The first one I'll talk about is my brother. He enlisted in the US Air Force towards the end of the Vietnam war. He enlisted because employment and job opportunities were not what he was looking for. The Air Force offered both an education and a beginning. After finishing basic training in Lackland AFB, San Antonio TX. His AIT (advanced individual training) was at Keesler Air Force base in Mississippi, he was assigned to Ellsworth Air Force Base where he did his full tour of duty. His MOS or AFSC was 328X3 -Electronic Warfare Systems. He achieved the 7th level of his AFS and was considered either a technician or specialist. He was on world deployment status the last year and half of his enlistment, but was not sent anywhere. The jobs performed by 7-skill level airmen are primary that of supervisory and managerial and reflect a decline in time spent performing technical tasks. A Electronic Warfare Systems Specialists job includes: installing, maintaining, and repairing avionic electronic warfare (EW) equipment, intercept and analysis equipment, and special purpose support equipment. Additionally, 7-skill level technicians are responsible for inspecting, troubleshooting, overhauling, and modifying EW and electronic intercept and analysis equipment. He left the air force as an E-5 or staff sargent, he was dual qualified for the flight line and shop, during his last year and a half he was a shop shift supervisor and also a flight line shift supervisor. 
My Cousin enlisted in the marines when he was 18 years old. He joined for about the same reasons as my brother – wasn't ready for college and his job was eliminated where he worked. They moved him into a job that was boring, lower pay and it became obvious to my cousin that he didn't want to do that the rest of his life. Also, the bar scene was becoming a regular part of his life and he didn't like it – change was needed.
So the next six years were spend as a marine., During this time he also got married, and the two of them went to his duty station in Japan. After his 6 year enlistment, he knew that 6 years was enough time as a marine, but didn't want to throw away the active duty time. The marine reserves was not a good option, so the Air National Guard it was. With his G.I. Bill benefits he attended school, and worked as a electronics technician. Due to the hiring freezes in the Federal government and implementation of the AGR (Active Guard/Reserve) in the late 70's and early 80's, my cousin found a job as a full time in the Wisconsin Air Guard at Truax Field. From this job as the deputy base engineer at Truax and as a second lieutenant, he continued to get promotions and different AFSC's, or Air Force Specialty Codes.
, which lead to positions at Volk Field and eventually the job of the Chief of the Asset Management Division at Andrews in Maryland along with becoming a full colonel, he happily retired from his military career, as he said – five years in D.C. is enough.
Last but not least, is Terry Freund. I don't have a picture of Terry yet, this is off of the Veitnam Memorial Wall. Radioman Second Class Terry Freund was the first cousin of my brother-in-law. Terry served on a Patrol Boat River (PBR - 40) in Vietnam. He was killed in action on 26 October 1966 in Phong Dinh, South Vietnam. He was just twenty-four years old. As far as I know he has been the only family member killed while serving his country. He was a hero in every sense of the word Terry was a “River Rat”. The mission of the Patrol BR or River Rats was to patrol Vietnam’s in shore waterways, inspect suspicious craft, and enforce curfews. Just 31 feet in length, the PBR was fiberglass-hulled boat that could achieve speeds in excess of 30 knots, but offered little protection to their four-man crews. PBR's were armed with machine guns, B-40 rockets, and recoil-less rifles. The Viet Cong had boat-hunting teams that regularly attacked PBRs on the narrower rivers and canals of the Mekong Delta. On 26 October 1966, one of these teams ambushed the PBR that Terry was on. A crewman on the boat observed a 20-foot-long sampan coming out of a canal with three Viet Cong aboard, Terry was manning the forward .50 caliber guns at the time. When hailed, the sampan refused to come alongside, and Terry's boat and a PBR 34 gave chase. After a couple of warning shots were fired, the PBRs opened up on the sampan as it beached, setting the craft on fire. The three men leapt from the sampan and dove into some underbrush as other Viet Cong in foxholes along the beach returned fire. From the articles I found Terry was the first on his boat to return fire, after reloading several times and being fatally wounded himself, Terry fought until he couldn't anymore. At least one account credits him with saving his boat and crewmen. Radioman Freund received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions.
