JD was in the Army 30 years ago. Things change over time. A while back someone posted his DD214 so I took a look at it, since there has been so much yelling back and forth.
Early Separation of Overseas Returnees
SEC VII CHAPTER 5 AR635-200 6PN 411
Dates of enlistment 2Jul72 - 19Apr73
Last Duty Assignment and Major Command: BTRY D 2BN 44th ADA EUSA
He was also rated as 'expert' on the M-16 and grenades.
His re-enlistment code was 1B.
A much older buddy of mine who saw a lot of action in the late 1960's and 1970's once made his views known about guys who got transferred to places other than combat zones during Vietnam. Someone else had made a derogatory comment about a Marine who had gotten fleet duty in the Med instead of orders to RVN.
He basically said that your final assignment was often like a game of roulette and your final destination was often none of your choice, being a regular enlisted guy.
If you got transferred to Vietnam, then you went to Vietnam. If you got transferred to to the Med, then hey, cool, way to go, at least he showed up, which is something many others didn't, like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, for instance.
If you get transferred to Korea, then you are under the gun because a fresh Korean War has been on the brink many times. During the Cold War, just being the in the military meant you were by default nuclear cannon fodder.
IMHO, whether you were a cook, EOD, SF, refueled planes on a carrier deck, at least you served. You worked hellacious hours for low pay, put up with a lot of cr^p for the good of the country, and you took your chances.
Lots of people get killed all of the time in the military, even in peace time. The US military is, by default, a hazardous outfit to be a member of in almost any capacity.
The lowliest deck scrubber on the USS Thresher died just as violently and became just as dead as the captain and weapon specialists, and that was just a test, no warzone, no combat.
To slam JD just because some clerk at the Pentagon changed his orders at the last minute, sending him to Korea, instead of Vietnam (which he was enroute to) is to slam all of the guys who showed up when called instead of hiding in college or running off to Canada or Europe.
If your service was honorable, fine. However, what you do after your service is a separate issue. Like they say, one "oh sh^t" can de-rail a thousand "atta boy's".