Sunday, July 03, 2011

Last Vietnam-era draftee decides to retire

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We both went in back in 72... he was a draftee... I enlisted.  They made him a clerk, I signed for 4 years and Recon.  But then, he went on to become a Ranger with 3700 jumps and a record to be envied for those of the Combat Arms ilk.  Hearing loss got me reclassed into Chairborne.

Well done, Sergeant Major.

Last Vietnam-era draftee decides to retire

By KIMBERLY HEFLING - Associated Press | AP – 3 hrs ago
FORT BELVOIR, Va. (AP) — A homemade wind chime with the word "Whining" under a red slash is made from metal parts put in his leg after a parachute accident. Every Sunday he trims his crew cut. He didn't join the Army willingly, but as Command Sgt. Maj. Jeff Mellinger prepares to retire, he's grateful he found his calling.

Mellinger was drafted to fight the Vietnam War, and the Army believes he's the last draftee to retire, after 39 years. Most did their two years and left. But Mellinger had found home.

"I think I'm pretty good at it, but I like it. That's the bottom line. I love being a soldier and I love being around soldiers," he said.

Mellinger's motto is simple: No whining — as the wind chime attests.

When the draft notice arrived in the mail in 1972 at his home in Eugene, Ore., tens of thousands of troops had been killed. Anti-war protests were rampant. Draft notices were being set on fire and returning soldiers were treated as part of the problem. The military wasn't a popular job.

The return address on the letter was the White House. Just 19, he was impressed that President Richard Nixon would write to him.

"I opened it up and it said, 'Greetings from the president of the United States.' I said, 'Wow, how's he know me?'" Mellinger said, laughing. "It was a form letter that said my friends and neighbors had selected me to represent them in the Armed Forces and I was hereby ordered to report for induction."

Mellinger told the draft board there was a mistake.

"I ... told them I don't need to go into the Army, I've got a job," said Mellinger, who hung drywall for a living. "They just kind of laughed."
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  1. Lew10:17 AM

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