Originally Posted by AkMtnHntr
Originally Posted by BillyGoatGruff
Originally Posted by simonkenton7
I didn't go to the Nam. But seven of my high school buddies did. Joined the Marines and did a tour.
I was hanging around them when they got back. They were some wild and crazy guys there in 1970 and we partied a lot in their apartment. They had brought back a skull from Vietnam and had it painted up with day glo. Had it right in the middle of the apartment right on the coffee table in the living room. They wouldn't exactly say how they got the skull but they called it "skull" and sometimes, they would put a marijuana cigarette in the jaws of "Skull."

By the way my buddies were redneck boys from Chamblee High School in Atlanta. When they were seniors in 1967 there was, believe me, no marijuana to be had at high school. Two years later these guys were back from 'Nam and they were all smoking pot and lots of it.

So ten years later I saw Platoon, in that underground crash pad the guys were smoking a lot of pot and they had a skull on the table, front and center, that looked very realistic to me.


[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
Phil, Ronnie, and David. My friends in Vietnam. 1968


My uncle flew Huey's for the 101st in Vietnam. His uncompromising stance on weed is based on what he experienced there. I differ in my own opinion, but his is based on things he saw and had happen that I can't fully appreciate. Though I DAMN sure appreciate him and what he did. We have had some very enlightening conversations since I listened to the Jocko podcasts where he talked with the MACV/SOG guys. My uncle was one of the pilots who dropped off and picked those guys up. What appreciation I thought I had for him and what he went through was nothing compared to what I feel now having a better understanding.
Dick Thompson and John Stryker Meyers tell some pretty harrowing stories and those King Bee pilots were fearless.


Those were some very interesting conversations he had on there!

I am very close to my uncle, he's a big gun nut and my mentor into all things gun related. Hand loading, hunting, etc. I knew he flew huey's in Nam, and that he has a 1911 I shot a couple times that means a lot to him. But I never had a clue what he really did until after I listened to those podcasts and talked to him about them. The terms they used like "prairie fire" caused a lot of pregnant pauses on his end of the phone line. Spent a couple hours one night where I learned a whole lot more about my beloved uncle.

MAGA