Raymond Hines Pt.1

Raymond Hines was born on April 6, 1944 in Wellford, South Carolina. Raymond grew up in Spartanburg County, South Carolina and graduated High School in 1962. Hines received his draft notice in 1965 and chose to enlist in the Army. He completed basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. After basic Raymond went to Fort Devens, Massachusetts, for Advanced Infantry Training, where he became a Morse Intercept Operator. From there, Hines went to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and trained in Artillery OCS. After serving in the Army for nearly a year and a half, Raymond graduated from OCS training on May 29th, with the rank of Second Lieutenant. After Fort Sill, Hines proceeded to Fort Bliss, Texas, and was selected for Air Defense for only two months before being transferred to Wurzburg Germany. In Germany, Raymond worked as a Motor Officer. Raymond left Germany in March of 1969 with orders for transfer to Vietnam. Hines started his tour in Vietnam as a Senior First Lieutenant and was flown into Tonsonut. He was assigned to the 2nd of the 319th and reported into the Eagles’ Nest bases where he chose to become a Fire Direction Officer and proceeded to report to the Bravo Battery on Fire Base Bastogne. While stationed at Bastogne, the base was overrun, but remained functional and in operation. Raymond describes the attack on the base in detail and details the ‘two mad minutes’ as well as his first experiences with real, gruesome war. Raymond and the other soldiers at Bastogne were relocated to Fire Base Blaze then to Hamburger Hill because of environmental concerns during monsoon season. They were then sent back to Camp Evans to gear up for transfer to Fire Base Sandy; also referred to as ‘Scotch.’ This was when Raymond was allocated to the assistant S-3 where he would assign and clear fires. Soon thereafter, he was assigned to become the Liaison Officer for the 2nd of the 506 at Fire Base Ripcord. At the end of his tour in Vietnam, Raymond pursued his next assignment at Fort Sill, where he took advanced artillery courses and then continued on to Nuremberg Germany in the 3rd of the 70th House Artillery. Starting his second tour in Germany, Hines was a Battery Commander with command over 50-60 soldiers. He was in this position for a year until he became an Intel Security Officer. He then transferred into the 7th Corps Artillery, working in the S-3 shop where he held the position of Nuclear Release Authentication System Officer. Afterwards, he was sent to Stuttgart, Germany. Raymond was riffed again and opted to go back to school in the States to become a Veterinarian. Once he completed his education in the United States, Hines returned to Europe to use his Veterinary knowledge to care for military service animals until he retired and returned to the University of Georgia, applying for a long-term civilian education to achieve a PhD. He was then discharged from the military in 1996. Although, Hines continued to work for the military, even in his civilian life, contracting positions for periods of time until he fully retired in 2015.