Mark Doering served in the Army from 1969 until about 1972. He signed a contract which gave him a longer tour, but he could leave service earlier. His contract also allowed him to stay out of combat. He was with the army security agency, the 509th Radio Research Unit. Their task was to intercept enemy communications, translate, interpret, and pass on data to the proper units. Doering was trained as a Fixed Station Facilities Controller (performing quality control on lines of communication), but when he arrived they had plenty of men filling that spot, and he ended up driving a truck. Eventually, his commanders decided that it was useful to have someone with top secret crypto-clearance and the ability to travel anywhere, so he remained a truck driver. For the most part, he enjoyed his experience, to the point that he didn’t take R&R’s when offered.

The aerial photos in the collection were taken from a helicopter when he had courier duty. He would often strap himself into the web harness used for the machine gunner to take shots.

Toward the end of his tour, the American troops pulled out and behind his unit’s position, so he asked his mother to send a letter claiming his father had had a heart attack. He was able to come home sooner and leave the service a few months earlier.