I went into the Army in 70 after college, so its a bit later then when this was going on. But I never saw anyone like this in the military. My unit was a micro wave radio operation and repair unit composed of top 1 or 2% education level guys, we spent over a year training before we went over to Vietnam or Europe. After training I was sent to ECOM HQ for almost a year, and then sent to Vietnam, when I arrived the war was being transitioned to Vietnamese soldiers or in case of our communications network to private contractors. So I was made into assistant officers club manager, sniff sniff I missed the war, and still miss it lol.
On a awesome day about 10 years after the war ended I was in Las Vegas on a vacation/ giving money to slot machines trip when I met my old sergeant and 2 of the Vietnamese girls who worked in our Club, not together. Sarge caught me up on his life, and 30 minutes after that I met the 2 girls who brought me up to date on escaping a commie country in a fishing boat. So happy to see them, and so sad to be told again about my girl friend Loc who was killed by the communists.