Ramiro Alvarez,

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San Mateo Middle College High School

Ramiro Alvarez, Army Mechanic

(As a Vietnam veteran, Ramiro Alvarez now resides in San Francisco where he takes care of his aging mother. A big man with tattoos all over his body who at first sight, intimadates many people, but in reality, he is a kind-hearted handy man who just couldn't quite get back on his feet after the war was over. Even though he has seven children and four grandchildren, he lives a very lonely life now, since all his children are now living with their mother. Though it might seem like he has many troubles, this man does not regret anything he has done in life. He does not like thinking in the past, but rather to think towards the future, which is a way of life we should all emulate.

“I was just out of high school when the war was going on, in `68. I had a scholarship to go to Santa Cruz State but the war would stand in my way. I knew I was going to get drafted so I decided to enroll and do something I would like to do instead of getting drafted and being out there in the fighting. Protesting the war or even running to another country never even crossed my mind when I had to join. My mother offered to send me to Mexico but I didn't want to spend the rest of my life running so I just joined. I wasn't really for the war or against it; I just knew that I was going (to Vietnam) no matter what.

“I was an auto mechanic in the Military Intelligence Unit for about a year. I never actually went into battle. The only time I would go was to pick up a broken down truck or something, that's all. I was at the outskirts of the war. If you would go 20 miles, you would get to where the real fighting was going on, but the place where I was at was top secret and guarded all around so I felt pretty safe. It wasn't much different from being over here except that you had bombs dropping once in a while. One time, I was sitting in a three and one quarter ton pick up truck with one of my friends smoking a cigarette and a bomb dropped into the back of the truck. He jumped to one side and I jumped to the other as the bomb exploded. It was pretty funny (as he laughs a bit), actually, it was pretty lucky because I wasn't hurt one bit because the bomb exploded while it was on the truck so when we dove to the ground, the bomb exploded outward, not downward. It was a really frightening moment that I will always remember.

“I spent about a year over there and even though I was in that secured area, I did see a lot of disgusting things. It was a crazy year but I got through it. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for the soldiers in the actual combat. I'm just glad that I wasn't a part of it.

“I knew that part of the reason why the war was going on was because of the communism, but when I got over there to Vietnam, I seen a lot of the oil companies like Chevron and Shell and I started to realize that maybe the oil had a big reason to do with it too. It would seem pretty reasonable to me since a lot of the wars that the U.S. is involved in has to do with oil. It's kind of like the Middle East today. It was something that a lot of people don't even talk about know because the U.S. said it was because the communism but who knows. Lord knows I don't. This is just what I think from what I seen.”

“I knew a lot of people who kind of went a little crazy after they came back from the war but I didn't think any differently. I guess it was because I wasn't involved in the actual fighting. I'm just glad that I didn't have to fight in combat.

“Now that I look back at it, it's not something I regret doing. It just seems to be another part of my life that I had to live. I don't think it had that much of an effect on my life except that it prevented me from going to college. I know my life would have definitely have been different but what's the good at looking at what could have been if it's never going to happen.”