The making of a combat medic

SWAN VALLEY – Bill Jones was in college in 1969 working on his degree in psychology when he was drafted. Apparently psychology was close enough to a medical degree for the Army. They gave him 10 months of training, proclaimed him a Combat Medic and whisked him off to Vietnam.

Jones recalled Jan. 3 was the day he had to leave for the war zone. Though he was with his wife and her parents he said, "I remember being just kind of numb, sitting and staring at cartoons on the TV, which was kind of a ridiculous thing to be doing. I guess I was kind of in shock."

Another distinct memory was of his first meeting with the doctor in charge of his unit in Vietnam. Jones said, "The first thing he said to me was, 'Do you know how to sew?' I said, 'No,' and he said, 'Well, you'll have to learn.'"

The reason the memory was so vivid for Jones was because throughout his 10 weeks of training the instructors had impressed on the recruits, "Medic's do not do stitching. Period."

Jones was a couple of years older than most of the guys in his unit. That plus his status as a medic caused the others to look up to him.

Despite his short period of training, Jones said, "The young soldiers thought medics could do everything and knew everything. I remember one time the guys called me over, 'Doc! Doc, come over here.' I went over and they were standing by an old foxhole and there was a snake in the bottom of the hole. They said, 'Doc, is this snake poisonous?' So I took a stick and poked at it and it struck. And I said, 'Yep, it's poisonous.' Boy they thought I was smart!"

Jones was attached to an infantry unit. Their main job was to patrol the demilitarized zone (DMZ) which created a border between North and South Vietnam. They experienced frequent mortar fire and rocket attacks.

"I remember one time," Jones said, "we had to go into the DMZ in the middle of the night because there was a reconnaissance patrol-four guys. They were supposed to just be observers, but they got seen and they were in a shootout with the North Vietnamese. We had to go in and pull them out. It was so dark. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face. My big fear was that I was going to get separated from everybody else or get lost. In the end we got them out without any particular bad incident, but that was a very frightening moment."

Though he was always fully armed, Jones said he didn't do much shooting because he was usually preoccupied with medical needs.

"The first real casualty I got was one of the South Vietnamese soldiers," Jones said. "They were training with us. We got attacked and everybody pulled away from the area the fire came from. I looked back and here was this young Vietnamese soldier laying out there in the middle. So I ran out to him and his leg was just hamburger. It wasn't blown off; it was just hamburger all the way down. Bullets were hitting the ground near us."

They eventually managed to get him back to a safer area and called in the medevac helicopter. Jones never found out what happened to that soldier or to any of the other seriously wounded persons he stabilized and sent off for further medical care.

"That was kind of distressing, not knowing how they turned out," he said.

Medics typically rotated between six months in the field and six months in the battalion aid station. Battalion aide stations generally had a medical doctor and a physician's assistant. While at the aide station, Jones did whatever needed to be done. He said one time he managed the station's pharmacy, ordering and stocking medications. Another time he worked as a physician's assistant. Most often he helped with ill patients or ones who needed to be stitched up or bandaged.

"There were a lot of hours and days of pure boredom too," Jones said. "It was either boredom or absolute, sheer terror."

Though Jones said he felt he was doing some good tending to the war injured, he was more than ready to leave when his draft obligation ended in 1971. He was eager to finish his master's degree in psychology. He also was excited to meet his four-month-old daughter, born while he was in Vietnam.

In 1972 having obtained his degree, Jones pursued a career in Public Mental Health for more than 30 years. His first position was in Glasgow, Montana. Later he worked in Eastern Washington as a Crisis Services Manager. He said he thinks in some ways his military experience helped prepare him for the position. Having learned to act quickly and competently in war emergencies made him more confident and able to calm down people in volatile situations.

When he retired, Jones moved to Missoula to be closer to his daughter and eventually settled in Condon. He also has a son, two grandsons and a granddaughter. He said his granddaughter just started college and "has her heart set on being a nurse." Jones feels that's a great choice because there is such a need for good nurses.

He also thinks going into the military is a good choice, especially for young adults who haven't yet decided what they want to do. "As long as they don't get sent to a war zone," he added.

Among the advantages he most appreciates is the medical care available to him as a military veteran. He said, "They've treated me really well and I'm very grateful for that. I hear some people complaining about the VA but they've treated me really great."

He also is happy about the recognition Vietnam veterans are finally receiving.

"Doing interviews about myself isn't something I would normally do, but I think veterans really do deserve some recognition and appreciation," Jones said. "When I got out of the Army, Vietnam soldiers were not very well thought of because the war was so unpopular. Most Vietnam veterans came back and just kept their mouth shut and tried to get on with their lives. That's why I go to the Condon Memorial and Veterans Day ceremonies and dinners, because I'm glad to see Veterans getting some recognition and appreciation."