Uncle Sam Ain't Released Me Yet: Memoirs of a REMF - Softcover

Martin IV, Robert B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1523663979 ISBN 13: 9781523663972

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

From January 30, 1969 to September 2, 1970, Robert Martin was a soldier in the U.S. Army. When drafted, he and his wife were both practicing hospital pharmacists in their second year of marriage with a child on the way. After 16 weeks of Basic and Advanced Training and a 6-week stint of temporary duty at Fort MacPherson in Atlanta, he was sent to the Republic of Vietnam. His tour of duty in Vietnam lasted 12 months plus an additional 36 days (he extended his tour to 36 days to be eligible for discharge upon return to the United States). This book is about his coping with the challenges that he faced during his sojourn in the United States Army. Promised entrance into Field Artillery OCS (Officer Candidate School) upon completion of Basic and Advanced Training, he received orders for Infantry OCS, an invitation, which he immediately rejected, resulting in his shipment to Vietnam as a private soldier skilled in Artillery Fire Direction Control. Assigned to the 2/11th Field Artillery Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles, he was told his special skills were not needed. They also had no need for a pharmacist in an artillery battalion but the personnel officer asked him if he could type. Answering in the affirmative, he was assigned duties as Clerk for the Battalion’s Headquarters & Headquarters Battery. He served out his tour typing between mortar and rocket attacks. In this book, he tells of his day-to-day experiences and the effects they had upon him and his fellow soldiers. He tells of the decay in the soldiers’ morale and the increase in drug use as the war turned into a political football and the effects of anti-war protests in the U.S. were felt by the soldiers in Vietnam. He talks of coping and hanging on to his sanity in a world gone crazy around him. Knowing that every soldier who served in Vietnam has a different story to tell, the purpose of this book was to tell his own story about his time in the service and the effects it had on his life after the Army.

About this title

About the Author

Born in Savannah, GA on March 13, 1944, Robert Martin grew up in Southwest Georgia, graduating from Cuthbert High School and from the University of Georgia’s College of Pharmacy in Athens. After his discharge from the Army, he returned to hospital pharmacy at Memorial Medical Center in Savannah, GA. Three years later he took advantage of the GI Bill and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Mercer University’s Southern School of Pharmacy in Atlanta. He went on to teach for two years at Southern before serving as Director of Pharmacy for 8 years in a Gadsden, AL hospital. While in Gadsden he obtained his MBA degree from Jacksonville State University. He left Gadsden to pursue a career with Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois, in their Home Care Pharmacy business. He began writing this book while employed at Abbott. At age 55, he retired from Abbott and moved to Nacogdoches, TX, where he and his wife currently reside. At age 72, he finally completed the book.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1523663979
• ISBN 13: 9781523663972
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 308