He served in Vietnam. He would have gone to the front lines, but told one of the commanders that he could operate heavy machinery (he lied. The heaviest machinery he had operated was a tractor) and they let him be an engineer, an he learned how to operate the machinery on the job lol
My grandfather was an artillery man near the coast (not sure where). Then my great uncle served at Hamburger Hill in one of the major US army divisions. Idk the name but they would go out in the jungle with only the platoon for weeks on ends and the insignia is a skull.