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Amidst the plethora of things most folks don't understand is the war machine requires many parts and the support side of the equation devours a large share of the population. They never see conflict, but without their contribution those on the field of battle would never win. There is no shame whatsoever in missing out on the combat side of things and I am more than grateful for those that serve in the support roles.

Lineage on both sides of my family is peppered with those that were combat veterans and "era" vets. Won't bore you with the telling, but the "era" vets outnumbered the combat vets in my family by noticeable margin and this ranges from the US Civil War, both world wars, Korea and Vietnam.

Have no regrets, hold your head high!


I am..........disturbed.

Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass. -Twain


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If you served in the early 70's, you gotta be 70+ yrs old. I say put it behind you and move on. From a guy who served my 2yrs in Italy 1969-71. And was glad of it.

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My first enlistment was June 1973 to June 1976. I was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston and a Nike missile base outside of Anchorage Alaska. I was a real cold war warrior. I rejoined the National Guard in 1985. I was activated for Desert Sheild/Storm and never left the States. I was activated again for Iraqi Freedom and again I never left the States. I did make it to a combat zone after retiring from the P.D. at the end of 2008 and went to Afghanistan as a contractor.

But if you ask, I'm a Viet nam Cold war era soldier.

kwg


For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
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They called legal draft dodgers, US Army Reserve.
I came out a Staff Sargent, we were first a service battery, then 205 Howitzers.


These premises insured by a Sheltie in Training ,--- and Cooey.o
"May the Good Lord take a likin' to you"
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Thanks for your service. you stood up and answered the call to duty, you wrote that check, and that's what matters.

I came along much later, skipped school right after Christmas Break, early Jan is cold in the NE, went to the recruiter station and signed up as my tolerance level was low from people asking what I was going to do after High School? Imagine the look on their faces of a 17 year old country boy with long hair saying he was leaving for the ARMY when he graduated. I had a short tour none the less, 26 years, 24.5 of it Active Duty, you don't always get to choose where you ended up.

Thanks to all that served.


I don't want a pickle, I just wanna ride my motorcycle
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When I got out, a littler girl spit on me while her parents, arms crossed laughed gleefully.
The human resources doors had "NO VETERANS!"
The professors told me that they didn't like my kind and would never give me an "A". At the church I attended the church, the council waited for me at the door and told me that they didn't want scum like me in their church.
The only jobs I could get were day laborer at less than minimum wages. It was either hard labor or just jobs no one else wanted.
Even the police treated veterans like [bleep]. They knew that we were the ones who brought drugs into town. I got stopped by the highway patrol every time I met them on the road. They did an entire search of my car including the trunk. One highway patrolman handcuffed me and put me in the back of his cruiser when he found white touch up paint in my car. He tasted it and said in disgust, "What is this [bleep] anyway?"


I prefer classic.
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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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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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Can't sleep tonight for no particular reason, but re visited this thread.. Yeah, I served, but never in harms way, although I certainly trained for it...

I am proud of serving, but looking back, I wished I had done more for my nation....

I say this toward no one, I just apply it to myself.....

I still have more respect for those that served within harms way, than I do for the service that I did in the Medical Corps...

91 Bravo, 91 Charlie, 91 Sierra, 54 Echo...

To all my brothers who put on the uniform.........a Heartfelt THANK YOU...


"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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I was in 1969 to 1972 USMC. 50% of my platoon died in the first two weeks In Vietnam. I lost track after that. I was the oldest at 20 years old (of the recruits). Most were just 18.

I spent 6 months at Bal Boa Naval Hospital and 6 months at Camp Pendleton Naval Hospital. Two years later I was excited to leave hoping to get back to a normal life - I left as an E-5 Sgt. Little did I know that I was a druggy, a baby killer and a rapist.

Last edited by Bugger; 08/10/20.

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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Too young, never served, so this may be all wrong.
It's definitely not meant as an insult to anyone.

If you volunteered for the Army during Vietnam,
Don't let anyone who was probably drafted and "forced" to Vietnam,
try to make you feel bad about not serving there.

Ponder that.


I have heard much talk looking for recognization if their service from guys
whose story started with getting a letter.

They did their duty, served when ask, but they did not volunteer.

And again, it's a distinction, and not meant as a slight to those who were
drafted. Their country called, and they answered, at a time when many didnt.

