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This week I am attending another 4-day reunion of my army buddies with whom I served in Vietnam. This will be my fourth such event; these occur every couple years in a different locale. Hadn't seen them for over 40 years when one of them located me by chance.

There are things we can only talk about with those who shared these same experiences, which makes this is an extremely healing activity that I recommend to all combat veterans and their wives.

In touch with a couple but in reflection so many were friends at the time simply because we were in a squadron together. The one's I'm in touch with are mostly those that I hunted and fished with.

Im cool I know it was a joke.
It was a general shotgun blast meant as a whole for english nazi,s.

You asked 20 vets about joining the military and not one of em said to check it for yourself and it is what you as an individual make it and not to base it on others experience.
For 20 to say dont do it, i find that # to be incredible.

Go join if you still meet the qualifications.
Find out for yourself and not what others have to say.


JMO......

At the end of WWII, the troop withdrawal began. Thousands upon thousands of troops were being sent home. Sad part of it is that some of these troops were wounded and needed medical attention. Hospital ships were over crowded, as were all the ships, with troops headed for the states. Some of the wounded were airlifted back to the states.

Dad was an electrician in the Navy and during the withdrawal of troops, was stationed on some small island in the Pacific that had an airstrip that could handle everything except the B-29's. There was also a hospital on the island. When a soldier was wounded and was being flown back to the states, and for whatever reason needed immediate medical attention, they would land on this island and leave them at the hospital. Dad and 3 other Navy electricians were tasked with keeping the generators running and any other electrical problems that might pop-up. They stayed there for approximately a year, working in pairs, 12 hrs on/12 hrs off.

The 4 fellows became good friends and kept in touch, after the war. Mostly it was just letters and Christmas cards, but once I remember Dad saying he got to visit one of the men. I remember Mom getting a letter from one of the fellows families, telling her that Dad's friend had passed away, and her saying that with this man's passing, Dad was the only one left. Dad's still doing very well, he'll be 93 this month.

Kinda changing the subject a little.....

All the living WWII vets in Union Parish were honored at a ceremony this summer. There are 19 in the parish and 11 were in attendance. The village we live in is planning a Christmas Parade on Dec. 7 (Pearl Harbor Day), and the mayor came by the other day and asked Dad to be the Grand Marshall, in the parade.

"No, there isn't many night classes for soldiers in the field. Not when you are out in the field all night."
Quoted from above.


That is THE ultimate night class.
Unfortunately tooooo many do not take that course.
Things might be different if everyone did.

No I have not had any contact with those I served with for about 36 years. It just was not in the cards.
Seemed more appropriate for us to just blend in and move on as best we could.

Commands don’t understand that when Soldier ets/retires they still have a story to tell about the US Army. Most these kids these days get out are very soured by there experience. So when they get home 9 times out 10 they will tell people not join. Again these officers and csm don’t see that. All they say is well the csm’s Say it “if they don’t want to stay in ph uckem we don’t need them” uh yes you do csm..

Lost contact with all of mine long ago....

Minus a small med section in a helicopter unit, where I did medevac
all the other units I served in, were large units...

one MASH unit and two large hospital units...

duty all over the place... knew a lot of good people...

hope most of them are still with us and doing well in life...

Kind of the same thing here. Tightest friends I ever had were in the Army, but when I met up with some after we got out there was nothing there for a friendship, not to mention that fact that we were scattered all over the country. Main reason we were friends was that we were all 19-20 year old E3's and E4's, we all wore green and were all in the same situation so we looked out for each other. In civilian life one was kind of a criminal and another was just white trash. Say la vee....

I lost touch with an old Army buddy many years ago. I went to look him up late last year and discovered he had recently passed away from cancer. I have been kicking myself for not reaching out before I did. We went through some good times as well as tough times together.

My best buddy in the Army was a guy named Gary, my age from Chicago. We hung around together until he ETSed, 6 months before I did.
We kept in touch, I came back to PA, he got hitched and moved to Minnesota and started a family.
A few years back, Wifey and I were out in Montana. One weekend we drove east to Minot ND, and Gary and his youngest daughter met us there. We hung around all weekend, talking about old times and the stuff we did and had to put up with. He's a history buff like me, and I'm trying to con him into coming to PA for a week. Go to Gettysburg and Antietam, maybe Ft Necessity, and Flight 93.
Couple other guys I found on Facebook. Talked to a couple, but nobody I was as close to as Gary.
7mm

had a friend from west virginia, a volunteer and served in the nam. he might have joint up to stay out of the chaingang, i don't know.

other one was from west texas. a goat-roper for sure. he was as pc and as straight as they come. a texas aggie i recall.

tried to find my old section head. he was from lake charles, la. a ton of folks out there with the same name as his.

ya i keep in touch with a few via facebook and email. there's a couple i'd like to get in contact with. but to be honest the ones i have contacted really didn't click with me anymore. obligatory small talk, reminiscing and then it kind of trickles off. lot of changes in almost 40 years.

