Like the rest of our class, after TBS and MOS training, I went immediately to Vietnam, arriving in April 1968. My unit was the 3rd Engineer Battalion in Quang Tri, northern I Corps area. We actually had a surplus of junior officers, and I initially found myself assigned as an assistant platoon leader. But our combat engineers supported infantry battalions, and I was out in the field clearing LZs and doing a variety of demolitions work, free from most of the close supervision 2nd lieutenants might expect. This was not to last long, though, and when MajGen Davis asked for volunteers to take the place of infantry officers lost in the spring of 1968, I knew I was an obvious candidate. So for the summer of ‘68 I commanded a rifle platoon in “F” 2/9. This was unplanned, but because of our “every Marine a rifleman” ethic, not really unanticipated. Although I was back in 3rd Engineers by October, when I look back on my first Vietnam tour, I think first of that grunt platoon.
PACKARD- Bob with Indy – a House-Sitting Charge
Returning stateside in the spring of 1969, I was assigned to Marine Barracks, 8th and I in Washington, DC. It was a great assignment, including security duty at Camp David, working as a White House social aide, and serving alongside some really great Marines. In the course of this time my personal goals shifted and I realized how much I enjoyed leading young Marines and helping them progress. These men gave me a sense of pride that I knew I could not expect in civilian life, and I decided to be a career Marine and change my MOS to the infantry. I never regretted either decision.
PACKARD- Relaxing Enroute New Zealand
A list of posts and stations doesn’t seem like very good biography, but it’s hard to summarize a military career without one. My service included two tours in Vietnam (the second one with the Vietnamese Marines – ironically back in Quang Tri); three tours in Washington, DC; two tours in the 1st Mar Div, staff duty in Korea; MOI duty at Cornell; and the Special Education Program (SEP) Monterey. This included leadership at platoon, company, and battalion levels, a Masters Degree, and a non-stop series of different environments and challenges. It was a varied military career; it tested my ability to adapt and kept things interesting. SEP at Monterey was more pivotal than I realized, as payback tours duty at HQMC became a large portion of my career: interesting but not always satisfying.
Without a doubt the best experience I had was the opportunity to command 3/5 at Camp Pendleton and Okinawa: challenging, exciting, and very memorable. After that tour I found it hard to be enthusiastic about subsequent assignments and likely opportunities, so in early 1989 I made the move to civilian life.
After the Marines, I shifted back to the engineering path of years earlier. My experience with computers in college, at Monterey, and at HQMC, helped me establish a second career with a defense contractor, supporting aircraft programs, including the Army’s LHX Comanche helicopter and the F-35 Lightning II jet fighter. Fortunately, my modest technical skills, combined with USMC staff and leadership experience had prepared me for a relatively smooth transition. I continued to find leadership opportunities and chances to learn about people, as well as the technical parts of the business. Work took me and my family to St. Louis, Huntsville, and San Diego as a part of the Northrop Grumman Corporation.
PACKARD- With the Family at Newport Beach
I married in 1971, just before departing the Marine Barracks in Washington, and have two grown children in Southern California, as well as three grandchildren. We subsequently divorced, and I met my present wife, Karyn, seven years ago. Karyn is a wonderful lady who has had a positive impact on many lives – most of all, mine. She has been and is now a tremendous help to me, and we share everything. Karyn and I put our new marriage to the test, living in very close circumstances for the last four years. We each retired in Long Beach, California in May 2011 and moved aboard our 45-foot ocean-going sloop, Realtime. That November, after some two years of learning, outfitting, and practicing, we sailed south to Mexico where we explored Mexico’s west coast and the Sea of Cortez for two seasons. Then in the spring of 2013, we sailed across the South Pacific, visiting all the “south seas” island groups and arriving in Opua, New Zealand in November. The crossing was a lifetime highlight, successful by any measure, but Karyn and I both realized that we were taking a lot of risks and that going further would be pushing our luck. We put Realtime up for sale.
Since coming off the boat, Karyn and I have continued traveling though, by house-sitting in New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., and England. We now take care of other people’s homes and pets while we see these far-away places in a way that more conventional city-hopping does not allow.
PACKARD- Karyn & Bob on, Huahine, French Polynesia
After a year and a half of house-sitting, we’ve recently completed our 17th engagement. Now we’re thinking hard about finding more stability and living a little closer to our children. We’re grateful to be able to attend this reunion, and I look forward to renewing acquaintances with classmates and introducing Karyn to some special friends for whom I have high regard.
This reunion has caused me to look back and assess some things in my life. Here are a couple of things that are important to me:
First – TBS. It worked. Despite my unexpected role as a grunt, I found myself well prepared when the truth hit me in Vietnam. I know I made mistakes, and I know I could have done better, but I had the skills I needed to lead young men who were open to leadership and showed it by doing whatever I told them to do.
Second – The Vietnam War. It really defines our class. I had few misgivings with national policy then, and I maintained this view through my second tour. When South Vietnam collapsed in 1975 I decried our nation’s failure to step in. Since then, I’ve been saddened over time as I learned of the political nature many decisions to fight that war. I feel no personal guilt for the part I played, but I certainly have a more skeptical view of the soundness of our country’s actions, in Vietnam and in subsequent conflicts.
Third – Money in Politics. Congress is paralyzed from making changes that the people want: tax code, health care, schools, ethanol, and all the rest. Nothing gets done, and nothing improves. I think the root cause is the amount of money in politics. Sadly, Supreme Court interpretations of the Constitution severely limit campaign finance reform by telling us that money is a form of free speech and that corporations enjoy the rights the 1st Amendment gave to people. Legislators can’t reform anything without jeopardizing donations they need to get reelected – never mind the ridiculous share of their time they must devote to asking for money. Without changes, this trend will worsen, making our democracy a laughing stock. Therefore, I now strongly support movements to correct these misguided Constitutional interpretations.
