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Bill Bridges - Member since 2022
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US Army Career 5/22/1968 to 5/14/1970
I was 19 years old when I was drafted into the US Army. I reported to my local draft board at 5:30 AM on May 22, 1968, in Dayton, Ohio. After physical examination and testing, I was loaded onto a bus for Cincinnati and the airport. I was flown to Atlanta, Georgia, then transferred onto a bus for Fort Benning, Georgia near Columbus, Georgia. I was assigned to the 3rd Army's 1st Training Brigade, 3rd Battalion, Company B.
Our barracks were of the WWII variety, wooden, on stilts, with a wood fired hot water and heating system. Heat was not needed in June and July where the humidity in combination with the heat and red clay were nearly unbearable. Fort Benning was the Home of the Infantry, so I had a pretty good idea what was ahead for me in service to my country.
Graduation ceremonies were attended by my family members who had driven from Dayton, Ohio to see me graduate. I found out the next day that they lost my PT scores, so I was held over, and had to take the PT test again. I worked in the armory during the next two weeks until my orders came through for AIT at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
I was assigned to the 1st AIT Brigade at Fort Dix for the next 2 months. There were no graduation ceremonies, at least one that I can remember. I received orders for TDY training at Fort Bliss, Texas. This was a 3-week training assignment where I became qualified in the use of the REDEYE missile, a should fire, ground to air, heat seeking missile that looked a little like a 3.5MM Bazooka.
I graduated 2nd in my class and was given the opportunity to fire the weapon in an International Demonstration at White Sand Proving Grounds, New Mexico. I successfully hit the beryllium pot being towed behind a drone rocket ship.
Next, I received orders to report to Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 13th Armored, 1st Armored Division, Fort Hood, Texas. The personnel NCO that I initially met at Battalion HQ eventually Doug became my friend. Our friendship lasted through my assignment and even after I returned to the USA after my hitch was over. He was instrumental in getting me assigned to Battalion HQ in the S2. While there I processed security clearance and worked in the motor pool. Doug quickly got me promoted from PFC to SP4. He was also instrumental in my upcoming assignment to South Korea. Somehow, he kept me off of the personnel assignment levee for Vietnam.
In April 1969 I received orders to report to HHC, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division, 8th Army at Camp Kaiser, South Korea. Camp Kaiser was 2 miles from the DMZ and the furthest East camp that the US Army operated in. I was assigned to the S2, given my prior experience at Fort Hood with the S2. It was an idea job for me. I discovered, when my Command Sergeant Major, Felicisimo Pilola, a survivor of the Death March of Baton, told me that to work in the S2 I needed to be an NCO. He took me under his wing and trained me on what would be required of me when I went before the promotion board. I passed the board and earned my stripes on June 16, 1969, a mere 13 months after I entered the Army.
My Korea experience was being in a mountainous region where the summers were extremely hot, and winters were the coldest I had ever experienced. All the roads leading to and from the camp were all dirt roads. If you wanted to get anywhere fast you needed a helicopter. By road to the 7th Division HQ was a 3-hour drive by jeep.
My work was mostly arranging for nightly recons of the surrounding and DMZ perimeters. Debriefing followed the next morning and I collected and reported all intelligence to 7th Division HQ. I never encountered any North Korean personnel trying to invade the South, however, there were some that made it through and caused trouble in and around Soul. My best friend there was Sergeant Rock (real name Glen Luce). Rock had married a Korean woman from a previous tour in Korea. He spoke perfect Korean and we had great fun with that when down in the local village.
My tour ended on May 13, 1970 and I returned to the US and was separated from the Army at Fort Louis, Washington.
DUTY STATIONS
22 MAY 1968 - Co B, 3rd Btn, 1st Tng Bde, 3rd Army, Ft. Benning, GA
Graduation 26 JUL 1968, Infantry Training, 11B10
17 AUG 1968 - 1st AIT Bde, Ft. Dix, NJ
Graduation 12 OCT 1968, Advanced Infantry Training, 11B10
13 OCT 1968 - Battery C, 4th Trng Btn, 1st AIT, TDY, Ft. Bliss, TX
Graduation 1 NOV 1968, 11B1Q
22 NOV 1968 - HHC, 2nd Btn, 13th Armored, 1st Armored Division, Ft. Hood, TX, 11B20
4 APR 1969 - HHC 1st Btn, 17th Inf, 7th Inf Div, 8th Army - Camp Kaiser
13 MAY 1970 - DROS to Continental US, Ft. Lewis, WA, 71B20
Camp Kaiser was adjacent to Unchon-ni Korea
on the northeast branch of the Han river.
In the wake of the Korean War, between 1953 and 1971, the 7th Infantry Division defended the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Its main garrison was Camp Casey, South Korea. During this period, the division was restructured in compliance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions tables of organization. In 1963, the division's former headquarters company grew into the 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division. On 2 April 1971, the division and its brigades returned to the United States and inactivated at Fort Lewis, Washington.
I was a member in those latter days, posted at Camp Kaiser near the central part of the DMZ. My tour ended in May 1970, shortly before the Division was recalled to the USA.