Last edited by Dillonbuck; 08/12/20.

Parents who say they have good kids..Usually don't!
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I think the backbone of the army was and is it's NCO's, and I can tell you from personal experience, we volunteers, RA's were treated with slightly more deference by the NCO's in my case , in 1964.
At the recruiting office in 1964, the senior sergeant went to my high school and demanded they review my records and give me my diploma if I had the number of credits required, so he could give me the mos school I requested. (I had left home and didn't graduate formally with the class, living in the back of my old pickup) They reviewed my credits and awarded the diploma and I got my school,,, thanks sarge. Then I scored very high on my battery tests, and they were pressuring me to go to OCS after basic. The company First Sergeant pulled me aside in confidence and warned me to be VERY careful. He told me my mos would be out the window, and I would graduate OCS in Infantry rather than Engineers. He explained at length the average life expectancy of a 2nd Lt. of infantry. Probably saved my life. I liked the Army, but I was not a natural born leader or warrior. And through the next two plus years I felt I was treated well and fairly. I graduated near the top of my class at heavy equipment repair school, it gave me a trade for the rest of my life, and never heard a shot fired in anger. I was given responsibilities far above my E-4 rank, and with that went privileges, I never washed a dish or mopped a floor after boot camp.
But, then, I am a weird duck, I am the only guy in the US that LOVED army chow (although in honesty, Navy and Air Force was even better, and I worked for them frequently, often showing up at mealtime).
I always had a place in my heart for the grunts, RA, US, NG, regardless,always thought, "that could be you, you lucky bastard", as I looked at their dark hollow eyes, the thousand yard stare is not a myth.


Well this is a fine pickle we're in, should'a listened to Joe McCarthy and George Orwell I guess.
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Jim_Knight,

I understand. I was in a branch of the military that many think do nothing outside the sight of land, much less to see actual combat in Vietnam. A number of years ago I had a serving Marine ( who had never seen combat anywhere, at that time) question how in the hell I even got a US Navy Combat Action Ribbon!!

Nevertheless we just move on. Nothing to be ashamed of in your service.

Bob

Member US Coast Guard Squadron 3
Served in Vietnam September 1970 to August 1971

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I was in the Marines from Oct 1968 to July 1970. I got as far as Okinawa and never made it to Nam. From what I heard about 65% of the guys I went over with didn’t come back or not the way they went. I never really talk about me being in the Marines as I feel I never did my part for what I was trained for. I guess I’m suffering from survivors guilt or something? I’ll still proud that I graduated from boot camp at Paris Island as a PFC!😄

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I enlisted for 3 years in the Army in 1968 "unassigned". Upon completion of basic training I figured I would get orders to go to Fort Polk for 11 Bravo training but instead I was given a MOS of 16 Bravo. I didn't even know what that was. It turned out to be Nike-Hercules missiles in ARADCOM. I became a "Cold War" soldier with black boots. We never got any recognition but we certainly spent many long, boring and lonely hours guarding against the Communists. Like another poster said, there are many jobs that don't get much credit but I do take pride in knowing that I served my country well and I wish I could go back but at almost 72 we know that's a daydream.

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Jim, You did your job just like millions of others. There is no reason for you to fret or lose sleep over not potentially getting your ass shot off. I was there in 67, and after a couple of months and a serious accident ended up in TAMC, where I spent a few months . After my being certified for duty, I was reassigned to another job and did not go back to Nam. I did not see combat, as did others, that's the luck of the draw. Nothing can be done about it, I do not fret or lay awake at night worrying about that fact. I do sometimes feel guilty but I am a rational human being and understand those thoughts and feelings. You as I, did what was asked of us and survived, enjoy your life, and never forget those who did not make it back.

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To those who served honorably, I salute you and thank you.
Not everyone had to spend a year in a combat zone to have done a great job serving their country.
RSVN 68-69


"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
Albert Einstein

At Khe Sanh a sign read "For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected never knew".
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JIM: Being lucky is sometimes just that. I've had a wee taste of what you're going through. I was in one of the two years that didn't have to register for the draft, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. My dad spent all of his teen years slowly watching WWII unfold and was on a ship bound for Okinawa when the bombs were dropped. He was lucky too. However, I don't remember him ever feeling guilty over the two-weeks' combat pay he got laying off Okinawa in his transport. I also don't remember anyone ever getting on him for not doing enough.

