VETERAN SALUTE: Keeping communications secure in Vietnam
EMPORIA, Kan. (KSNT) - While serving in the Air Force for nearly a decade, Ray Owens kept top secret missions locked down in Vietnam. For him, serving in the military was a family affair.
“I had an older brother," Owens said, "He was in the Army Air Corps parachutes. My next older brother was Air Force. The next brother was Air Force, and so I went into the Air Force."
In 1965, Owens was stationed at Saigon in Vietnam.
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“The conditions weren’t favorable for too much," Owens said. "There was a creek running down through it, and that was the latrine. I lived in a tent the whole time I was down there.”
Overseas, Owens worked in communications security. He handled top secret messages, carrying them by hand to their final destination.
“Where we received a message and where the message needed to be wasn’t in the same building. That kind of surprised me," Owens said. "Then again, we didn’t go in there it wasn’t like we had bases over there and they were all built for all that kind of stuff.”
Working military communications in Vietnam, Canada, and Hawaii, Owens learned a lot about growing up from the military. He learned skills like time management and discipline that he still uses to this day.
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“When I went in, I was young. I was 18 years old," Owens said. "I never had any real responsibility. When I actually got into basic training itself, you had to learn discipline. That’s what basic training was all about, that you can do what you put your mind to do. ”
These days, Ray is retired in the Emporia community where he helps take care of his grandkids and plays golf every chance he can.