A frank discussion
CRANBERRY TWP — During his three tours in Vietnam, Ron Cepek's perception of war changed considerably. But he doesn't regret his time serving his country.
Cepek, a Harmony resident, spoke about his military experience to an audience of nearly 50 people Tuesday evening in the Cranberry Public Library during the latest session of the History Roundtable discussion series.
“I enlisted in the Army to be a soldier … Anyone could be in the Army, but not everyone could be a soldier. I went over with a sense that this was an adventure,” Cepek said. “Until Cambodia, I never entertained the thought that I wouldn't come back.”
His time in the Army took him from Da Nang in the northern part of South Vietnam to Tây Ninh in the south and to neighboring Cambodia during the Cambodia Incursion. He came back without an injury.
“I think I lost more blood to mosquitoes than anything else,” he said.
Cepek enlisted the Army in March 1966 with the dream of being a soldier. He came from a strong military background; both his father and grandfather served in the military.
His first tour, beginning in October 1966, was as a machine gunner in an attack helicopter stationed with the I Corps in the northernmost region of South Vietnam. It was a job Cepek said he greatly enjoyed as soldiers on the helicopters usually went back to base for a hot meal and a cold shower at the end of the day.
He reenlisted and requested to go to the First Cavalry Division where he was a scout doing reconnaissance with a secondary mission as a recovery-and-rescue unit
“It was far from a glamorous job, but it was very satisfying to me personally because number one, I was a soldier. I got what I asked for,” Cepek said. “The secondary mission with rescue and recovery, that was beyond words worthwhile that you could go out there and bring someone back … I have no regrets. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.”
In his third tour Cepek was assigned to an armored cavalry unit for the military's Cambodia Incursion in 1970. Looking back, the campaign into Cambodia was not worth it, he said.
“We had very little to show for it except for casualties. We got a lot of supplies. But the rice and the uniforms weren't worth our soldiers' lives,” Cepek said.
Cepek returned home after three tours and joined the National Guard for a total of 20 years of military service. He then went to work as a police officer in Zelienople for more than 20 years before retiring as a lieutenant.
This was one of Cepek's first times talking to a public audience. In the past he has spoken to a classroom of students in school, where he is more comfortable.
Students from Jim Lucot's classes at Seneca Valley Senior High School attended Tuesday's event, as well as community members of all ages, including many who had also lived through the Vietnam War era.
One was Janet Senka, a Cranberry Township resident. When Cepek asked what brought some of the older audience members there, Senka said she graduated from high school in 1965 and was part of the anti-war movement.
She came to listen to Cepek's story and apologize for the movement's behavior.
“It wasn't against you soldiers, we just didn't think we should be a part of the war,” she said.
She urged everyone in the audience to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.
“There's nothing like staring at the name of the kids who sat next to you in science class,” she said.
During the question period one Seneca Valley student asked what advice Cepek had for a young person entering the military today.
“Just do the best you can. Try to always be proud of what you're doing. And if you have reason to question something, question it,” Cepek said. “And lead from the front.”