What got me in trouble was after a couple of incidents in Caving, I started developing what was probably PTSD. At the time it was coming on, I'd have guessed PTSD last on the list, but in retrospect, I had all the signs. At the same time, I had found that I was good friends with a bunch of combat vets and we were all hanging together. I got the same kind treatment that they gave each other. I was the baby of the bunch. Everyone else was 20 years older or more. Nobody ribbed me about not serving.

I went through a period of feeling guilty. Heck, a lot of these guys had the idea I'd served. Two of them thought I was in Nam. It was nothing I did. I wasn't a poser. It was just my age and the way I carried myself. It's just I seemed to get along well with combat vets. I liked their stories, and I didn't judge them. In the end, they helped me and I helped them, and one went on to be a PTSD counselor. We were all happy for each other's company.

There's a lot of free-floating anxiety in a man's life. It's easy to let it get attached to an idea like "I didn't serve." or "I shoulda gone to college," or "I screwed up not marrying Suzy Creamcheese." The trick is learning to slough it off. My Dad's opinion on the subject: "Life's too short." My advice from the bleachers is: "Keep your head up. It's all about dumb luck." Heck even my mishaps in the cave were all just being down the wrong hole on the wrong day. It's like that.

Most of the guys I've known over the past 40 years that went to France, Italy, Nam, the Islands-- whatever- were so thrilled that they went even though they were haunted by it. They couldn't be happier that the next guy didn't have to go-- that they'd saved him the trip. Most of it was dumb luck though. It was not about being noble. It was all about things like watching the next foxhole over get a mortar round and realizing you're still alive.



Last edited by shaman; 10/27/20.

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Yeah, not all of us who served went to Vietnam. I was about to get drafted in 68, ran and joined the USAF. Basic, then two months hold and OTS. Trained as a Weapons Controller. guided interceptors to target, or friendlies to airborne tankers. I was supposed to be in AWACS and with typical screw ups, could not pass flight physical due to severe allergies., so finally got reassigned as a Pharmacy Officer where I stayed. In my type of support job we took care of more dependents and retirees than active duty. Active duty liked to know that their dependents were cared for while they deployed away from home. Got married, and we went to Turkey 72-74, in support of one of the major NATO headquarters, the only reason I was there was because we had a couple of 4 star Army Generals there, most postings at a clinic/very small hospital like ours would have a senior NCO in charge of pharmacy. I did relieve personnel in a field hospital set up at Eglin AFB one day in 75 at one of the Vietnamese refugee tent cities, my only experience with the VIetnamese. Later got called up for Desert Storm and helped man a contingency hospital in the UK.While there we did supply support for a B 52 wing flying missions out of RAF Fairford against Iraqi troups in Kuwait. I'm probably one of the few of my generation who have seen American bombers over London headed east in harms way. We did get the opportunity to help load bombs one day, as we never got the anticipated causalities and were suffering from boredom.

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Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with a guy and wonder what y'all thoughts are. A little background...

I have known this guy for years very casually. His daughter and my daughter are the same age and both of them being athletes in high school we sat through a lot of various sporting events together. Nowadays it's grandkids and we are once again sitting around watching volleyball, basketball and softball games. This gentleman is always decked out in some sort of Army apparel, usually of the Vietnam era. Shirts, jackets, hats with "Vietnam Vet", Ranger tabs, jump wings, CIB, POW, ect. He keeps a POW flag and 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles flag flying in his front yard. I had always assumed he saw action in Vietnam. He has a CIB pin on his hat and CIB patch on his jacket. People often tell him "thank you for your service," and one day a guy introduced his son to him as a hero. "Look son, this man is an Army Ranger and was a POW in Vietnam." The guy in question always acknowledged the thank you as if it were fact.

Yesterday we ended up sitting beside each other at a basketball game and had a one hour break between games. That gave us some time for conversation and I asked about his service in the Army. I was surprised when he told me he never went to Vietnam. He enlisted and served in the Army from 71-75 and his only posting out of the US was to Germany. He was a crewman on an APC and was a trained as a mortar man. He said he was later "attached to the 101st". No talk of earning a Ranger Tab, CIB or of POW.

Seems pretty disingenuous to me. Is this a case of Stolen Valor?

Last edited by MOGC; 01/17/21.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
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Sounds like it to me!

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