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    Audible Click
    Audible Click
    Audible Click
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Audible Click

    By Ron Adame

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    About this ebook

    The students at Adames high school graduation were called the last of the war babies, those born during the final months of World War II. Little did they know that their own war was only a few years away and that it would hit them and the country right between the eyes. Adame believes his account mirrors the stories of thousands of guys and gals caught up in a point in history that challenged a generation and a nation. He was fifteen when the era of rock and roll, drugs, and free love began. As if all of that weren't enough, there was Vietnam.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateAug 8, 2012
    ISBN9781477256190
    Audible Click
    Author

    Ron Adame

    Ron Adame lives in Wichita, Kansas, and is retired. He is married with four sons and seven grandchildren. He served in Vietnam in 1969 with the 101st Airborne, Third 506th Infantry Battalion. Adame has often been asked what it was like to be in a war. Audible Click, the story of an average guy growing up in the sizzling sixties, answers the question.

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      Book preview

      Audible Click - Ron Adame

      © 2012 by Ron Adame. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 11/28/2012

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-5617-6 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4772-5619-0 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2012914109

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Contents

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      This book is dedicated to Daniel C. Case (1945-70).

      Danny was a friend of mine. The last time I saw him, he was headed out of the Wichita airport on his way to Vietnam just as I was coming home from the war. I didn’t stop to talk to him because I didn’t want him to feel any worse about going than I assumed he already did. Danny and all of his family and friends seemed to maintain a stiff upper lip, but I knew how they were feeling and why. Only six months later, in April of 1970, Danny lost his life fighting our war. During a battle involving his gunboat, somewhere in the Mekong Delta, he was hit, apparently by friendly fire.

      We all have a lot of questions about life. We find answers for some, but others are never answered or at least not completely resolved, the loose ends all tied up, the explanations reasonable. Some things never make sense, do they?

      Danny was always a very outgoing guy. And he was smarter than I was, though that may not be saying much. He just seemed to have a lot going for him. Maybe it’s true that only the good die young.

      Danny and I were among the many Americans born in 1945. At our high school graduation ceremony in the spring of 1963, we were labeled the last of the war babies, those conceived during the waning months of World War II and born shortly before the war ended. Everybody was so happy that the war was finally over. The world could now get on with life. Yeah, right.

      I wish I had stopped to talk to Danny as he was leaving, but I guess I didn’t realize he was going for good. A friend and I visit Danny’s grave site every year during Memorial Day weekend. His grave is across the street from a golf course. Danny was a good golfer. Every time my friend and I reach the number twelve tee box, we think of Danny. From that tee box, you can almost see his grave site.

      So this book is dedicated to Danny and all the other Dannys who fought the good fight but didn’t come home. To all of the men and women who served in this particular hell, welcome home and Godspeed.

      Chapter 1

      Boeing Wichita

      From September 1963 to April 1968, I worked at Boeing Wichita—except for the time I spent in basic and advanced infantry training with the National Guard in the winter of 1965-66. I liked the work, or at least the money. I was fresh out of Wichita High School West and had my first real job. Like so many others, I had held a few jobs, but nothing more than summer or part-time work. A full-time job afforded me a new car, and things were looking up.

      For America, however, things were getting out of hand in a big way. A cancer was spreading, and as with any bad thing in life, we seemed to think if we ignored it and wished it away, everything would return to normal.

      People don’t like to talk about things that can hurt or kill them. Most people don’t even want to discuss changes in their lives, even if those changes are for the good. People will say, We’ve always done it that way, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, or If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. People, in general, don’t like change. People tend to get in a rut, and a rut is a grave with the ends kicked out.

      At this time in American history, the mid-sixties, changes were coming—big changes, painful changes, deadly changes. And a whole lot of people were getting very upset. Imagine a cloud in the afternoon sky. Not a bright and fluffy cloud that looks like a bunny rabbit or a puppy. This time it’s a completely different type of cloud, one of those Kansas springtime clouds that are so ominous that the local weatherman Dave Freeman says, Downright scary.

      You remember them. You’re outside playing and your mom tells you, Get in the house right now. You know the tone of her voice means business and you obey. The TV is on and the weather guy is telling everyone to seek shelter right away. Even your dad has a concerned look on his face as he gets the flashlight and orders everyone to the basement. You’re scared. You know you’ll probably be all right, but what if? The unknown is out there, and it may be searching for you. Where do you hide? Can you hide? So many questions, so few answers. Answers that might come in twenty years or so or might never come at all. For many, this cloud was the draft and the storm was Vietnam.

      Back then, it seemed like guys my age had very little control over their future. That cloud commonly called the draft was upon us. The draft was so consuming for our generation that more than forty years later, guys can still tell you exactly what their draft lottery numbers were and recount the stories attached to them: Mine was 217, so I was kind of concerned, or Mine was 432, so I thought I would be okay. No news seemed to matter more than that draft number.

      There were loopholes that allowed you to get out of the draft. They were called deferments. Our government offered several ways to get a deferment. You could enroll in college or get married. Later, being married wasn’t enough; you had to have a child, or at least a bun in the oven. Then there was the northern deferment, commonly called Canada, an option not approved by the government.

      College was not my thing. School and I didn’t mix—kind of like oil and water, me being the oil. I could have chosen to get married, but again I was the oil. And by then, being married wouldn’t do; you had to be married with children. Guys and gals seemed to be building their own wars right here at home. Thousands upon thousands of young people were getting married, but not because they were in love and wanted to share their lives with each other and raise families. Now the objective was simply to keep Bobby at home. Many young people found out that manipulating the system, trying their best to beat the draft and keep Bobby home, was not a particularly good idea. The confusion created by the war in Vietnam pushed many people into terrible choices. The divorce rate at that time was astounding.

      It was a very confusing time. Many young men were making choices they didn’t even know existed months earlier. The country was certainly not united behind fighting this war. For many, there was no spirit, no will, no need, no want, nothing to fight for. But fight we did, and people hated us for it. Maybe it was because they knew they should have been there too, but somehow never made it. Not everybody felt that way, but many did, too many. You just knew something had to be wrong with this whole

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