Every Year at Howard County Vietnam Vets reunion -- Kokomo IN. thousands of Vietnam Vets ( Woodstock of Vietnam Vets) . I gather around the campfire with at least 4 good men that I was with in 1970-71 in the Central Highlands. My LT. who saved my ass down in Long Bien one night. The Driver of the Guntruck I was on. ( Driver of the replica Guntruck now)-- a tool twister in-1971 that worked on the orig. truck and a truck driver that stuck close to us on Convoys. Been meeting up with these beer drinking American Hero's since a war Historian in Ft.Wayne In. spent $ 30,000 of his own money to build a replica of the Wild Thing guntruck. Found the gunner that taught me everything I needed to know when I first got on the truck . Had lunch with him twice down in Jacksonville Fla. Called me one night to tell me about his Agent Orange. Week later Ann called. I've rode in box of the Orig. many a mile in SVN . and also in the Box of the replica from Northern IN. to FT.Eustis --to Pigeon Forge Tenn. - to Branson MO. and many more places with the same Driver in both SVN and the US. ---- Doesn't get much Better. What a family. ---Web --- PS. The first time I saw my oldest grandson soon after he was born in Spotsylvania VA, in 2006 was from the Box of the Guntruck. We were guest at the Army War college up in Pa. on our way to Ft Eustis. My daughter knew that Dad would be much better off with his VN buddy's and stop a few days after she and Jackson got home. I spent a week with her and the family after Eustis.

I actually work with one of my old AF buddies from Idaho. I remembered that he was from Nebraska. When I decided to transfer to Omaha to get closer to home, I knew he hired on with the FAA also, so thought I'd try get a hold of him to see what the shop was like. Turns out he was working out of the Omaha office. Been working together for a little over 10 years now. When Facebook came out, I got in touch with several other that I served with. With the Facebook politics, I don't get on there much anymore. Found a site called Together We Served. Not sure how legit it is, but saw some familiar names on it.

ommands don’t understand that when Soldier ets/retires they still have a story to tell about the US Army. Most these kids these days get out are very soured by there experience. So when they get home 9 times out 10 they will tell people not join. Again these officers and csm don’t see that. All they say is well the csm’s Say it “if they don’t want to stay in ph uckem we don’t need them” uh yes you do csm..


Where my son went to high school here in Oregon, his senior year, his principal started a program, where the school has a Veterans invited for a Veterans day program....They have a program in the Gym, where all the students are required to attend, shutting down all classes for an 90 minutes....the band is there... but they do a roll call of all the veterans that come, and have them stand up when their name is called.. listing their years of service, and combat duty they saw, the branch of service and the how long they served and their rank when they got out....

They also have a slide program, of any pictures submitted by veterans, which they encourage, and then show slides of graduates of Hidden Valley High that have served.... The number of vets attending run about a 100 or more on average...It was started in 2012...Some of the attending vets, are those that graduated from the High School, long before the program started, who are now Officers or High Ranking NCOs, who have made a career of it.... We still have several WW2 vets that show each year, and a number of Korean War Vets... lots of Vietnam Vets.... We even have a couple of retired Generals show up in full uniform...

After that they have a catered dinner for us...

those of us who are bright and bushy enough to show up at 7 AM, we are assigned to a class room each.. either individually or in pairs, to tell students a little about our service and time in... what we did etc...then we take questions from the students...

actually most of the students enjoy it more than most of the vets...as the hour changes, and the classes change... many of those that want to join the military, come forward and want to individually ask us a million questions...other students, male and female want to come up and tell us their dads or uncles or grandpas served... and ever some tell us proudly grandma or mom served..

I've had the opportunity to share a room, with one of the WW2 vets who was a combat Medic.. well into his 90s and he's still hell on wheels, quit the character... love that guy.... also shared a room with one of the Genreals.. a One Star, who was a doctor in the Army, so he was Medical Corps also....Students get really impressed with him... and nice guy... He usually tells the students, most of my career I pushed a lot of paper.... Talk to the Sgt here... he's one of the guys that did all the work....Hospital, MASH unit, MedEvac.. still feels odd being on a first name basis with a General....

its a good program and we leave a lot of kids with a positive prospect of the Military... several times, I've had guys who are graduates of the High School, and come up to me and introduce themselves in uniform.... telling me that due to our visiting, they were impressed enough, that they joined after High School, and went into the Medical Corps in the Army.. I don't remember them but they remembered me and went to seek me out... that has happened to a lot of the other veterans who are there annually...

We talk about it over lunch afterwards, of the impact we have on many of the kids doing this invite every year....both male and female.....

The Young Marines come in and do the flag ceremony.. its inspirational to watch some of these really older vets, or those with physical disabilities, still rise the best they can and salute the flag.. often helped by fellow vets to stand up and be held up, if they don't have anyone special with them to do those things for them..... The Students certainly don't miss that camaraderie either...

Some of the scouts from our troop go to school there, or from other troops but know me from years of service to the local Scout program.. they always come up to make sure they say hi... I ask them about how the kids in their classes felt about talking to the vets in the class rooms... the answers are never negative....Several of the old WW 2 vets are the most popular tho... that and the General or two....

its a nice day to see our veterans getting respected.... and its not unusual to have one of the kids from the High school, stop us around town and tell us they were in one of the classes we spoke to....

All of the vets I know who attend, always look forward to that day each year.... regardless of what branch or when we served or what we did, what we love most is the brotherhood...and many are embarrassed of how much attention and appreciation we get from many of the students....even if they have blue hair and a ring in their nose....

One of my Vn buddies picked me up at the Branson airport this morning. Several of us had lunch together and briefly toured Branson before I checked into the Radisson, where the reunion events will be taking place over the next few days. Funny thing how easy it is to reconnect after years apart.