Retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 Sal Soto, served in the Army National Guard for 34 years. From 1966 to 1970, he was an NCO for Casualty Assistance. His ability to provide compassionate support during times of loss made a lasting impact on countless military families across the state. After retiring from the military, he continued working with veterans, advising them about benefits and later started his own handyman business. The former director and curator of the New Mexico Military Museum now volunteers two days a week in its library. Sal will be among the speakers at the museum on April 30. The event opens with a reception at 5 pm with speakers scheduled at 6.
So tell me about your military career.
I joined the Army National Guard in Carlsbad during my senior year to make a little money. I come from a large family (of 12) and dad and mom needed all the help they could get. Dad was a farmer, and I can tell you firsthand farmers don't get rich. My dad would tell us if you want to start a farm, I can help you get started—I have contacts. I know where a farmer's going to go broke and sell the equipment cheap, but anything outside that, boys, I don't have the money to help you—it's either farming or military service. So the oldest three boys were on the next bus out. For so many people, especially in rural America, the military was an escape. I can either go back to farming with my dad and my grandpa and hope we do well or the government will pay for me to become an electrician.
After high school I did my initial six months training and hoped to go back and start college. When the National Guard sent out a message seeking volunteer instructors for a weapon system the army eliminated and assigned it to the National Guard, I volunteered. That would keep me at Fort Bliss from 1966 to ‘68. That's when my first involvement with the notifications of families would begin. During that time, I was primarily on the firing squad side. We were bussed out early in the morning to a funeral site and, depending on what the family had requested, we would go straight to the cemetery and wait there for the graveside services to begin. Since I was bilingual, I was asked to at least be available in case the family was more comfortable asking me the questions. Most of my involvement was in the funeral ceremony, either a firing squad or an honor guard that the family requested. We would also serve as the pallbearers, but If the family wanted his cousins to be the pallbearers, that's fine. Whatever the family requested, the family was going to get.
We accompanied the family to receive the body as it came back, whether it was by train or by plane. Some communities were so remote that there was no station, so we picked up the families to take them to receive the body. The honor guard would stay with the body up to the funeral time, but the utmost instructions from the commanding general was ‘you work for the family, you will sympathize with the family, you will be hand in glove with the family until your part is over.’
From ‘68 to ‘70, I became a survivor's assistance officer, who was the one that would deliver the GI insurance benefit and the personal belongings. As you know, parts of New Mexico and West Texas are very remote, so sometimes we had to stop at the county sheriff's office or the state police for directions. Often they would lead us out to the home. Of course, if the family looked out the window and saw a deputy sheriff and a military vehicle, then they knew exactly what had happened. On two occasions, the minute they opened the door, the mother cited the exact time that their son had been killed because they’d had some kind of premonition.
When you entered the National Guard you were just a kid. Then, right away, you’re thrust into these highly emotional situations that require a lot of nuance. Did it shape your perspective for life?
Absolutely. It would mold me for the rest of my life. I don't wanna say it made me more compassionate, but I'm gonna say it made me more compassionate than I think I would have otherwise been. At the time, maybe not a ton, but it affected how quickly I saw the light. Since most of the soldiers that I was involved with were within a year or two of my own age, you come to realize and fully grasp that life is too short. I think the average soldier in Vietnam during that time was 21. I don't have the exact percentage, but the biggest majority were born in 1946, ‘47 or ‘48, and I was born in ‘47.
What is the legacy of the Vietnam War to you personally?
Ever hear of Conrad Edward LaGueux? He was Deputy Chief of the CIA office in Saigon. He was among the last American servicemen to leave Saigon. He sent the last communique from Saigon to the War Room, and he took the opportunity to be critical. He probably figured, what are they gonna do? Fire me? In his last communique he said: ‘It has been a long and hard fight and we have lost. … The defeat and the circumstances of it, however, would seem to call for a reassessment of the policies’ He was very politely letting them have it. The way he finished his last communique I think sums up the legacy of the war for me when he said ‘Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it. Let us hope that we will not have another Vietnam experience and that we have learned our lesson. Saigon signing off.’
