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Joined: May 2016
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: May 2016
Posts: 4,351 Likes: 53 |
I passed on a furlough to Ireland in '72 for that very reason! ha I figured I had enough Baader-Meinhoff BS right where I was at. Instead I just went home to Texas and fell in love with my future wife! While I was there, Black September killed the Israeli track team in Munich! I came back, thinking I was going to get to use my ticket to the Olympics, but NOOOOO, Had to put on my frogs, get a Unit of Fire and hit guard duty! Army mind screwing...
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Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 1,184 Likes: 15
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 1,184 Likes: 15 |
Maybe this is just a relative kid's opinion, and I completely get where you are coming from in as much as someone who wasn't there can...
But you fellows in Germany were locked and loaded for actual, no schidt, WW3. Nukes and the Red Army coming across the Fulda gap and everything.
That is a pretty dang big deal!!! And by no means unimportant. It didn't turn hot but no one needs me to say it dang sure coulda.
Last edited by Igloo; 01/14/22.
But I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,
The last of Barrett's Privateers
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Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 11,833 Likes: 67
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 11,833 Likes: 67 |
...you fellows in Germany were locked and loaded for actual, no schidt, WW3. Nukes and the Red Army coming across the Fulda gap and everything.
That is a pretty dang big deal!!! And by no means unimportant. It didn't turn hot but no one needs me to say it dang sure coulda.
Drove a few miles on a public road today. Cars, trucks, semi's roaring down the road. Didn't get killed, but I could have!
"There's more to optics than meets the eye."--anon
"...most of us would be better off losing half a pound around the waist than half a pound on our rifle."--dhg
"Anything seems possible when you don't know what you're doing."--anon
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Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 68,086 Likes: 220
Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
Joined: Sep 2011
Posts: 68,086 Likes: 220 |
I Thank all for your service.
Happy Trails to you
John 3-16
It Is No Secret What God Can Do
Try to see the good in everyone
Philippians 4:8
"Why me Lord."?
Romans 8:28
Mark 9: 24
"What a friend we have in Jesus"
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29 |
Haven't been in this section for quite a while...
Jim, like you I am one of those Vietnam Era Veterans...
I had orders for Vietnam and then that changed... was sent to Ft Lewis for more medical training...
ya know, EVERY Vietnam vet I ever spoke to, stating I am sorry I didn't get the opportunity to do my duty over there, their response has ALWAYS been " you didn't miss a damn thing"....
It was decades ago, but I was getting hassled by some leftist do gooder, about not serving in Vietnam.... and that I wasn't really a Veteran Then...
it was at a restaurant in Minneapolis area..... Out of the clear blue, some Marine Corps Vietnam Vet, walked right over and butted into the conversation...
not at me, but the left winger hassling me....
Typical Marine... short and sweet.... along the lines of " Hey Ass Hole.... where did you serve? what were your dates of service.... yeah I thought so.... Well this guy put on the uniform and served his country.. and he did exactly like we all did.... went where we were told to go, did what we were trained and told to do... We all Can't be Rambo.."
Then he turned to me, extended his hand thanking me for my service and I did the same back to him....
The hassler.... he just sort of walked off real quick.... I am pretty sure if he started slinging schitt again, the Marine would have just knocked him on his ass... and it would not have been pretty....
He made a good point... Whoever put on the uniform, has served their country... no matter where or whatever their MOS/ job was...and that is around 1% of our population..
Whoever that 1 % is or was, they are our brothers... we did something the other 99% have never done... served our country....
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 2,438 Likes: 33
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 2,438 Likes: 33 |
Thank you for your Service!
I Learned a long time ago to Separate My Want's from My Needs!
A man's Gotta Do What a Man's Gotta Do!
Know Thy Self!
The Cup is More than Half FULL!!!
TRUMP DID WIN! Like gunner500 said, 3 TIMES!
