SOA
President Rick Estes announced today the “sad news” of the passing of
former SOA Treasurer Pete Buscetto, 71. Pete passed away in his bed at
home January 24 in Summerville, S.C., outside Charleston, said his son
Chris Buscetto.
Rick
Estes said, “It is my sad duty to report the passing of Pete Buscetto
earlier today. Pete's many years of service to the SOA made him a very
close friend to so many of us and will be greatly missed by all. The
family will gather in the next day or two and make decisions regarding
services. I told his son Chris how much he will be missed and that the
SOA stood by to help anyway we can.”
Pete
was appointed treasurer of the SOA in 2011 by the SOA Board of
Directors to a three-year term in office. He was elected as treasurer in
2014 and again in 2017, but due to health issues was compelled to
resign from his elected position during the summer of 2018. He joined
the SOA in November 2000. He ran for director of the SOA in the early
2000 years and served on the SOA membership and by-laws committees
working with then chairmen Ray Calafell and Ty Furbish.
Past
SOA President John S. Meyer said, “In 2011, when the SOA board asked
him to serve as treasurer, Pete stepped up to the plate and did all that
we asked of him and more. He was a major asset to the SOA board and the
SOA membership over the years. During my three-year term in office,
Pete spent several hundred hours of his own time working to improve
transparency of SOA financial reports as well as working with SOA tech
staff improving on-line visibility and services for SOA members.”
SOA
Membership Chairman Ray Frovarp said, “Pete was instrumental in
developing the SOA website to include the ability to pay dues, apply for
membership online and register for the annual reunion.
He
was also instrumental in starting the annual CCS Southern Brotherhood
Breakfast,” which began in 2012, working with former CCS commanding
officer Col. Fred Lindsey, which brought together CCS recon men with all
of the aviation units that served SOG recon teams running missions into
Cambodia.
Meyer
added, “In reflection, Pete said the period of his life that he was
most proud of was serving as a SOG recon man, a Green Beret at CCS with
RT Plane, at CCC and later trained SOG teams at Camp Long Thanh – the
SOG training facility. He was the COO and president of CompUSA East,
during a period of time that company grew to over $2 billion in revenues
in 1992. He formed other companies, but his days in SOG were the
highlight of his life, after marrying the love of his life Terry. In
fact, he said that he often applied lessons learned from his recon days
to business practices.”
SOA
member Ben Lyons was CCS Recon team leader, One-Zero on RT Plane with
Pete in 1971. “We ran six or seven missions together. He was real good
in the jungle. On top of that, he was a good man and superb team mate.
No ‘BS’ and no ‘Why this/why that/”crapopla with him unless he had a
point to make and it was a good one. I never got the same questions
twice from him and he always learned the first time. Can’t ask for much
more out of a recon man...I’m real sorry to hear that he’s gone.”
Peter
James Buscetto, was born June 14, 1947 to a career Air Force father,
Bruce R. Buscetto. Being a military brat, Pete spent some of his
childhood overseas, to include attending Ramsey High School in
Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Pete played football in high school, both as
team quarterback and linebacker. He often said he enjoyed playing
linebacker more than quarterback because as a linebacker his job was “to
mess with the other team’s offense, I loved doing that.” During that
time he became an accomplished martial arts student. He continued his
education by attending Chowan College, Murfreesboro, NC, earning a
Business degree (1964-1966). Pete enjoyed spending time in the woods of
North Carolina, which he said helped him to be a good recon man moving
through the jungle on missions from CCS and CCC.
Pete
joined the Army in 1968 and served with Command and Control South
(CCS), MACV-SOG 1970-1971 as a member of Recon Team (RT) Plane. In 1971
Pete was sent from CCS to CCC, and then To Camp Long Thanh to work as an
instructor. Pete left Vietnam in Oct. 1971.
After
his return from Vietnam, Pete married Theresa (Daiuto) on 18 Nov 1972.
They enjoyed 46 years of marriage and the union produced two children,
Christopher Buscetto, and Stacey (Buscetto) Wettermann.
Pete
was preceded in death by his step-mother, Ruth Adelaide (Crowell)
Buscetto. He is survived by his father, Bruce R. Buscetto; wife Terry
Buscetto; son Christopher and daughter Stacey Wettermann; sisters JoAnn
Vergnolle, Deirdre M Buscetto, Nancy B Burns and brother Bruce Greg
Buscetto.
In
2001, commenting on being a recon man with MACV-SOG, Pete wrote: “Only
three things counted in those days: did the man pull his missions, was
he any good in the woods, and would you go to the bush with him. These
standards, once meet, formed a bond among us that will last a life
time.”
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