I know there are many Vets out there..and would like to know how and when you served our country.. so if you will,sound off ...Service branch....units...date of service..WWII..Korea..Vietnam..Gulf 1...Gulf 2..Afghanistan or other non war related service. I don't want to leave anyone out and will be interested to receive any info in your replies.....And thanks for your service!!!..FLEM

USN, 72 to 75, Vietnam, 84 to 01, Iran Contra, Gulf 1, USS Flint, USS Savannah, San Diego CA, Adak AK, Yokosuka Japan, Bahrain, Sacramento CA.

U. S. Army 1960-1966

Military Police and a few months as a left door gunner on a UH1

U.S. Navy 6/1958 - 6/1961 beginning of Veitnam trained to repair and maintain Special Weapons stationed in North Florida at a Naval Magazine, which I am a plank owner as I was in the commissioning party of the base. Never got near any area of hostilities.

Writing a book ?

USN- 68-74
Fleet Operations Control Centre, Kunea, WA
US Navy School of Diving and Salvage
Naval underwater testing station, Solomos, MD
USS Sylvania AFS2, Norfolk, VA
USS Grand Canyon AR28 Newport, RI - Mayport FL

USNR 81-87 90-92

SubBase Pearl Harbor HA
Trident Refit Facility, Bangor, WA

Nothing outstanding, just a sailor. My uniform does have six gold hashmarks which proves I never got caught.

US Navy 1983-1987. Peacetime service.
Plankowner, USS Iowa BB-61, 1984-1987.
Fire Control Main Battery.
ESWS.
Hosted President Reagan July 4th 1986 in NY harbor celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.
Winner of the 1985 Battenberg Cup as the finest ship in the Atlantic Fleet.
Numerous gunnery awards.

[img:left][/img]

Nope not at the present but the "Campfire" gives me the opportunity to see the many faces of the military and service that you can't elsewhere.

I'm so proud of our young men and women today.. they are truly professionals and should always have our respect...the torch continues to be passed and each generation must guard our freedoms!!

I've already pow-wowed with you about it.

Gotcha covered !!!

Oakland MEPS, October 1986.

BMT

Dustoff - Hueys
1982-1995
Desert Storm

Army medic

USMC
Jan 2004-Jan 2008
7.5 months in Fallujah
363 days in Al Anbar
Artillery/Naval Gunfire Observer
Got out as a Sergeant

"Awesome"

Glad you got out of "Fallujah" in one piece!!!...GOD BLESS

1999 Boot camp Great lakes IL. It was cold

2000-2003 USS Paul F. Foster DD-964 Everett Wa. A-gang Watched the towers fall while I was getting ready for muster Decommissioned ship. Did 2 west pacs and saw a lot of places.

2003-2005 Mss-3 Anti terrorism force protection. Got very proficient with all kinds of guns. Played on 19' Boston whalers that had twin 225HP mercury Outboards. Did a tour in the gulf.

2005-2008 Shore duty, Sub Base Bangor Wa. Easy Street.

EN2(SW)

I have honestly forgotten more stuff than I can remember. Great part of my life.

Army Security Agency 1966-1970. Three years in Berlin.

My best friend in High school was ASA. I remember how freaked out while we were camping when I told him he talked in his sleep.

He almost killed me when I confessed I made it up.

U.S. Marine Corps 1966-1970. MOS 6741. Made E-6 Staff Sergeant.

Anti Aircraft Warfare Electronics Operator and Controller

-Vietnam 1969-1970, @ I Corps TADC, Crew Chief

Also served in Arizona, El Toro in Cali, Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii [2 yrs].

1997- present, currently a Sergeant First Class. I'm a 91A, a Abrams Tank Maintenance Supervisor.
1997-2000 1-33AR, Ft Lewis, WA
2000-2002 1/16Cav, Ft Knox, KY
2003-2004 1-72AR, Camp Casey, Korea
2004-2006 2/3ACR, Ft Carson, CO
2006-present 1/67AR, Ft Carson CO
Was in Tal Afar, Irag in 05-06 and Kirkuk and Mosul, Iraq in 08-09

1960-63 Army

Ford Ord CA
Fort Lee VA - Petroleum Analysis School
Fort Worth TX
Inchon, Korea

Bruce

USAF- '72 through '79

Wurtsmith AFB... KC-135A Crew Chief.

