Randy Schumann:  

7 Aug 2015 After Ganesha High, I worked as a welder at a trailer hitch company and in late October 1970 received a letter from the US Government. The letter started.... Greetings, you have been selected by your friends and neighbors to serve in the armed forces of the United States of America. Yes, I had been drafted! After induction at Ft. Ord, and Basic training, It was determined that my strongest skills were best used in the signal corps. After a stint in Vietnam I left the Army only to re-enlist a year and a half later. I was able to choose my career upon re-enlistment and chose aviation, specifically helicopters. I spent three years in Fulda, Germany from May 1979 to May 1981 working on and flying in scout helicopters along the East German border fence, guarding the frontier of freedom. Although it is forbidden by regulations, our pilots allowed the crewchief to fly the aircraft occasionally. The East German border troops were known to crack a shot off at our helicopters once in a while, and if the pilot were to be hit by rifle fire, he wanted to know that the crewchief could either land the helicopter or fly it back to base. Yes, we flew that close to the border fence! When my tour in Germany ended I was assigned to a direct support aviation unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, (I'm still here living in Fayetteville). A year after arriving at Ft. Bragg, I met the love of my life and married, moving from the barracks to a 3 bedroom ranch style house on 7/8 of an acre. A highlight of my 7 year tour with the direct support unit was a one month tour in Egypt (I had been promoted to Sergeant by then, and had progressed from aircraft mechanic to Technical Inspector) putting on a firepower exercise for the Egyptians. We did get one day to tour Cairo and th...Expand for more