Ken Gainer

Ken Gainer was drafted into the Army in July 1969. He trained as an infantryman and went to Vietnam in December. Assigned to A Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, he served with them during the campaign around Fire Support Base Ripcord. He returned to the US in November 1970 and was discharged in 1971.

[@bruceadams9542]

Thank you Sir for your service 💪 Great story Thank you for sharing it . 👍👍👍👍👍

[@bloomallen]

Great interview Ken. Our life stories are very similar, so I had to comment here. You are 3 months older than me and I also graduated from a California high school in 1968 and I joined the draft in 11/69. I trained a Ft Ord as 11C mortarman and I lucked out by being assigend to a tank battalion in Germany after Redeye missle training at Ft Bliss, which kept me from going to Vietnam- I believe. My high school buddy joined the same time I did, trained at Ft Ord and also, as luck would have it, was assigned to Germany. Thanks for serving and for telling your interesting story. Enjoy the rest of your life. You have more than earned it.

[@a.pgentry5819]

They all talk about the book …???
What book?

[@gvsuveteranshistoryproject34]

There are several books about the Ripcord campaign available. The best is Keith Nolan's _Ripcord: Screaming Eagles under Siege_. It is based heavily on oral history interviews that the author conducted back in the 1990s. It is kind of convoluted in places, since he tries to cover all aspects of a complex operation and wants to account for all the KIAs, and has some mistakes in it, since he could only go with the info he had at the time. Since that book appeared, may other Ripcord vets joined the association, and have added a good deal to the story, which is why I gave up and decided that I will have to write a new one.