David Melton

purchased my first slr in Korea 1969. It was a Pentax spotmatic 50mm len f1.4 Have been a shutterbug ever since.

Plieku69 Loc: The Gopher State, south end

I took an Instamatic with me but the constant red dust soon messed it up. We were operating around the Duc Co area then and never got close to a PX for 4 months when were were sent to An Khe for road security. I didn't even know what a 35mm camera was then, but I had seen the pictures they took and had to get one. Finally I got my chance, A Petrei FT at the PX. I still have it though the switch for the light meter is sticky. Took it most everywhere for years. Regrettably I left it home when I went to Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm. I really missed out on a lot of great pictures.
Company A 1st Battalion, 69th Armor. call sign: one six delta.
Ken

Bill_de Loc: US

My first real camera, a Mamiya Sekor 1000 DTL, came from the PX in Long Bihn. It got stolen and I got a second one before coming back to The World.

I got stationed at Fort Benning attached to Special Services as a life guard. We worked 5 days on/5 days off. That gave me time to learn how to do darkroom work. And they had one heck of a darkroom.

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davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

There was an electronics supermarket right across the street from the main gate at Tokyo's Yokota Air Base named "Pony"s". Sansui Quad 4 Channel receivers, too many speaker brands to remember, TEAK tape decks, Seiko watches, Minolta cameras, Casio gadgets of all types, and many more toys on the shelves! East coast C-141 crews went in-country from the Anchorage to Tokyo to point Charlie to our destination in the zone. Since we usually staged in Tokyo a trip to Pony's was easy if they were open. Thousands of USAF flight crewmen loaded up on goodies whenever they went through. Every now and then a doctor (flight surgeon) would snag a trip in country and always loaded up on stereo gear. I saw several total stereo systems loaded onto crew buses. Prices were crazy, paid $149.95 usd for a Minolta SRT 102/ 50mm lens, and added a 100mm telephoto Minolta lens for $99.00 usd. That was one hell of a rig for $250.00. The amount of stuff that flew out the doors at Pony's was incredible, it went on for over 10 years! Still have the camera and both lenses. I agree with the previous post that said camera gear and USAA are two of the best things I got from the experience. I just read a Ken Rockwell review of the SRT 102. In the review Rockwell mentions the SRT 101 as being the top selling SLR during the Vietnam conflict era. How many different brands were available at that time?