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Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 22
New Member
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New Member
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Posts: 22 |
Navy, 1967-71. Three 8 month WESTPAC cruises to Vietnam on USS Ranger. I worked on F4 Phantoms on the flight deck and hangar deck. I stayed out of the way during flight ops most of the time but sometimes had to climb up on an airplane on the catapult and flip a switch to the right position to make the radar work right, or some other simple repair. Otherwise it was stay out of the way until the airplanes are all aboard and chained down and then try to fix any broke airplanes quickly so they could launch them next time. It could be dangerous up there, especially at night, but I wasn't getting shot at. What an adventure for a dumb-ass farm kid! I loved the airplanes and all the amazing stuff going on up there, but I wasn't cut out for the military. 4 years of it was all I could take. But I'm a member of the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club and the training I got in the Navy started my career as an electronics tech and engineer off very well.
An Army guy and I were walking thru the San Jose airport, both of us in uniform. We had just got off the plane and we had to pass some people who were yelling at us and calling us "baby killers". We just kept going. My ship had garbage dumped down onto the flight deck as we passed under the Golden Gate bridge on one of our trips to Vietnam. But mostly nobody had any idea what we were going thru, and they didn't care. That was disappointing, but it was better than open hostility.
Last edited by gila_dog; 09/29/22.
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Posts: 82
Campfire Greenhorn
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Campfire Greenhorn
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 82 |
Same as Jim. Volunteer in '71. Vicious basic at Ord and AIT at Ft Sill where high test scores got me pulled from artillery and promoted to E4, acting E5. Regular army cadre with security clearance in all US draftee units filled with drug addicts, gang bangers, criminals, burn outs, and drunks awaiting less than honorable discharges. Twenty eight months in FROG, 3d ID. Three years of honorable service (my whole family served since WW1 and more) where I learned to never trust another human being for the rest of my life, including my superiors. (psychotic page long rant deleted) Details in text were too personal and don't help anyone. I saw the enemy and it was us.
M109 Palladins destroyed my hearing. I have a 100+ decibel high pitched screaming (9-10 KHz) in my ears since I was 20 and always feel like I'm on a rocking boat. I haven't slept much, maybe a couple of hours a night, in 50 years that followed. I never talk about my military experience or all the veteran nastiness after I ETS'd with anyone. I started to write some of it down here and deleted it. Can't keep a relationship even now. I'm honest but blunt, unpredictable, and in-your-face. I will say I hate nonsense, hippies, war protesters, liars, commies, draft dodgers, and the jerks who steal honor equally. I wouldn't wear the color green for the next 30 years. Ask me anything. I just nod and try to work up a smile... I'll never get to sit at the cool kids' table. Oh darn. And I hunt alone.
The HQ where I was stationed is now a shopping center.
Last edited by Gary_in_CA; 11/06/22.
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 8,061 Likes: 90
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 8,061 Likes: 90 |
I enlisted in March of 1975, delayed entry. I went active in June, did basic and AIT at Fort Knox. We were almost finished with AIT, when one day in formation, we were asked if anyone would like to volunteer for Vietnam. I'd enlisted to go to Germany. I hardly considered it. Now I wish I would have volunteered for it. I've regretted it for years. I also wonder what we would have been doing in Vietnam in October of 1975. Nothing, Saigon fell 30 April 1975.
Old Corps
Semper Fi
FJB
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 12
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New Member
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The HQ where I was stationed is now a shopping center. My old base camp, 8 miles south of the Vietnam DMZ, is now a Chevy dealership. I guess we won the war after all.
"There is nothing so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."
Winston Churchill
Member: VFW, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,088 Likes: 1
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,088 Likes: 1 |
It believe we all served with HONOR...........................................................
When the tailgate drops the BS stops.
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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 12
New Member
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New Member
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It believe we all served with HONOR........................................................... I voluntarily enlisted in the Army, and later volunteered for Vietnam. The way I look at it, anyone who raised their right hand, took the oath, and wore the uniform is my Brother or Sister. It doesn't matter to me where they served, or when they served. Or in which branch. Sure, the different branches razz each other, but against outsiders we stand shoulder to shoulder.
"There is nothing so exhilarating as to be shot at without result."
