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A VIETNAM PERSPECTIVE by Captain Phillip J.
Metres, Jr., USNR (retired)
- As a young boy, I was struck by the
patriotic fervor of my uncles (4) and father who served in the Army, Army
Air Corps , & Merchant Marine during WWII . Later my 2 other uncles
served in the Army & Navy. There never was any question in their minds
about their duty toward their country as immigrants who happened to be Arab
American. They inspired me to join the NROTC Unit at Holy Cross College in
Worcester, MA where I majored in psychology and received a scholarship for 4
years . Commissioned as an Ensign in 1964, I was assigned as Asst
Communications Officer aboard USS PURDY (DD734), A WWII destroyer where
after completing refresher training, went to the Mediterranean Sea ,Red Sea
and Persian Gulf in Dec 65. We visited Jiddah SA, Dubai, UAE, Bahrain &
Iran. I was struck that my folksy Lebanese Arabic wasn't quite fluent enough
to be understood.( I knew no other Arab Americans til I joined the Naval
Reserve & met CDR Al Nejame in San Diego in 73). Culturally I knew I had
a very rich heritage which I found difficult to adequately explain to
others.I felt completely American & yet had no other peers I could talk
about my heritage with & felt like a duck out of water.
My Next assignment was a destroyer school ship out of Newport RI as
Communications Officer, Gunnery Officer,s & later Acting Weapons Dept
Head. In 1967 I received orders to Naval Advisory Group Vietnam via 3 months
training in San Diego. On arrival in VN I was assigned as the Communications
Security Officer on the staff of the Commander Naval Forces, Vietnam and
then transferred to the Naval Advisory Group as a shipboard advisor aboard 2
RVN Navy patrol gunboats .My cross cultural orientation helped me
enormously. When my ship was inport in Saigon, I would teach English at an
orphanage in Saigon & enlisted some of my peers to teach & help in
other ways. We patrolled the Rung Sat Special Zone and off the coast of
South VN and performed boat searches & gunfire support for VNN forces.
The Tet Offensive turned the military situation very hot, but the VC &
NVA suffered enormous battle damage & loss of forces.
Upon return to CONUS I taught counterinsurgency at the Naval Amphibious
School in Coronado CA & was released fm active duty in July 69.
I affiliated for 22 years with the Reserve & served aboard USS
Shields(DD596) as Ops Officer & USS BAUER(DE1025) as Prospective
Executive Officer. I held various shore duty reserve billets including
Action Officer for Deputy Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Concepts
branch, CO of Volunteer Training Unit, and Emergency Management billets as a
Naval Liason Officer to FEMA , Commander Naval Center Grt Lakes, & to
4th US Army. I retired as CAPTAIN USNR (Retired) in 1991. The most
meaningful input as an Arab American came as a strategic concepts officer
where I had a closer understanding of the intricacies of international
affairs in the Middle East.
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