ROBERT RUTCHIK • VIETNAM
Robert Rutchik, 78
Gloucester, MA
Born: 4/22/1947
Born/Raised: Norwich, CT/Gloucester
Service: US Army
Rank: E-5 Sergeant
Long Bin, Vietnam
Dates of Service: 1969-1971
Bob Rutchik was born in Norwich CT to Louis and Yetta Rutchik in 1947. Nine years later his father moved the family, including his younger sister Diane, to Gloucester to join the family business, The Factory Outlet, a clothing company located on the waterfront. He graduated Gloucester High in 1965 and for a short time attended UMass Boston and worked for the Gloucester DPW.
He joined the Army in late 1968. In January 1969 he was sent to Boebligen, Germany to work the motor pool for the first few months of his service before being transferred to a heavy equipment supply company in Long Bin, Vietnam north of Saigon. He finished his tour in late 1971 and headed home.
“I got serious about education. Three years as an enlisted man in the Army will do that to you.” Serious he was. He received his B.A. in political science from UConn in 1974, then earned his Ph.D. from Penn State, also in political science. He went to work for the federal government in the Energy Information Administration, a department that compiles and analyzes all information regarding everything related to energy production. He did that until leaving government service in 2010.
Bob remains connected to politics through his connection with the Gloucester Democratic City Committee.