Page 104 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2021- Online Magazine

Michael Mings
any people think when
you are discharged
Mfrom the Armed Forces,
your fight is over. Often, that is
not the case. For my dad, Michael
Mings, U.S. Army Sergeant E-5,
Vietnam 12 August 1970 - Friday
13 August 1971; primary MOS
11Bravo, Infantry, another battle
was just beginning.
Dad was born and raised in
Hobbs, NM – the baby of a
family with five older sisters and
a much older brother who had
served in the Korean Conflict.
He struggled throughout school,
but he did enjoy fixing things. He
was always looking for things to
repair.
Dad tried to enlist at age 17 but
was too young. When he was
almost 20, he and his sweetheart
104 Lubbock Senior Link
My Dad, the Fixer
by Katie Crowley
Rhetha married. up and out. Halfway up, they
“I chased her until refilled their canteens from the
she caught me,” little stream but were distressed
he confesses, but later when they discovered
just two months a dead water buffalo lying
later, Michael was upstream from where they’d all
drafted. been drinking.
Boot camp was at After five months of being
Ft. Ord, California, “a grunt”, Michael had to be
and immediately Medivacked to Chu Lai for severe
after completing stomach pain. While in the rear,
AIT (combat he was reassigned to an aviation
training), he was supply depot for the remainder
sent to Cam Ranh of his tour. Mess hall food was a
Bay, Vietnam. He lot easier on his stomach.
went to “I Corp”,
Chu Lai, Americal, When Michael’s year was up, he
23rd Inf. Div. B accidentally overslept and missed
Company 4th/of his first flight out. That meant
the 31st. he had to clean urinals his last
day in Vietnam. He finally flew
His unit at Cam out on Friday August 13th, 1971.
Ranh Bay was Friday the 13th might have a
deployed to the negative connotation to some, but
jungle for three to the Mings family has a different
four weeks at a time. Like many perspective. Due to crossing the
of his fellow soldiers, it was international date line, our dad
during those jungle tours that he flew home from Vietnam on, not
was exposed to the dangerous one, but two Friday the 13ths!
defoliant Agent Orange.
Most of those days looked the
same. The unit was sent to a
location to hide out and wait for
the enemy. They were trained to
sit very still, and many of them
subconsciously employed a blank
gaze called a “1000-yard stare”.
Once, they were sent “three
clicks” out into a box canyon
but they got stuck. It looked like
there was no way out. Michael
had become friends with a Kit
Carson scout (a former NVA who
had defected and been trained
in intelligence). His friend led
them to a corner of the canyon
where some stone steps led them