That changed in a hurry when Fields arrived in Vietnam in 1966.

Fields, a Marshalltown High School graduate, was part of an ammunition storage and security unit.

Fields took basic training in Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. His advanced infantry training was at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. From there he went to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, before being flown to Oakland, California.

“They give you two sandwiches and a piece of fruit,” he said. “It’s almost like you see in prison. Piedmont Airlines — I’ll never forget it.”

His unit was shipped over to Vietnam by boat.

“The Golden Gate Bridge is the last thing you see,” Fields said. “Sixteen days and 15 nights on the USS Nelson. Five thousand soldiers — was miserable.”

Fields recalls the racial tensions in the U.S. during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. He said those tensions were no different in the service.

“Military service altogether was very racist,” he said. “It was the time of the ’60s and that was going on. We had separation of Blacks in one group, Hispanics, mostly Puerto Ricans hung together. It wasn’t too cool over there in my opinion.”

Fields recalled that fellow soldiers and Vietnamese people would look at him differently.

“The first soldiers that went over there said stay away from them (Blacks),” Fields said. “They are bad, they are different. They had certain places you could go. Some clubs were predominantly white and some clubs with people of color in them. It was terrible then. A lot of tension out there, putting soldiers in the field. You saw a lot of differences, where you go back to a base, some tents had rebel (Confederate) flags and listened to country music. Back in the day people listened to the Motown music on the other side.”

Fields was part of a unit that performed security duties for patrols at night.

He was shot at on one of his first nights in Vietnam.

“We thought we were in an area that would be kind of an easy job,” Fields said. “Out there loading trucks and he (enemy) was about 60 feet away. Came up and shot the guy next to me (a sergeant) four times. They could have shot me. He ended up down some hole. There was a lot of foliage around.”

The sergeant survived, Fields said.

“He said, ‘You alright?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘You alright?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’

Later, he recalled being told not to jump “too high” when the bullets flew.

“They’d be shooting down and someone shooting back up at him,” Fields said. “Don’t jump up too high,’ they said. I said, ‘I ain’t planning on jumping up. You’re ducking the whole way.”

He added, “It was ridiculous times. We weren’t ready for Vietnam. You thought it was the thing to do, but you didn’t know what you were getting into.”

As if the enemies weren’t enough to deal with, the wildlife could be quite frightening.

“The war was strange,” Fields said. “Trees and bushes and snakes. Two stepper (snake) — he bite you, you’re dead in about two steps. There were spiders as big as dinner plates.”

Fields spent a little over 11 months in Vietnam.

Coming home, Fields never got a thank you.

“There was tension when we left,” Fields said. “There was tension when we got there and tension back here.”

In fact, Fields didn’t wear his uniform home.

“I come home and a guy told me in the bathroom, he said, ‘Take your uniform off.’ He said take that s—- off.’ People were up there spitting on people, cussing at em.’ Calling people ‘Baby killers,'” Fields said. “This is a white dude that said that. He said, ‘Don’t ask too many questions.’ He said, ‘I’ve been through this.’ He did a tour in Vietnam.'”

As a result, Fields was not confronted by any protestors.

“They didn’t say much to me because I didn’t have my uniform on,” Fields said.

After returning to the U.S., Fields lived in Cedar Rapids for a time. He eventually landed in Fort Dodge where he worked at Fort Dodge Urban Ministry.

Fields’ stepson is Charles Clayton, executive director of Athletics for Education and Success.

“I worked a lot with youth,” he said. “A lot of kids, Black and white, will quit. If you get a chance, go with it. I don’t know if I had anything to do with him following through or not.”

Recently, Fields’ vision has been suffering.

“They (doctors) think it’s Agent Orange,” he said. “But I don’t know. Working that ammo dump to keep people away they’d come and drop it. They’d be dropping them fire balls. They’d just be dropping that stuff at all times in the morning.”

Fields has mixed emotions about his service.

“I did what I thought was right,” Fields said. “Trying to fulfill my patriotic duty, I guess. Afterwards it didn’t seem like it, you know.”