What They Don't Tell You About Being a Combat MP in 1971 Vietnam

Paul Colliton grew up on Long Island in a military family, named after a B-24 bomber pilot who never came home. He was drinking since age six, working on Wall Street at 18, and heading to Harlem for drugs by noon. Then the draft letter arrived.

In this episode of Ask A Vet, Paul shares what it was really like to become a Military Police officer in Vietnam in 1971. From being pulled out of basic training and told he had the highest IQ on base, to patrolling the city of Hue at 19 years old with zero instructions, to coming face to face with 15 enemy soldiers at twilight and choosing not to fire. He talks openly about heroin addiction in-country, racial tension on base, the 15-year-old Vietnamese girl he couldn't save, a gut-wrenching Dear John letter, and hitchhiking home from JFK in his dress greens after being spit on.

But Paul's story doesn't end in Vietnam. It winds through a near-jump from a 31st-floor balcony, 39 years of sobriety, a chance encounter with Muhammad Ali, and the adoption of his autistic son Billy. 

EPISODE CHAPTERS:

01:45 Paul's Background & Getting Drafted

09:00 Basic Training, MP School & Heading to Vietnam

19:00 The Flight Over: Engine Falls Off Over Alaska

21:00 Arriving In-Country: Cameron Bay, Da Nang & Hue

27:30 Life on Patrol: Drugs, Racial Tension & the Enemy Up Close

35:00 The Hardest Moment of the War

49:30 Refusing an Order, Getting Busted & Coming Home

1:01:00 The Welcome Home: JFK Airport & a Punch in the Face

1:05:00 Europe & Building a Photography Career

1:29:00 Rehab, AA & Starting Over at 36

1:37:00 Photographing Muhammad Ali & a Moment They Both Cried

1:47:00 Adopting Billy

2:18:30 Final Reflections: What Vietnam Made Him

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