Warriors In Their Own Words | First Person War Stories
Sep 24, 2026 · 49 min · 17 segments
John C. Muir was a decorated combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He hailed from four generations of men and woman who served in distinguished military service. He was also cousin to John Muir the…
My MOS was 0311, which is Basic Marine Corps Rifleman, which is a good definition of the bottom of the pile.
What are your impressions of basic training, maybe juxtaposing the times of the day? the time you went in, and the 60s, what was that all about for you?
Well, first of all, in juxtaposing the basic training regimen with the 60s, it probably doesn't really work in this instance because I went to basic training in September of 1965.
There was no real significant anti-war movement per se at that time.
The beginnings of the student unrest were starting to be felt, but they were really talking about other subjects other than the war.
It wasn't until a little later on that the war became one of their primary focuses.
And I come from a military family, anyway.
As a matter of fact, the second day I was in boot camp, my uncle was killed in Vietnam.
He was the battalion commander of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and a lieutenant colonel.
And that was the beginnings of my education as to the reality of the war as opposed to my perceptions of this big adventure that I wanted to be involved in.
Because as a youngster, as a teenager, I think pretty typical of most of the people of my age, We viewed both World War II and Korea as more of an adventure.
We didn't have a real grasp of what the reality of the war had been.
So I joined the Marine Corps basically looking for some adventure because I was tired of being in school.
I'd just finished high school and I wanted to get on out in the world and see what was going on.
And this was my opportunity to get a piece of a brand new war that was going to be big adventures.
And then the second day of boot camp, I get the word that my uncle had been killed and suddenly didn't seem quite so adventurous anymore.
And, of course, immediately upon arriving in Vietnam, this reality was brought home to me rather quickly, so that it was a learning curve that was fairly steep.
My MOS was 0311, which is Basic Marine Corps Rifleman, which is a good definition of the bottom of the pile.
What are your impressions of basic training, maybe juxtaposing the times of the day? the time you went in, and the 60s, what was that all about for you?
Well, first of all, in juxtaposing the basic training regimen with the 60s, it probably doesn't really work in this instance because I went to basic training in September of 1965.
There was no real significant anti-war movement per se at that time.
The beginnings of the student unrest were starting to be felt, but they were really talking about other subjects other than the war.
It wasn't until a little later on that the war became one of their primary focuses.
And I come from a military family, anyway.
As a matter of fact, the second day I was in boot camp, my uncle was killed in Vietnam.
He was the battalion commander of 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, and a lieutenant colonel.
And that was the beginnings of my education as to the reality of the war as opposed to my perceptions of this big adventure that I wanted to be involved in.
Because as a youngster, as a teenager, I think pretty typical of most of the people of my age, We viewed both World War II and Korea as more of an adventure.
We didn't have a real grasp of what the reality of the war had been.
So I joined the Marine Corps basically looking for some adventure because I was tired of being in school.
I'd just finished high school and I wanted to get on out in the world and see what was going on.
And this was my opportunity to get a piece of a brand new war that was going to be big adventures.
And then the second day of boot camp, I get the word that my uncle had been killed and suddenly didn't seem quite so adventurous anymore.
And, of course, immediately upon arriving in Vietnam, this reality was brought home to me rather quickly, so that it was a learning curve that was fairly steep.
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