 Barnes was dispatched to Vietnam as part of the 173rd Airborne Brigade on May 31, 1966, during the Vietnam War.Serving in Company C of the 1st Battalion, 503d Infantry, Barnes was assigned as a grenadier.Soldiers of the brigade became involved in Operation Attleboro in fall of 1966, an operation that started out as a small search and destroy mission north of Saigon but eventually involved 22,000 troops from 21 battalions.