Chapter 20

The next few months flew with dizzying speed. They only had enough time off between basic training and technical school to attend Tam and Jake’s wedding. However, they were able to pose for pictures with Don in his service dress uniform (dress blues) and Lanh in her white áo dài with white and gold embroidered vest, and one with her in Tam’s red and gold áo dài but Don drew the line at digging out the western wedding dress. “It was pretty!” Lanh pouted.

“You said it was uncomfortable and hot.”

Lanh nibbled at his earlobe and said, “It has a very sentimental blood stain.”

Then it was off to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls for intense training on aircraft electronics and radar systems on the F-16 aircraft. Don selected the F-16 because it was a little aircraft and he figured it wouldn’t draw a lot of attention, like the F-15 or the F-22. “You’re a babe in the woods,” his first instructor grinned. “These little buggers are everywhere. Everyone’s flying them! They were built to be annoying little gunfighters, but they turned out to be the best little bomber on the face of the earth.”

It was a whirlwind three months, and they were only going to get one week after his graduation before he had to report to his new duty station. Don and Lanh had a small apartment that was partially furnished, and they spent a bit of their wedding money on a TV. They drove down to Texas in the old GMC, which held together better than they expected, and they were able to carry all their belongings in the back. While Don was in Basic Training, Ralph fitted custom made blocks on the clutch, brake, and gas pedals of the GMC and Lanh was able to drive it fine, sitting on a booster cushion.

In the morning, she would drop off Don at his technical school flight and then she would head over to the education office and see what educational opportunities were available for them while he was on active duty. The number of colleges that offered extension services for the servicemen and their families was amazing. “Is there a course of study that you are interested in?” asked the clerk at the education office.

“Speech pathology,” said Lanh without a pause.

“That’s an interesting course. Is there a special reason?”

“Yes, I learned to speak Vietnamese first, now when I get excited or scared my accent becomes more pronounced, my dad says I sound like a Saigon bar girl. If it’s real bad I can’t speak English at all. I want to find out how to prevent that.”

The woman at the education office was Asian also, and she agreed with Lanh. “It happens to me too. I learned Korean first and when I get upset it all falls apart. Dad calls me a juicy girl when that happens.”

Lanh laughed and said, “is that anything like a Saigon bar girl?”

“Same thing, only difference between them is twenty five hundred miles.”

“That reminds me, are there classes for speaking Korean? My sister in-law said I should do that because Don and I will probably end up there.”

Sadly, they went the other way. Three weeks before graduation, Don was handed an enormous stack of papers, and his heart sank. He was being sent to the 480th Fighter Squadron, the Warhawks, at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. They were hoping for a stateside base like Shaw in South Carolina, Luke in Arizona, Andrews in Virginia, Moody, in Georgia. There’re all kinds of opportunities for an airman in Germany, but they were promised a stateside base to get Don experience before going overseas.