Jim McCabe
 

Drafted in December 1968, I was sworn in and then sent home for the Christmas holidays. I reported in January and went to Basic training in Ft. Campbell, KY. Following Basic, I attended MP school at Ft. Gordon, GA (half of my basic company was sent to the infantry, and the remainder were sent to MP school. We were told the selection was determined by test scores. I discovered later that my test scores were enormously and artificially inflated by the Army’s incoherent test-scoring procedures). My initial assignment was Aberdeen proving grounds in Maryland. At 103 lbs going into basic training, and 129 lbs arriving in Aberdeen, I was asked if I could type. I managed 11 words per minute, but I could use all 10 fingers and that was good enough. I was made a clerk. After a few months, I was assigned to Viet Nam, which would ultimately mean the First Air Cavalry Division. I arrived in-country in September. Outside the barracks where we were waiting in line to be processed into the Cav was a company clerk from a LRRP company in Phouc Vinh sitting at a table and reviewing our records (which we were carrying) as we approached the door. He looked at mine, saw those scintillating test scores, and signaled me to have a seat in another room along with about 6 or 7 other guys who had also been culled from the crowd. We were told by the clerk that he was getting short and was sent to find 2 replacements to train to take over his job when he went home. We were given a typing test. I managed 11 words per minute, but I could use all 10 fingers and that was good enough. I was made a clerk.

My first Sunday in country, I attended the local LDS (Mormon) church services. In the very small group was a captain (I no longer remember his name) who had been to BYU as I had and who majored in journalism and was in a company called the Public Information Office (whatever that was). A couple of weeks later the company clerk and I had a falling out (much too long a story to tell here) and the next morning I found myself standing with my packed duffel bag outside the company headquarters waiting to be loaded into a jeep and sent over to the local MP company (wherever that was). But there was a delay in my departure as a crowd began to gather outside the HQ and form itself into ranks. A jeep pulled up and a Colonel stepped out with a photographer in tow. It was an awards ceremony (somewhat of a regular thing among the LRRPs) and as the company 1^st sergeant read the citation and the Colonel pinned on the medal, the photographer grabbed a shot to be used as a home-towner. I had a chance to talk to the photographer afterwards (I no longer remember his name, either) and, upon learning he was from the Cav PIO (and finally learning what a PIO was, and did), I mentioned that I had met a captain from his company and that I had a 2-year associate’s degree in photography and that I was being transferred out of the LRRP company and might there be an opening in his company for someone like me? My memory is a bit foggy, as I don’t recall how much groveling I did, but he said he’d ask about it when he got back. He left, and the LRRP Company 1^st sergeant came over to chat with me. I mentioned my conversation with the photographer and the sergeant, being a very kindly man, ordered up a jeep to take me over to the PIO to see if there was any chance I could be assigned there. I had an impromptu interview with JD almost as soon as I walked through the door. 3 minutes talking with JD was enough for me. I absolutely, desperately wanted to stay right there. But always there is red tape (of course) and there could be no guarantees as to whether an assignment to a completely different MOS could be arranged. In the military, however, possession has a far better track record than being a mere 9/10 of the law. Upon learning that a effort might be made to bring me over to JD’s camp, the 1^st sergeant determined to pack me up and send me right back and drop me like an orphan on the doorstep. The company clerk (now sober) said he’d contribute to the effort by cutting orders himself transferring me over. I grabbed the duffle bag I had left leaning against the sandbag wall of the company HQ and tossed it into the jeep, which was still warm from having brought me back from my interview with JD. Before I left, the clerk–who besides (or maybe as a result of) being sober was now also a bit conciliatory–suggested I might enjoy an assignment with the PIO over one with the MP’s (DUH!!!! YA THINK SO????). So, less than an hour after meeting JD for the first time I was meeting him for the 2^nd time, only now with all my worldly possessions on my back. JD looked a bit surprised to see me standing there (didn’t I just leave?) blinked a couple of times, and then told me to go to the bunkhouse and find a place to set up. I’m certain I got on my knees and thanked the Lord for the day’s miracle.

My Cav assignments were a few days in Tay Ninh, 6 months in Song Be (FSB Buttons), and the remainder of my tour operating out of Phouc Vinh, with a short excursion into Cambodia during the Incursion. I left Vietnam in September of 1970 and, after taking a 2 week delay enroute in Hawaii (which caused considerable confusion at the out-processing base in San Francisco), I was mustered back into the real world.

I found a job in a local photo lab within a few weeks and worked there for 2 years. I also began photographing weddings in 1971 after being trained by a friend already in the business. Having the chance to spend a year doing photography for the Cav helped greatly in preparing me for those opportunities which, in turn, prepared me for other opportunities to follow. 2 years later, I went back to BYU to finish a 4-year degree in photography, and worked in a portrait studio while doing so. I then found a job as a medical photographer at the University of Minnesota. Another 2 years later and I left for a 2 year mission for the LDS church (to Idaho!) and, following that tour of duty, returned home and found another job within a few weeks at the U of MN in the Dental AV department. 2 1/2 years there was followed by 18 years running the photo lab for the Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology (microscopy images) and then 6 years in the Biomedical Image and Processing Lab, where everything went digital and I went from printing via enlarger to printing large academic posters on an HP Designjet 3500 (54 inch paper width) printer. Downsizing ended my University career at over 28 years in January and beginning February 1^st of this year I launched my own poster printing company: www.umnposters.com. (I knew a layoff was looming over the horizon, so in Nov of last year I purchased an HP 5500 60” Designjet). A significant number of my clients have stayed with me through the transition so I have yet to feel unemployed­–a circumstance for which I feel immensely grateful indeed. And, after 34 years, I am still enjoying a small but steady wedding photography business (www.weddingphotographyminnesota.com). Even now, with the current wedding photojournalism craze sweeping the country, my experience doing real–not contrived–photojournalism for the Cav is working to my advantage.

I was married in 1991 (age 44) and the marriage came with 2 girls, ages 5 and 8. The oldest is now married with a small son and the younger is looking forward to her 2^nd year at BYU beginning in a few weeks. My wife has a bachelor’s degree in English (writing and editing) and a Masters in Math Education and has done freelance work for software companies creating math lesson plans for Internet courses. I have about 4 years and a little bit to go to retirement and then I plan to…hmmm…I’ll have to think about that…

In the meantime, thank you, JD, for taking in a Man Without a Company those many years ago. Looking through the issues I have of the First Team magazine and the Cavalair reminds me of how fortunate I was to have my path cross yours and I can only imagine how much different my tour–and perhaps the following years of my life–would have been had things been otherwise.