Vietnam War Veteran
John A. Pabst

Interviewed by:
Sarah Pabst and Hira Ghaffar

"Ready or not, here I come."
~ John Pabst (22:43)

John Pabst's Story:

John A. Pabst is a veteran from the Vietnam War, and he was a loyal member of the U.S. Army. John was born in North Arlington, New Jersey to a couple who thought of the Military Service as a very honorable way to invest time and energy. John's father was a member of the U.S. Navy, and his brother was also in the service. John decided that he wanted to go into the service because he didn't have enough money to go to college, and he wasn't yet sure what he wanted to do in life. In the beginning, it was very emotional for John because he enlisted around the time when his father was dying of cancer, and he was held at Fort Mammoth, New Jersey where he went to school for photography, where he was waiting for his father to die. This was emotional to John because his mother was still wildly upset because of the death of her husband, and he was leaving his fifteen year old brother.

John always wanted to be a photographer, so when he enlisted, that was his job in the service. He was stationed in Brussels, Belgium, which was the headquarters for NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) Basically, his job was to photograph when an important person would come in for a visit, and wanted their visits photographed, like shaking hands in front of the flag. Another duty that he had, which was rotating with him and some other people, he was called by the Belgium police, when they needed something photographed, such as a dead body or a car accident. John traveled to several different places and formed strong bonds with some people around him. While in the service, he also met some important generals.

When John came out of the service, he started working for the Meadow Lands Racetrack, and as an armed guard for the Giants stadium. There he met people like Tony Savalles, and Frank Sinatra. It was strange for him adapting back to civilian life. John now has three daughters and is divorced. He was living in a Transitional Housing for Veterans in Hyannis for a year and a half, but he no longer resides there. He has a good friend from the service that he still communicates with.

For John, the military had a very large impact on his life, and it helped him to grow. "Going into the service helped me to believe in myself a lot better, and it made me strong enough to be able to say well, this is what I think, this is what I'm going to do, rather than cowarding behind someone else." John's advise to anyone who is thinking about joining the military is to think about why you would want to go in, and to understand the risk of being called to go to war. He recognizes the benefits of the service, such as a good education, an opportunity to expand your horizons, and great experiences, and to form strong relationships with people. But there is always the risk of going into war, which has many obvious risks in itself. His views of the military are that he is very impressed and amazed by what can be done, and how advanced the U.S. military is. "It is a shame in a way that we need a military, but the world dictates to us that we do, so I'm glad that we have the best."