Pictured: Robert Sandbulte served in the United States Marines from 1971 to 1973. His father, brother Wayne, and son John also served.

By Jill Fennema –

Robert (Bob) Sandbulte joined the United States Marines in 1971. He was a senior in high school at the time. His parents, John and Hermina of Edgerton, did not say a lot about his decision. His dad had served in World War II in the Army Air Force, and Robert’s older brother Wayne, had served for four years as a marine in Vietnam. 

Because he was still 17, John had to sign the paperwork for Robert to join the Marines. Robert was quite thankful his dad noticed that the recruiter had signed him up for four years instead of two – he had time to get that corrected before he signed on the dotted line. His other siblings include siblings Lloyd, Anita (Cole), Donna (Van’t Hof), Glenda (Vande Griend), and Bill. 

Robert left for basic training at the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, on the day of his high school graduation. 

Basic training was tough, but not as tough for Bob as for others. At times he had to settle in his mind beforehand that he was not going to be the guy that was weaker or slower than the rest. That mindset was really put to the test with some of the training. During his senior year, Bob was injured playing football. He had ruptured a kidney and as a result his core muscles were not as strong as they once were. Sit-ups proved to be quite the challenge, but he didn’t give up.

His eight weeks of basic were followed by four weeks of Advanced Infantry Training (AIT), which involved spending a lot of time out in the woods learning survival skills and doing training exercises.

Robert thought that because he was a farm boy, he’d be trained and given a rifle and sent out to shoot. But to his surprise, his military testing placed him in the radio program, so after his AIT he went to school to be a radio operator. 

In January or February 1972, Robert was deployed to Okinawa. Okinawa was an important place for the United States during the Vietnam War. It was the main launching point for US forces. It was also a place where troops came to relax and recuperate during their deployments. 

During his time there, Bob served as the mailman for his company. He was also in charge of inventory for the 9th motor transport company. That job involved going to the port when a supply ship came in and communicating with the commanding officers about how many trucks they would need for hauling the supplies. And, of course, each day had several hours set aside for physical training. Robert recalls that even though he did not consider himself a runner, he spent a lot of time running with the officers.

Other day-to-day work involved keeping track of the parts for the radios, painting jeeps, or cleaning. Inspections were a regular part of life. Only once time did Robert fail an inspection and that was a rifle inspection. He was never really sure what he did wrong. His first failure came right before lunch, so before the rifle was inspected again, he had to go to lunch. While at lunch he spilled on his tie. He thought for sure that the sergeant would be more upset about the dirty tie and forget about the rifle. But, no, he didn’t even notice the spot on Robert’s tie and failed him yet again on his rifle inspection!