2nd Questionarie from Alex Jordan

No problem. See my answers below. Pictures attached.

Michael L. Pearson
1907 Oak Knolls Ct SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52403
mlpearso@aol.com
H: (319) 362-1023 C: (319) 573-9188


-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Jordan
To: mlpearso@aol.com
Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 6:47 pm
Subject: One more favor?!

Mike - can you answer some more?! I actually had 2 assignments. One was to interview a Vietnam Vet, Korean War Vet & WW II Vet & compare their answers (that's the one that you ans. already).

The other assignment was to ask questions of a Vietnam Vet & someone who lived during the Vietnam war but was not a soldier. My mom's cousin already answered the part of the non-soldier. A guy my Dad works with was going to do the Vietnam Vet part, but apparently he was uncomfortable answering some of the questions because of what his role was in the war?? Could you possibly take a few more minutes and answer these other questions? Thanks - Alex

From: rejordan79@msn.com
To: rtjordan@rockwellcollins.com
Subject: Vietnam Vet Interview -
Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 06:54:38 -0700

Needs to interview two people and compare answers - 1 a Vietnam vet & 1 someone that lived during the Vietnam war era but was not a soldier.

For non-soldier:

1) What were you doing when the Vietnam war was going on?

2) Why were you not involved in service?

3) What are your views on the war?

4) Did you protests against the war?

5) How do you feel about the veterans who served?

6) Did you have any friends or relatives in the war and how did you feel about that?

7) What was the purposes of the war?


For Vietnam vet:

1) What was your rank?
2nd Lieutenant, promoted to 1st Lieutenant, then to Captain

2) What was your daily routine like? (Example: duties)
Get up about 5 a.m. Shower and shave. Eat breakfast at the Officer's Club. Go to the Operations center, where I would meet with the crew. We would get a weather briefing, then an intelligence briefing (where were the antiaircraft guns and any other threats and escape and evasion [E&E] procedures), and a mission briefing (what are we supposed to do that day ). Then I would brief the crew on what procedures I expected them to follow. Pick up weapons (.38 cal. pistol), radios, and extra batteries. Then take a crew bus (it looked like a UPS truck) to the flight line. Pre-flight the aircraft, looking for mechanical or electrical problems.
Fly the mission for 7 hours. Start-up, take-off, climb, cruise the mission area, do the mission, cruise home, descend, land, reset the aircraft. Debrief intel on what we saw and did.
Crew bus back to the barracks. (2 people in a room with 2 beds, a desk, two lockers, and a refrigerator.) Shower, go to an on-base Chinese restaurant for dinner. Possibly watch a movie at an out-door theater or watch a [very bad] band at the Officer's club. Check mail, then write a letter home. Sometimes, go to town via the 5 cent bus.


3) What was the food like?
Standard restaurant fare. The Chinese restaurant offered "Kobe" beef, but it was really water buffalo.

4) What was the most difficult time?
Hard to choose. Weather was a major problem for the monsoon half of the year. The most difficult was probably when I was chased by a Mig fighter out of Hanoi. I was the only plane in northern Laos at the time, when the radar picket plane told me that a "fast-mover" had launched from Hanoi, North Vietnam, aiming for me. I was unarmed, except for my pistol and he could fly about 10 times faster than me. There was a thunderstorm nearby, so I went inside of that. He could not follow there. The radar plane sent an RF-4 from Cambodia in my direction. The North Vietnamese radar saw him an pulled their plane back. The RF-4 was also unarmed, but they did not know that.

5) What did you think of the country? (ex: surroundings, people, weather, standard of living)
The surroundings were standard 3rd world. The people were friendly, possibly because they had to be. The weather was tropical: beautiful 6 months of the year and daily thunderstorms during the monsoon season. They did not have moving weather "fronts" as we do. Storms would grow in one spot, every afternoon, and dump a lot of water on that one spot. The standard of living was low, but adequate for most. The samlar (pedicab) drivers could live on 5 cents per day, cooking rice in the streets. A local could live in a western style house, wearing western cloths, for about $35 per month.

6) What stands out the most in your memory?
Again, hard to choose. The weather was really tough during the monsoon. We usually had to penetrate a thunderstorm to get home in the afternoon and they were big, tough thunderstorms. One time I had to shut down one of our two engines before flying home. According to the charts, I could hold 5,000 feet on one engine. As I went through the storm, I noticed my altitude was 11,000 feet and I was still going up as fast as the indicator would display. The planes were very old and leaked so badly that we wore ponchos in the cockpit and could hardly see the instruments. It was a tough flight.

7) Did you have any contact with Agent Orange?
I watched the C-123 "Ranch Hand" aircraft spraying below us. I tried to stay clear.

8) Are you glad you went and would you do it again?
Yes. It was the great adventure of my life.

9) What did you think of the people back home protesting?
I thought they were very mis-informed. They were basically supporting the enemy. We lost because of them.

10) Has the Vietnam vet been treated fairly?
Yes, until recently. The Obama administration requires vets to get their own health insurance, even if they were wounded in combat.

11) Was it worth it?
Yes. See answer 7.

12) Do you think there was other options in which the way the Americans fought the war? (ex: nuclear weapons, more troops, all out victory)
Absolutely. The politicians dictated every move and made no attempt to actually win the war. Once the politicians start a war, they should get out of the way and let the military end it ( as was done in WW II.)

13) What was the purpose of the war?
The purpose was to contain Communist expansion in Asia and prevent the Domino Effect.