My service doesn't even compare to yours. Had I been smart, I would have taken ROTC in college but I was hoping things would be all over with by the time I graduated in '69. Well, not quite, as it turned out.
In my 2 years in the USMC, I never left the east coast. Later on, I joined my local unit of the Army National Guard and spent almost 13 years in it. Would have stayed in to get my 20 years but they were throwing out old fat farts like me by the thousands in 1992. (Remember the "peace dividend"?) :(
Hey, don't feel too bad. I was Army Reserve after RVN, then out for ten years, when I got a direct to warrant officer by the grace of God.
Remember, the poet said "they also serve who only stand and wait".
All honorable service is honorable.
;^)
The peace dividend meant thousands of active duty military was kicked out too. Pity. And it wasn't all the doing of slick willie either. Papa Bush got right into the downsizing.