Life in the Rose Garden

"Have you ever heard that song by Lynn Anderson, 'I Never Promised You a Rose Garden?'" asked Jim Brinks.

"It's what we called our base in Thailand, and it was also a motto from a Marine's recruiting poster," he explained.  Later he would bring out the poster depicting a drill sergeant leaning into a soldier.  Welcome to the Marines, it won't be pretty.

The 19-year-old 'J.J." Brinks enlisted in the Marines at the height of the Vietnam War for a four-year tour, with a mandatory two-year reserve afterward. His aptitude for mechanics got him to San Diego for basic training in 1969 for five months where he was designated as a 60/62 Aircraft Mechanic, which meant he was skilled in preflighting and repair.  He would also receive infantry training as all Marines did, for a month at Camp Pendleton.

Originally landing in Japan's Iwakuni Marine airbase, he was sent to Da Nang in South Vietnam to join the Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 15, and then to Nam Phong, Thailand in June of 1972.

Nicknamed the Rose Garden because the base featured a few creature 'comforts', it also featured a 12,000-foot runway, and was ideally situated as an airbase.   A-6 Intruders and F-4 Phantoms flew combat missions to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The air group included three flying squadrons — Marine Attack Squadron 533, flying A-6A Intruders; and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 115 and VMFA-232, both flying F-4 Phantoms.

Brinks serviced mainly the A-6s, and was often flown to "wherever equipment needed fixing."  However, he considers himself fortunate to have the skill because many of the men he knew in the first months never made it home. 

"You didn't stand much chance in Vietnam, you were pretty much cannon fodder," he said.

However removed he was from front-line combat, the lives lost at times were too close to home.  He pointed out two pilots whose planes he pre-flighted prior to a mission.  They were shot down and their craft exploded from their cargo of munitions.

"I had to wonder if they had the chance to deploy their ejection seats if they worked, and if not, should I have checked it more carefully," he said.  "I thought about that every day for weeks."

However, he remembers a visit from Bob Hope to the base as well, which brought a little levity and entertainment to the troops. 

"We started off having pretty good seats, but then we were moved back as the officers came in, and other brass were flown in," he jokes.

The base was pivotal to the 1972 bombing campaign that many historians credit with bringing North Vietnam to the Jan. 27, 1973, cease-fire that ended U.S. combat in Vietnam. Nam Phong-based warplanes bombed Cambodia until Aug. 15, 1973.

Brinks' return to the United States was not unlike other Viet Nam veterans' experience, and as he stated with some sarcasm, "I never knew I was a rapist or a baby killer.  I must've had a memory lapse or something."

He stays in some contact with Marines' groups, and is also an active member of the VFW Lembezeder-Cook Post 8171, where he has served as post commander in previous years.  He will take part in the Memorial Day ceremonies planned on Saturday, May 28 at 10 a.m. at the .