Info Sheet - Donald E. Borey
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I entered the Army on May 15, 1968, having been commissioned in the Armor Branch in the Regular Army at the completion of college and ROTC. My initial assignment out of college, with no training other than ROTC, was as a platoon leader in B Troop, 6th Squadron, 1st Armored Cavalry in Ft. Hood, Texas. After about three months, I was sent to Armor Officer Basic and Ranger School. Following Ranger School, I volunteered for Airborne School. Unfortunately, my physical condition at the end of Ranger School was not great and I did not complete Airborne Training. During all my training, I was on orders to Europe with delays enroute for training. In March 1969, I arrived in Europe and reported to the 3d Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry in Amberg, Germany. I was assigned as a Platoon Leader in K Troop. After 13 months, at the urging of my Troop Commander, Charles Frizzell, I volunteered for Flight School. I completed flight school in December 1970 and a Cobra transition in January 1971. Following a 30-day leave, I arrived in Vietnam in early March 1971. After a few days at 90th Replacement, I joined F Troop, 4th Cavalry. At that time, the troop was quartered at Camp Frenzel Jones in Long Binh. After about three weeks, we moved to Lai Khe.
During my tour I was in the Cobra Platoon and my call sign was Centaur 43. I spent most of my tour at Lai Khe. In the beginning, we operated with the 2d Brigade of the 25th Inf Div. I remember operating with U.S. Troops on only one operation. I was a new “sandbag” for the front seat. We landed at some temporary landing strip, basically a piece of highway that was pinna primed. There we were briefed by a Captain who was heading up the operation. He sticks in my mind because he had an eye patch covering one eye. The eye patch had cavalry crossed sabers pinned to it.
After the 2d Brigade officially returned to Hawaii, we operated mainly in support of the ARVN, frequently in Tay Ninh province and over the border in Cambodia frequently supporting the ARVN Airborne Division. At Lai Khe, the Troop quarters were nice. All the pilots had individual rooms, usually two to a room. My roommate during my entire tour was Hubert McMinn, a West Point graduate.
In January 1972, F Troop moved back to Long Binh. The new billeting area was quite a come down from Lai Khe. Near the end of January, many troops were getting their tours shortened, as the U.S. continued to draw down its troop strength. Usually, there was short notice about tour “drops.” Tuesday of the last week in January, I was flying a mission in Cambodia when I was notified my tour was cut short. I was told to report to 90th Replacement on Thursday for DEROS. I left Vietnam on Friday evening arriving home in New Orleans at noon on Saturday.
Following Vietnam, I was assigned to the 2d BN, 68th Armor in Baumholder, Germany in March 1972. There I was the Company Commander of A Company. I took over after the previous Company Commander asked to be relieved following a riot in the barracks. We had 17 M60A1 tanks. The Army in Europe had as bad a drug problem as it had in Vietnam. Though I held a Regular Army commission and had intended on making the Army a career, I decided to leave the service. In April, 1973, I submitted my resignation, but had to wait 6 months for it to become effective. During that time, I served as Battalion S-4.
While processing out at Ft Jackson, the personnel Warrant noticed that I had not completed 6 years of service and told me I still had a reserve commitment. So, I was commissioned in the Army Reserve.
Returning to New Orleans, I found a job with Martin Marietta Aerospace at the Michoud Assembly Facility. My undergraduate degree was in Mathematics and Computer Science. Martin Marietta had a contract to build the external fuel tank for the Space Shuttle, which was still in the design phases. Martin was delayed by project delays at Rockwell. I left Martin after a few months of boredom and yearning to make a career in flying. Like most aspiring low time pilots, I had to build flight hours and experience. I took a job as a contract flight instructor at a local fixed base operator. The Arab oil embargo seriously curtailed flying activity. There was enough work to support one instructor but not two. I was barely making ends meet. I joined the Louisiana National Guard’s 812th Medical Detachment as a medivac pilot. As there were no commissioned slots available, I became a CW2 in the Guard. I met Patricia, my future wife, in June 1974. We were engaged by September. I realized I needed a real civilian job. I turned back to engineering and got a job with Bell Aerospace on a Navy Contract. After 2 years, I decided that engineering was not really my future, and I used my VA entitlement to go to Loyola Law School in New Orleans.
I flew in the Guard for 6 years total from 1974 to 1980. After a couple of years, a commissioned slot became available, I got my commission back but now I was in the Medical Service Corps. After graduation from Law School and a brief time in private practice, I was hired in 1980 by the Federal Aviation Administration as an Attorney Advisor in the Regional Counsel’s Office of the Southwest Region in Fort Worth, Texas. In July 1980, we moved to Arlington, Texas where we lived for 9 years. I flew one year, 1982, in the Army Reserve with an Assault Helicopter Company based at the Dallas Naval Air Station. In 1983, I transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve as an Individual Mobilization Augmentee. In 1989, the Deputy Regional Counsel position opened in Alaska. I bid on the job and was selected. We moved to Anchorage, Alaska in March 1989, shortly before the Exxon Valdez oil spill. I served as Deputy Regional Counsel in Anchorage until 2005 when I retired from Federal Service after 30 years. My wife retired from the National Weather Service in 2006, and we moved to Gonzales, Louisiana to be near her family. We still reside in Gonzales.
After leaving active duty in 1973, I stayed active in the Guard and Reserve. I was selected for promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. However, I was medically retired in 1992 prior to promotion.