Former Maricopa County attorney reflects on time in Vietnam

PHOENIX — The 1960s — a time of social change and idealism. It was also a time of war. America was embroiled in the meat grinder of Vietnam, and a young Rick Romley, just a few months out of high school, walked into a Tucson Marine recruiting station and signed up. It was 1968.

“I joined the Marine Corps with my best friend, David Schaefer, and just a short time after I was wounded, he was killed in Vietnam. It touched me very, very, very personally. I named my first son after him, and so I think of that sacrifice — and not just them,” Romley said.

It was a landmine that nearly cost Romley his life. Both legs were gone, and he had a ton of shrapnel in his gut. He endured surgery after surgery, and that same dogged determination would one day make him a fierce Maricopa County Attorney.

“I actually think I’m stronger because of those war injuries,” Romley said. “It forced me to recognize the good — sometimes the limitations that you might have — but you become stronger, and you realize that you have a strength inside of you, and hopefully it pushes you to the good side.”

Vietnam left its mark on Romley, as it did on so many others. But instead of succumbing to the injuries that no one could see, he instead found purpose.

“I could have been one of those veterans that committed suicide — too many veterans do nowadays because of war injuries. But when you find that there’s something greater than yourself — for me, I had to raise my boys, I was a single parent — you begin to realize that that can be the most gratifying thing in your entire life,” Romley said.

And that’s the message Rick Romley wants America to hear as we near our 250th birthday. Service and sacrifice can be life-changing. He wants his fellow Americans to listen to their hearts — and not the noise.

“I think, take a moment and remember and reflect upon that service and sacrifice. Don’t lose it. Don’t give it up for the craziness of today’s politics — that’s not who we are as Americans. We just aren’t that way. We are a giving country; we’ve always been that way,” Romley said. “Just take a moment to reflect and honor those that gave so much. And if you disagree with them, okay, disagree with them — but don’t hate them. Don’t hate them.”

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