Michael Dennis Eakin Born in Portland Oregon 20 December 1947 Entered US Army Jan. 1966 Did my basic and AIT training at Ft. Ord, California. First duty station was at the 588th Signal co. at Ft. Irwin ,California. Hot ,dusty and remote. Plenty of sand and not much else. Thirty six miles from town. Thought at the time there cannot be another place as bad as this, however our whole company was shipped to Vietnam, found it... The ship ride over was not very pleasant. Arrived in Vietnam in May of 1967. Re-assigned to the 587th signal co. First in country duty station was Cu Chi. Did not know at the time that charlie had underground tunnels below our camp. Second duty station was Dong Tam on the Mekong River delta. Third duty station was Dau Tieng, the Michelin rubber plantation. Fourth duty station was Tay Ninh. I was a lineman (polejockey). Very interesting trade especially if you didn't know how to climb poles. That's where OJT came in. Tore up my back and knees on two different occasion as we were under mortar and rocket attack and I had to gaff out and do some 30ft drop and try to gaff back in. Does not work very well as you do damage to your knees and back. Survived Vietnam and returned to the world in November 1968, too young to vote and too young to drink, go figure.