By Rex Hogan
Published on June 26, 2008

El Reno VFW Navy veteran John Petras thinks all Americans should serve in the military, unless they are enrolled in college.

Petras started his Navy career in 1963. He was a machinist mate on a guided missile destroyer.

“I’m a firm believer that every person in this country should automatically pull two years of service, if you are not going to college. The first two years in the service, you learn what respect is about,” he said.

Petras’ destroyer was sent to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1965, just off the coast of then North Vietnam.
“We were the first ships to fire shore battery for Marines who were going into the DMZ,” he said.

“We were about 13 miles out and we had a range of about 15 miles. We were also used for pilot rescue,” he said.
One time, the enemy fired back.

“We were in their gun range. You could hear the shrapnel hitting the ship. I worked in the engine room, but I snuck up topside to get a peak of things and it looked like black baseballs coming through the air,” he said.

Petras completed a four-year tour of duty. He said he understands what the men and women of the armed services — especially those fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq — are going through.

“When I sat down to dinner last night, I said a prayer for them. Being in the VFW, I think of our servicemen and women all the time, especially the ones overseas,” he said.

Petras said the all-volunteer service has changed the military.

“We knew we were being trained to go overseas. When many of these signed up for the service or the guard, they signed up to protect our country if it were ever invaded. Many of them signed up to get an education, but it didn’t turn out like that,” he said. “I hear people complaining about the heat, but what about the soldiers who carry 55 pounds on their backs and carry their weapons in 120-degree heat and they have no choice,” he said.

“It used to be that you were required to do one tour, now look, some of them have to go back two or three or four years because we don’t have any replacements,” he said.

“They say we have enough in the armed services, but then why do they have to go back for such a long time,” he said.