Tom Cleary:
CLASS OF 1967
Paradise Valley High SchoolClass of 1967
Phoenix, AZ
Arizona State University - EnglishClass of 1979
Tempe, AZ
Bishop Quarter Junior Military AcademyClass of 1959
Oak park, IL
Tom's Story
After winning my fabulous all-expense paid tour of Southeast Asia where I languished on the beach of the South China Sea in beautiful Da Nang while working at the Navsupact Hospital 12 glorious hours each night in the intensive care unit, I got transferred to detachment Ben Luc way south on the magnificent tributary of the Mekong River known as Vam Co Tay where I was at first one of only two corpsmen to man a sickbay offering two sick cal periods per day, also inspecting and reporting on cleanliness of the mess facilities, killing rats, big F...ing rats, evacuating wounded when called for and for some brief periods relieving other corpsmen at ATSBs in Moc Hoa and Go Dahau.
When I returned home I looked like any other high school aged kid growing his hair long, attendi...Expand for more
ng community college and trying to get high, meet girls and forget, forget, forget the Navy and that period of my life. I learned pretty quickly to bury the part of my story that included being a vet and didn't talk to anybody about it until 1981 or so
when the subject came up with my peers in grad school where I was getting official degrees in fantasy called liberal arts english and medieval and renaissance poetry. Soon I was getting the same pay I earned working low pay hospital jobs for teaching english at the community and vocational college level.
Did I make it any further up the ladder? Did I finally ask my government to assist me in any way.
Do I hold a cardboard sign beneath a local viaduct? Tune in next week for the rest of the story. Don't forget to ask.
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