A gay man who served in the US Navy from 1965 to 1970 recalls arriving in Vietnam during the rain. He trained as a Hospital Corpsman and briefly served in combat before being assigned to the USS Repose, a hospital ship operating off Vietnam’s coast. Two corpsmen, Matt and Joe, were assigned to him and quickly became close because they were also gay. They spent the night talking about what it meant to be gay and how it felt to be around others like themselves. He describes staying up with Matt, questioning whether two men could build a life together, and confronting social beliefs that treated their love as invalid.
"“My specialty was Hospital Corpsman however for a few weeks I did serve in combat in Vietnam, I was eventually assigned to the USS Repose, a hospital ship that operated off the coast of Vietnam.”"
"“I remember it was raining when I landed in Vietnam,” Lara begins. “Two corpsmen, Matt and Joe, were assigned to me and got me up to speed on my temporary duties. They happened to be gay! Yeah, even then, we had gaydar! And we spent the whole night talking about what it was like being gay.”"
"“It was the first time we had ever been around our own kind. Matt and I stayed up talking seriously ... If two men could make a life together. Society said that we were either insane or criminals. We didn't even know if our love was valid.”"
"“It was there that we called ourselves The Group,” Lara continues. “It was a tradition at the time for sailors to buy Zipp"
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