Recognition: Views From a Veteran
By Kim Shuskey
Jim Turner was born in Pittsburgh Pa and has fond memories of sledding down the hill that he lived on during the winter months while growing up. When he was eighteen-years-old he found himself living in Boston and traveling the world. His travels included Florence, Italy, Rome, Paris, London, and Brussels. He remembers the education he got from visiting the Louvre Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
Also when 18, Jim decided that it was time to join the Army. In those days (1964) Jim recalls there being two ways to join the Army. You could just simply enlist which meant a good school and a good tour for three years or you could volunteer for the draft for two years. Either way you got an education.
Jim recalls his first day on September 14, 1964, going for his shots and witnessing people fainting. He would spend eight weeks at Fort Dix, New Jersey for basic training then he was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, an artillery base. The base was located in a town called Lawton, Oklahoma and Jim’s MOS or Military Occupational Specialty was artillery surveyor.
Jim worked with an instrument called a theodolite which measures 2 pieces of data, azimuth and elevation. These are angles used to define the apparent position of an object. Establishing these coordinates is paramount when it comes to artillery. Jim spent fifteen weeks in advanced survey school at Ft. Dix.
In March of 1965, Jim was sent to South Germany where he was stationed at Bamberg, Germany in Bavaria. During the year and a half that he was there, he noticed that the language, although German, was not that different than the United States in the fact that there were different accents. The “upper class” German” language was spoken in Berlin while in Southern Germany, Bavaria, they spoke with more of a “southern accent.” Jim recalls the people of Germany being very friendly and wonderful to the American troops who were quite literally occupying their country.
In those days there was an overwhelming fear of a Soviet invasion of Europe. At the time this was not widely known. In fact, the United States presence was to fend off the perceived fear of such an invasion. Jim recalls the 5K zone. This zone is much like the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone in South Korea. Nobody was allowed to go within 5 kilometers of the border.
Once per month there would be alerts. The guys never knew when it would happen but when it did, they had to report to the barracks, gather all of their things and prepare for battle. This was attack training and since in the event of an attack the base would be the first thing to go the guys would have to learn to survive out in the elements.
Today the classification for anyone in the service during that time is “Vietnam Era Veteran.” There were actually two types of servicemen. Army men who were in Vietnam were called “in county” and those that were not but could be sent at any time were referred to as “overseas”.
Jim remembers one instance where he and a friend went on a military hop to an airbase outside of London. There were USO hotels that the US soldiers could stay at in Hyde Park. Jim remembers to this day the cab driver warning them against wearing their USA uniforms in London. Britain was not on the side of the United Sates during the Vietnam War and even though Jim and his buddy were not a part of that he felt strange knowing that a US soldier would not be safe in their uniform.
Jim states that his most memorable moments were during his basic training and the Night Infiltration Course. This is where the recruits went for live fire training. Jim stated that they had to crawl through a trench, come out the trench and then crawl on their stomach over a distance of around 100 yards while machine guns would continuously fire tracer bullets over their heads.
Jim Turner believes that his greatest achievement is his daughter Amy, becoming an attorney and running for judge. His daughter is 25-years-old and is a graduate of Vanderbilt. She is also engaged to a 1st Lieutenant of the US Marines on Active Duty in Iraq.
Jim currently volunteers at Ivy Lane Elementary School and works closely with Kevin Sherin MD, Director of Orange County Health Department in raising awareness of the death rate of African American infants being twice as high as the death rate among White or Hispanic infants.
In the future Jim wants to do what he can to give back and work with young people to impart knowledge. He believes that young people have more distractions today than ever before and he wants to be able to help them become better people.
He offers this advice to the young people of today, “Do what you love to do and you will find your passion and your career path.”
Return to Celebration Independent front page.
By Kim Shuskey
Jim Turner was born in Pittsburgh Pa and has fond memories of sledding down the hill that he lived on during the winter months while growing up. When he was eighteen-years-old he found himself living in Boston and traveling the world. His travels included Florence, Italy, Rome, Paris, London, and Brussels. He remembers the education he got from visiting the Louvre Museum and the Sistine Chapel.
Also when 18, Jim decided that it was time to join the Army. In those days (1964) Jim recalls there being two ways to join the Army. You could just simply enlist which meant a good school and a good tour for three years or you could volunteer for the draft for two years. Either way you got an education.
Jim recalls his first day on September 14, 1964, going for his shots and witnessing people fainting. He would spend eight weeks at Fort Dix, New Jersey for basic training then he was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, an artillery base. The base was located in a town called Lawton, Oklahoma and Jim’s MOS or Military Occupational Specialty was artillery surveyor.
Jim worked with an instrument called a theodolite which measures 2 pieces of data, azimuth and elevation. These are angles used to define the apparent position of an object. Establishing these coordinates is paramount when it comes to artillery. Jim spent fifteen weeks in advanced survey school at Ft. Dix.
In March of 1965, Jim was sent to South Germany where he was stationed at Bamberg, Germany in Bavaria. During the year and a half that he was there, he noticed that the language, although German, was not that different than the United States in the fact that there were different accents. The “upper class” German” language was spoken in Berlin while in Southern Germany, Bavaria, they spoke with more of a “southern accent.” Jim recalls the people of Germany being very friendly and wonderful to the American troops who were quite literally occupying their country.
In those days there was an overwhelming fear of a Soviet invasion of Europe. At the time this was not widely known. In fact, the United States presence was to fend off the perceived fear of such an invasion. Jim recalls the 5K zone. This zone is much like the DMZ or Demilitarized Zone in South Korea. Nobody was allowed to go within 5 kilometers of the border.
Once per month there would be alerts. The guys never knew when it would happen but when it did, they had to report to the barracks, gather all of their things and prepare for battle. This was attack training and since in the event of an attack the base would be the first thing to go the guys would have to learn to survive out in the elements.
Today the classification for anyone in the service during that time is “Vietnam Era Veteran.” There were actually two types of servicemen. Army men who were in Vietnam were called “in county” and those that were not but could be sent at any time were referred to as “overseas”.
Jim remembers one instance where he and a friend went on a military hop to an airbase outside of London. There were USO hotels that the US soldiers could stay at in Hyde Park. Jim remembers to this day the cab driver warning them against wearing their USA uniforms in London. Britain was not on the side of the United Sates during the Vietnam War and even though Jim and his buddy were not a part of that he felt strange knowing that a US soldier would not be safe in their uniform.
Jim states that his most memorable moments were during his basic training and the Night Infiltration Course. This is where the recruits went for live fire training. Jim stated that they had to crawl through a trench, come out the trench and then crawl on their stomach over a distance of around 100 yards while machine guns would continuously fire tracer bullets over their heads.
Jim Turner believes that his greatest achievement is his daughter Amy, becoming an attorney and running for judge. His daughter is 25-years-old and is a graduate of Vanderbilt. She is also engaged to a 1st Lieutenant of the US Marines on Active Duty in Iraq.
Jim currently volunteers at Ivy Lane Elementary School and works closely with Kevin Sherin MD, Director of Orange County Health Department in raising awareness of the death rate of African American infants being twice as high as the death rate among White or Hispanic infants.
In the future Jim wants to do what he can to give back and work with young people to impart knowledge. He believes that young people have more distractions today than ever before and he wants to be able to help them become better people.
He offers this advice to the young people of today, “Do what you love to do and you will find your passion and your career path.”
Return to Celebration Independent front page.
Jim Turner looking proud to serve in his American Uniform.
