Korean War a conflict without peace
I joined the United States Army in May of 1971 for a two-year enlistment with a volunteer draft status. They were taking anyone then as no one wanted to go to Vietnam. My basic training was at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Then I received advance training to become an infantry soldier for the Vietnam War. However, when my training ended, the United States Government decided to stop sending troops to Vietnam. Our orders changed and most of us ended up stationed in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) of Korea Nov. 1971-Dec 1972 in a mechanized infantry unit.
We were a tripwire force, human sacrifices to the god of war. Which meant in case of full-scale attack by North Korea our certain deaths were meant to trigger the political outrage to start a war.
Bought my first 35mm camera a Minolta 101, developed my first B&W roll of film Kodak Tri-X 400, and printed my first B&W print in the Republic of South Korea. It was also my first photo assignment as I was the only one who owned a 35mm camera in my platoon. The job was to photograph the large artillery guns that lined the mountains to the north of us.
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