Winston Churchill
Member: VFW, American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,088 Likes: 1
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Aug 2006
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It believe we all served with HONOR........................................................... I voluntarily enlisted in the Army, and later volunteered for Vietnam. The way I look at it, anyone who raised their right hand, took the oath, and wore the uniform is my Brother or Sister. It doesn't matter to me where they served, or when they served. Or in which branch. Sure, the different branches razz each other, but against outsiders we stand shoulder to shoulder. I was RA and spent time in Germany and Vietnam. I tried to make the cooks and mechanics my best friends;-)
When the tailgate drops the BS stops.
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29 |
Thanks again gentlemen, I really appreciate the encouraging words. Two of my childhood friends joined along with me, in Aug, 1971. We were all in Boot Camp together in Ft Leonard Wood, MO. I was sent to Artillery, Ft Sill; one buddy went to Helicopter Mech school in Geogia, and one went to Medic School in Santone, Tx. (We were all from East Texas) The Mech( he was a poor helicopter mech so they put him in a Transportation co, trucks) was stationed in Mainz, GE. The Medic was stationed in Stuttgart, GE. I was stationed in Augsburg. One of them died of cancer three years ago. The other shot himself last Thursday night. There are no answers to my questions, I miss them both terribly so. "There is a friend that is closer than a brother"...that's anyone you Served with for sure. Haven't looked at this thread in a while.... Never read this post Jim... Sorry for your loss.. we all walk our own paths.... some of our ends are at the hands of others... some of our ends are poor health, and some of our ends are just we can't mentally and emotionally handle life any more... I've always believed our end, has been determined by God, before we are ever born. When we lose those we have know or especially served in the military with, their loss hits home even more than losing one of your family members.. It at least did for me.. so I am not speaking for others... But I also believe that one day we will be re united with our friends in our lifetime.. and heaven will be, that we are all young and will never grow old, and never have to live in harms way ever again....
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29
Campfire 'Bwana
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Campfire 'Bwana
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 42,960 Likes: 29 |
For anyone who put on the uniform....
We served our nation, went where we told to go and did what we were trained to do...
We all can't be Rambo, regardless if we wanted to or not.
We shouldn't feel bad we didn't have to put our asses on the line, and take fire from our enemies
to actually be considered a veteran...
only about 1 out of every 100 citizens, has even put on the uniform and taken an oath.
Too all that have put on the uniform and taken the oath, each one is a brother.
"Minus the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the Country" Marion Barry, Mayor of Wash DC
“Owning guns is not a right. If it were a right, it would be in the Constitution.” ~Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
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Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,500 Likes: 9
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Apr 2014
Posts: 1,500 Likes: 9 |
I am not a brother to a queer serving in the current armed services.
Retired Military Aviation
Former Member, Navy Shooting Team
Distinguished Pistol Shot
NRA Certified Instructor/RSO
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Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 966 Likes: 50
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 966 Likes: 50 |
My experience over a few decades was an extended period of close calls, interrupted by periods of endurance and patience.
Once in the military, we all served and SOMEONE is going to tell you where you are going and what you will do. One way to partially
avoid that is to volunteer for duty in a unit that nobody much wants to have anything to do with-either because it sounds dangerous
or the unit's reputation has preceded it.
Having survived spinal meningitis at Ft. Benning, GA. , I volunteered for just such a unit after more time at Ft. Benning and Ft. Bragg, NC.
(Names of military bases do not change in the minds of soldiers or Marines who serve there.)
CCN-CCC-CCS were the MACVSOG OPS 35 Ground Reconnaisance elements assigned from the 5th Special Forces Group. Mention of "CCN" at Ft. Bragg could stop conversations in mid-sentence...
I served with SOG from 71-72, and part of that time operated out of Khe Sanh and Quang Tri.
Cross border operations were TS and only one unit in Vietnam was authorized to conduct them.
I spent one tour at the Pentagon, and was counseled there for commenting "that having seen it-I now know why we did not do so well". I would be relieved by the current military leadership.
There are three possibilities in combat: WIA, KIA, or promotions. I received two out of three. {For a reality check, look up MSG Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver}
{Hollywood movies and the current Washington leadership get the same level of disrespect}
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena-not the critic"-T. Roosevelt
There are no atheists in fox holes...
