"There was no reward for people returning from Vietnam, especially in the Army." (Audio interview, 2:40)

Leroy V. Quintana

Portrait of Leroy Quintana, Lake Murray, CA [1986] War: Vietnam War, 1961-1975 Branch: Army Unit: 101st Airborne Division Service Location: Fort Bliss, Texas (basic training); Fort Gordon (advanced training) and Fort Benning (jump school), Georgia; Vietnam Rank: Specialist Four Place of Birth: NM

For Leroy Quintana, serving in the 101st Airborne in Vietnam at the height of U.S. involvement was a jumpstart to his education. After graduating from high school, he earned a living playing pool for a year, then attended the University of New Mexico for a year before dropping out. Drafted in 1967, Quintana did consider at one point--when he was posted at Ft. Lewis, Washington--fleeing across the border into Canada. But his mother had inculcated in him respect for military service, and he stayed on. In country, he kept a notebook of his experiences on five-man reconnaissance teams. Though he came to see many aspects of the war with skepticism and he was disappointed with the lack of recognition (and worse) for returning veterans, he did appreciate the sense of responsibility the Army had taught him. Quintana would become a published, award-winning poet who sometimes used his days in the service as inspiration for his work.