"I keep telling everybody, it was like you have four branches. I couldn't swim. I'd never been in an airplane. And I figured the Marines work too damned hard. So that just left the Army. And my brother was in the Army. And I figured, if he can do it, I can do it."
Description of Interview:
Doug Markley grew up on a farm in Kansas, moved for a couple years to Wichita, where he finished high school, spent a year in college, and then enlisted in the Army in 1966, knowing he was going to be drafted anyway. He did basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and then AIT for infantry at Fort McLellan, Alabama. He arrived in Vietnam early in 1969, and spent time at Bearcat at Dong Tam with the 9th Infantry until the whole division went home. Because he had been in country less than nine months, he was transferred to II Field Force near Saigon for the remainder of his tour. Markley recalls an abundance of rice, not taking malaria pills, a New York biker, and everybody bleeding red. He remembers working seven days a week, walking and walking and walking (in swamps, rice paddies, and grass, which he reckons were preferable to mountains), the same thing one day after another. He fondly recalls a day driving around Saigon and its suburbs with a friend. After returning home, Markley finished college with degrees in biology and chemistry, then went to OCS and made a career of the Army.
Key Words: Fort McClellan, WACs, 9th Infantry, Bearcat, Dong Tam, II Field Force, Starlight scope, M79 grenade launcher, M60, Officer Candidate School (OCS), Fort Benning, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, chemical school, Fort Riley, 4.2 inch mortars, Gama Goat
Unit:
5th Battalion, 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division
Service Location:
IV Corps, Bearcat, Dong Tam
Read the Complete Transcript of this Interview.