Vietnam veteran serves in Iraq

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Lee Smith
  • 506th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs
KIRKUK AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) --  Master Sgt. Terry Upchurch has a unique perspective serving in Iraq. He can compare his experiences here with those he had 35 years ago as an 18-year-old airman in Vietnam.

"I had been married only three months," said Upchurch, who is with the 506th Operations Support Squadron. "I was an air traffic controller, and they told me I was needed. I was very afraid. There were no hardened aircraft shelters for the aircraft, and our enemies were launching rockets at our aircraft. I was fortunate to have survived some of those blasts. Unfortunately, not everyone I was with was as lucky."

Upchurch said when he stepped off the plane here earlier this year, it took him back all those years.

"My first thought when I looked at Vietnam was, 'Everything is green; the buildings were green; the vehicles in the road were green; the uniforms people were wearing were green,'" he said. "Here, my first thought was, 'Everything is brown; the buildings are brown; the sand is brown; the uniforms are brown.'"

Upchurch, after leaving the active-duty force in 1974, went into the law enforcement-business full time until 1991.

"I decided to return to the service as a member of the Air National Guard in Florida," he said.

When Upchurch heard what was going on in Iraq, he had a feeling he would be called upon.

"I decided to volunteer because I had my own business, so it would be easier for me to go." he said. "Besides, one of (my fellow guardsmen) was a schoolteacher, and leaving would have created a void for the school.

"I told my wife I had to go, and she understood," he said.

He explained how different the conditions at his current base are from those in Vietnam.

"When we first got here, our facility was not meant for people to be in," he said. "There was E. coli in the showers, and we couldn't use them. We had to use bottled water for a while. We ate (meals ready to eat) for two months. In Vietnam, there were barracks for us to sleep in and showers for us to bathe in and a chow hall already up when I got there."

Another difference between then and now was in his experience.

"Then, the (noncommissioned officers) and senior NCOs took me under their wings; now, it's my turn," he said. "But here, just like in Vietnam, the teamwork has been great. Everyone understands that there is a job that must be done, and they get it done -- no complaining. We just pull together and (do) whatever needs to be done. From the first-term (airman) with two stripes to the commander, Lieutenant Colonel Brian Jurkovac, we all work well as a team."

He also said communication with loved ones at home is different now.

"I didn't have e-mail in Vietnam," he said. "I could only get word back and forth to (my wife) every 10 days. Today, I can talk to my wife every day."

He said the improvements the base has made since he first got here have been unbelievable.

"I am so happy to be eating food off of a paper plate (rather) than from a brown bag," he said. "The dining facility is fantastic. Getting air conditioning was also great. When we first moved into the building, there was no glass in the windows (and) no running water. The difference from then and now is like night and day."

Upchurch said everyone he works with is great, even though they often joke with him.

"At the cantina, people call me 'Noah,'" he said. "But it's all good-natured." (Courtesy of Air Combat Command News Service)