"Tierra y Libertad" " Quiero morir siendo esclavo de los principios, no de los hombres". Emiliano Zapata
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 21,221 Likes: 175
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 21,221 Likes: 175 |
I volunteered for the Army in 1971 ( prior post). After AIT ( 105s) I had "Alert orders" for Long Binh, RVN. Waited around for 10 days or so, wondering where the orders were, when told that Nixon was pulling troops out, no new Arty guys needed. I would have went if they came through, of course, and done my best. We all knew they (politicians) were not trying to win the war, it was just a meat grinder. So I was relieved when I was sent to Germany. Afterward, upon ETS, I attended Jr College, but was shunned by most. I was not ashamed of my service, nor of the service of Nam Vets either. I developed "survivors guilt". I felt I "owed" Nam Vets something I was never able to give, I wasn't there. My Cold War experience meant very little. I'm better, but its still there. Whenever I have had Veterans business, and they call me a "Vietnam Vet", I correct it and stress that I am Vietnam Era, same time, but different place. Fast forward a few years...I have a Veteran's cap that came pre printed "Army Vietnam Era Veteran." People seem to either not know what that means or just see "Vietnam". Nam vets say "where in Nam did you serve? Or Where were you at over there? I say, "Vietnam Era, I had orders for Nam, but was sent to Germany. They get a look in their eyes and say "Oh". I had that happen again today...it brought back a lot of guilt for not having "volunteered" for Nam anyhow. I did try, with a year left, but it made no sense to re-enlist for 3 more years just to be sent to Nam ( and get out of Germany) and then come right back to Germany when done with Nam! My girl back home ( and future wife) was not an Army Wife type. Nor later, a Law Enforcement Wife". I wanted her more than a military career, though I was very good at my job, any job they gave me. I'm not whining, not at all, I just feel like not even wearing anything that says Vietnam Era. I don't want to give false info for anyone to even "think" I'm a Vietnam Vet, not because I'm ashamed to BE a Nam Vet,...but ashamed "I wasn't". Am I really just crazy and don't know it or what is up with this? Help guys... I enlisted for three years in 1968 unassigned. Upon graduation from basic training at Fort Benning I fully expected orders to Fort Polk for 11 Bravo. They give me 16 Bravo and I didn't even know what that was. It was Nike Hercules so I was a black boot Cold War soldier. It was a lonely thankless MOS and I too have always felt guilty that I did not go to Vietnam. You take what they give you but I still feel guilty after 53 years. I was a Nike Hercules MP in Alaska 1975 and 76. I know all about the "cold war". I joined the National Guard and was activated for Desert Shield/Storm and again in 2003 for Iraqi Freedom. I never made it to a combat zone until I worked as a private contractor in Afghanistan. I had 24 years total time. Right now I wish we had another "Iron Dome" of anti missile missiles. Something updated from the Nike Hercules. kwg Edit to add that the Nike Hercules system across America was a bargaining chip against the Russians. No, we didn't get shot at but we kept the Russians in check from 1959 to 1979. We have nothing now. We are extremely vulnerable from a missile or even an airplane attack from Russia or China as we speak. I don't think Russia is interested but I really think the Chinese would launch on us in a second if they could. kwg
Last edited by kwg020; 10/17/23.
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. Communists just don't jump out of helicopters.
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Joined: May 2014
Posts: 11,221 Likes: 75
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 11,221 Likes: 75 |
It didn’t matter if a person didn’t go to Vietnam or not HR said, “NO VETERANS!”
All were scum. All were baby killers. The war was caused by the enlisted men, not politicians.
I prefer classic.
Semper Fi
I used to run with the hare. Now I'm envious of the tortoise and I do my own stunts but rarely intentionally
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 21,221 Likes: 175
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 21,221 Likes: 175 |
It didn’t matter if a person didn’t go to Vietnam or not HR said, “NO VETERANS!”
All were scum. All were baby killers. The war was caused by the enlisted men, not politicians. I learned that most HR folks don't know a thing about a successful military enlistment or those who chose to stay for 20 plus years and what it takes to reach 20 years. They are educated idiots in a very powerful position. kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. Communists just don't jump out of helicopters.
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