacompanied remote tours to Alaska during that time. There is an absolute dearth of pictures from the 2nd tour while we got covered up with pictures and slides from the first trip. He tells lots of stories about his first Alaska tour but damn few about the second trip. I have somewhere a picture of him in dress uniform with that medal hanging on it. Makes me wonder what the od phart was up to that he wont talk about.

[vaskidmark]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Campaign_Medal

The Vietnam Campaign Medal is a military campaign medal of the former country of South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam). Established in 1966, it was awarded to members of United States, Australian, and New Zealand military forces serving six months or more in support of Republic of Vietnam military operations. The medal was the most commonly bestowed foreign military award to United States Armed Forces personnel prior to the Gulf War.[1]
The Vietnam Campaign Medal may also be awarded to any service member who, while serving outside the geographical limits of the Republic of Vietnam, provided direct combat support to the Republic of Vietnam armed forces for a period exceeding six months. This stipulation most often applies to members who performed Vietnam War support from Thailand and Japan. In such cases, a U.S. service member must have been awarded either the Vietnam Service Medal or the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (for service in a Vietnam campaign) to be eligible for the Vietnam Campaign Medal. For those members who were wounded by an enemy force, captured by the enemy in the line of duty, or killed in action, the Vietnam Campaign Medal is automatically awarded regardless of total time served in Vietnam.[2][3]

Many USAF units were assigned to West Coast/Alaska bases and then had sub-units/personnel TAD'd that met the requirement for "performing Vietnam War support".  Some folks I know who were "assigned" to Elmendorf spent a few days flying to/through Japan and/or Thailand with "stuff" that was destined for Vietnam, then a few days/weeks "back home" at Elmendorf.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  They all are qualified to wear the Campaign medal.

As opposed to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Service_Medal

The Vietnam Service Medal is presented to any service member who served on temporary duty for more than 30 consecutive days, or 60 non-consecutive days, attached to or regularly serving for one, or more, days with an organization participating in or directly supporting ground (military) operations or attached to or regularly serving for one, or more, days aboard a naval vessel directly supporting military operations in the Republic of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos within the defined combat zone (DoD 1348 C6.6.1.1.5. revised September 1996) between the dates of 15 November 1961 and 28 March 1973, and from 29 April 1975 to 30 April 1975.[2][3] [4] For the United States Navy, vessels operating in Vietnamese waters qualify for the Vietnam Service Medal provided that the naval vessel was engaged in direct support of Vietnam combat operations. The United States Air Force also grants the Vietnam Service Medal exclusively to flight crews that flew missions over Vietnamese air space, even if the home base of the flight mission was hundreds of miles away requiring in flight refueling.
The Vietnam Service Medal is retroactive to 1961 and supersedes and replaces the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) which was issued for Vietnam service prior to 1965. Defense Department regulations do not permit the simultaneous presentation of both the Vietnam Service Medal, and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, for the same period of service in Vietnam, however the AFEM may be exchanged for the VSM upon request from a service member. Veterans of the Vietnam War may exchange the AFEM for the VSM and have military records updated to reflect the difference by contacting the National Personnel Records Center, which is the current agency that provides record corrections reflecting an AFEM upgrade to the Vietnam Service Medal.[1]

stay safe.