Bobby Reeder won the lottery in 1969. He was draw No. 30 for the Vietnam War draft. In January, he reported to Fort Polk, Lousiana. for approximately six months of training. On June 15, he was sent to Da Nang and was there 11 months.
“I wanted to get out of there so bad,” he said.
The food was unpleasant, mostly cold when he got it. There, he learned to despise peas. He put ketchup and salt and pepper on anything he could. He also didn’t care for the “hooches,” the four-foot barracks that had a tin roof and a screen.
He won’t talk about what happened when he arrived. He’s only spoken of it with other veterans. What he will talk about is his job as a driver, transporting the hired Vietnamese ladies who cleaned and also worked in the clubs. He was a “road master.”
Later, he had 30 days leave and went to Fort Lee, Virginia. Linda, his first wife, went to meet him. He ended up getting a four-month early out from the U.S. Army.
“I came home, took leave, and still got out early,” he said.
Back in Houston, among all the friends he had, he never knew anyone else who served in Vietnam. Living in the West End, he found so many others, seven or eight from the local area, that also were drafted: David Kelly, Jim Garvey, Alvin Wilson, Leonard Haining and Neal Snyder to name a few. He also knew some locals in the West End who had sons killed in that war.
Reeder said he didn’t wear his uniform home on the plane; many Americans were unsupportive of the war and unfriendly to veterans, though they were drafted and didn’t have a choice.
He struggled to get his job back in Houston at a trucking outfit, though the company was required to give it back to him. A representative of the Veterans Affairs (VA) ended up intervening and telling his boss he’d show up with a U.S. Marshal and lock the gates. The matter was settled that evening, and Reeder went back to work.
Returning to normal life wasn’t as easy. Reeder and Jim Garvey used to share war stories. He’ll only talk about what he experienced with others who had been in it. Yes, he likely did have PTSD, and others didn’t understand. Sometimes, people thought it was fun to set off fireworks to try and scare him. Indeed, that would trigger a response, and for the Vietnam War vet, it was not amusing.
Could the war have anything to do now with his health problems?
Maybe. Reeder said they sprayed everything in Vietnam, and if it wasn’t Agent Orange it was insect-repelling chemicals. Like everyone else, he smoked cigarettes too. He smoked for 50 years, and in companies like Union Carbide, everyone did.
Back then, nobody thought of wearing masks, or using earplugs to protect one’s hearing.
And, as a diesel mechanic, he inhaled engine fumes for decades. Nobody back then worried about ventilation. And for heat, they threw anything that would burn in the shop’s stove. Working for Road and Bridge, he was always running a motor grader and surrounded by a cloud of exhaust.
Nearly 77 years old, things are different than they used to be.