I was 19 years old when I was drafted into the US Army. I reported to my local draft board at 5:30 AM on May 22, 1968, in Dayton, Ohio. After physical examination and testing, I was loaded onto a bus for Cincinnati and the airport. I was flown to Atlanta, Georgia, then transferred onto a bus for Fort Benning, Georgia near Columbus, Georgia. I was assigned to the 3rd Army's 1st Training Brigade, 3rd Battalion, Company B.
Our barracks were of the WWII variety, wooden, on stilts, with a wood fired hot water and heating system. Heat was not needed in June and July where the humidity in combination with the heat and red clay were nearly unbearable. Fort Benning was the Home of the Infantry, so I had a pretty good idea what was ahead for me in service to my country.
Graduation ceremonies were attended by my family members who had driven from Dayton, Ohio to see me graduate. I found out the next day that they lost my PT scores, so I was held over, and had to take the PT test again. I worked in the armory during the next two weeks until my orders came through for AIT at Fort Dix, New Jersey.
I was assigned to the 1st AIT Brigade at Fort Dix for the next 2 months. There were no graduation ceremonies, at least one that I can remember. I received orders for TDY training at Fort Bliss, Texas. This was a 3-week training assignment where I became qualified in the use of the REDEYE missile, a should fire, ground to air, heat seeking missile that looked a little like a 3.5MM Bazooka.
I graduated 2nd in my class and was given the opportunity to fire the weapon in an International Demonstration at White Sand Proving Grounds, New Mexico. I successfully hit the beryllium pot being towed behind a drone rocket ship.
Next, I received orders to report to Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 13th Armored, 1st Armored Division, Fort Hood, Texas. The personnel NCO that I initially met at Battalion HQ eventually Doug became my friend. Our friendship lasted through my assignment and even after I returned to the USA after my hitch was over. He was instrumental in getting me assigned to Battalion HQ in the S2. While there I processed security clearance and worked in the motor pool. Doug quickly got me promoted from PFC to SP4. He was also instrumental in my upcoming assignment to South Korea. Somehow, he kept me off of the personnel assignment levee for Vietnam.
In April 1969 I received orders to report to HHC, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division, 8th Army at Camp Kaiser, South Korea. Camp Kaiser was 2 miles from the DMZ and the furthest East camp that the US Army operated in. I was assigned to the S2, given my prior experience at Fort Hood with the S2. It was an idea job for me. I discovered, when my Command Sergeant Major, Felicisimo Pilola, a survivor of the Death March of Baton, told me that to work in the S2 I needed to be an NCO. He took me under his wing and trained me on what would be required of me when I went before the promotion board. I passed the board and earned my stripes on June 16, 1969, a mere 13 months after I entered the Army.
My Korea experience was being in a mountainous region where the summers were extremely hot, and winters were the coldest I had ever experienced. All the roads leading to and from the camp were all dirt roads. If you wanted to get anywhere fast you needed a helicopter. By road to the 7th Division HQ was a 3-hour drive by jeep.
My work was mostly arranging for nightly recons of the surrounding and DMZ perimeters. Debriefing followed the next morning and I collected and reported all intelligence to 7th Division HQ. I never encountered any North Korean personnel trying to invade the South, however, there were some that made it through and caused trouble in and around Soul. My best friend there was Sergeant Rock (real name Glen Luce). Rock had married a Korean woman from a previous tour in Korea. He spoke perfect Korean and we had great fun with that when down in the local village.
My tour ended on May 13, 1970 and I returned to the US and was separated from the Army at Fort Louis, Washington.
DUTY STATIONS
22 MAY 1968 - Co B, 3rd Btn, 1st Tng Bde, 3rd Army, Ft. Benning, GA
Graduation 26 JUL 1968, Infantry Training, 11B10
17 AUG 1968 - 1st AIT Bde, Ft. Dix, NJ
Graduation 12 OCT 1968, Advanced Infantry Training, 11B10
13 OCT 1968 - Battery C, 4th Trng Btn, 1st AIT, TDY, Ft. Bliss, TX
Graduation 1 NOV 1968, 11B1Q
22 NOV 1968 - HHC, 2nd Btn, 13th Armored, 1st Armored Division, Ft. Hood, TX, 11B20
4 APR 1969 - HHC 1st Btn, 17th Inf, 7th Inf Div, 8th Army - Camp Kaiser
13 MAY 1970 - DROS to Continental US, Ft. Lewis, WA, 71B20
Camp Kaiser was adjacent to Unchon-ni Korea
on the northeast branch of the Han river.
In the wake of the Korean War, between 1953 and 1971, the 7th Infantry Division defended the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Its main garrison was Camp Casey, South Korea. During this period, the division was restructured in compliance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions tables of organization. In 1963, the division's former headquarters company grew into the 1st Brigade, 7th Infantry Division. On 2 April 1971, the division and its brigades returned to the United States and inactivated at Fort Lewis, Washington.
I was a member in those latter days, posted at Camp Kaiser near the central part of the DMZ. My tour ended in May 1970, shortly before the Division was recalled to the USA.
SGT Bill Bridges
HHC 1st Bn 17th Inf Regiment 7th Infantry Division company HQ
Map of surrounding area of Camp Kaiser Camp Casey