I'm a member of a Facebook group that consists of members from my old military unit. Once I arrived in beautiful S.E. Asia, I started out on the Vietnamese mission and later moved to the Laotian mission. Then, I again transferred, this time into the Cambodian mission. At some point on that mission, I was asked to train a new recruit, fresh in from the states. The newbie turned out to be a WAC, and not a bad looking one at that. We got along really well and she even visited my hooch a few times out in the village. We became pretty close and I enjoyed her company. We'd party, go to movies, etc. I was eventually asked to develop the Burmese mission. It was just 3 of us in the beginning, I took the daytime coverage (6am - 2pm) and had another operator for the swing shift (2pm - 10pm) and one more op on the mid-shift (10pm - 6:00 am). It rapidly developed into a 12-man team. After that transition, I pretty much lost track of Suzi and eventually moved down south to add support with the Mayaquez Incident, then remained there to help with the refugees fleeing 'Nam after the fall of Saigon.

Anyway, the thread on the unit's FB page was regarding Agent Orange exposure and claims procedures. I've been on the AO Registry for years, but there have been a lot of changes since the PACT Act which was passed in August 2022. During the discussion, one guy (Steve) addressed me as "Jimmy" and he asked if I was the one who trained his wife on the Cambodian Mission in Thailand! (I guess I made an impression) Anyway, we struck up a conversation and when I asked about her, he told me she passed away in 2007 of Agent Orange related issues. Crap, if I remember correctly, that would have made her around 52 years old at the time. That sucks, but the scenario is becoming all too common the older I get. RIP Suzi, I'll always remember the good times we had. You were a great student and developed into an excellent operator.

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