RAF Mildenhall... EC-135H Crew Chief/Flight Mechanic (European Airborne Command Post)

AFSC A43171E, left as a Ssgt.

USAF 2002-07

02-04 Dover AFB deployed to Iraq once for 4 month while there

04-06 Lajes Field Azores Islands Portugual

Electrical Power Production Systems Electrican

AFSC 3e0x2 e-5 when seperated

92-98 USAF 95IW USAF


ELINT analyst Ft Meade


Unremarkable career except for helping locate a mobile SA-6 near Banja Luka back in '95 that had some significance.



Wasn't the most popular airman with our commander. Apparently he wasn't too fond of hellraisers.


Had the distinction of being the first service member to get kicked off of OBS Island in the middle of a mission for drinking with a civilian. I think my commander blew a couple purple veins in his forehead over that one.

SAC Trained killer '87-'90

USAF 3/67 to 9/88

Boot camp - Amarillo AFB - 3/67 to 5/67
Air Police training - Lackland AFB - 5/67 to 8/67
Air Police - Lajes Field - Azores, Portugal 8/67 to 2/69
Air Police - Siskiyou County Air Port, CA 2/69 to 3/71
Air Police - Tyndall AFB, Fl 3/71 to 9/72
Air Police - Thule Air Base, Greenland 9/72 to 9/73
Air Police - Hill AFB, UT 9/73 to 6/74 (SAC Detachment)
Air Police - Barksdale AFB, LA 6/74 to 12/74 (Retrained)
Accounting Tech School - Witchita Falls, TX 12/74 to 4/75
Accounting NCOIC - Barksdale AFB, LA 4/75 to 4/80
Accounting NCOIC - Rhein Main Air Base, Germany 4/80 to 4/84
Deputy Accounting & Finance Officer / Quality Assurance Manager and First Sgt, Beale AFB, CA 4/84 to 9/88

Retired and Loving It.

USAR 1988-1996 11B
USAR 2001-present 67E

Majority reserve with 2 activity duty call ups with many extended TDY duties. 3 years in Germany, very lucky to have not seen combat.

Wife is USAF Jag officer 2001-present

US Army MP Corps, 83-91.

USAF Security Service 1956-60. AFSC 20351, now known as Cryptographic Linguist.

Served during the Second Taiwan Straits Crisis 1958-59. Google it. Have seen it referred to as the Vest Pocket War in the VFW magazine. Our service has received more recognition from from the Republic of China than from our own country.

The Cold War wasn't all cold. Some of my contemporaries lost their lives from enemy attack, quite possibly guys I trained with. The way the government treated the survivors and kept their families in the dark for 39 years still pizzes me off. Went way beyond reasonable security requirements.

It's because of events like this that I don't have much sense of humor about the easy life of airmen, and jokes about "military intelligence". I know that crew was having a good time playing softball and such before they took off for their final mission.

Paul

US Navy Nov. 61 to April 66 aboard the USS Intrepid CVS-11





Got a front row seat to the Cuban crisis, also got caught up in LBJ's extention but missed the Ships first South China visit by 30 days. The Lady went over 3 times and the Oriskney was the only carrier to serve more time there to my knowledge. Just another guy trying to serve his country.

Father-In-Law was an Intrepid sailor. My son has a great picture of himself touring the ship his grandfather served on.

11C mortar maggot- 82nd Abn Div. '77-'81

Windbreak...glad to see some CV-11 guys check in...my dad was a Marine onboard in the Pacific......"Bull Halsey's" task force 58..he was a 20 and 40 mm gunner and saw lots of action.

Air force crew chief, entered 1981
Lakenheath England 82-84
Zaragoza spain 84-87
Misawa japan 87-91
Lakenheath England 91-94
Okinawa japan 94-2000
Florida 2000-2006
(Civilian)unmanned drones Afghanistan 2009

OTW known as Piss Tube Palace

I was planning a trip to NY with my dad to see his beloved "Mighty I " as he called it for one last time but he passed last Dec ... will always regret not doing this earlier!!!

A visit to an historic warship is an unforgetable experience. Shortly after WW II my dad took me to see the USS Enterprise. Fastened to a bulkhead was a wing with a meatball. It is the only thing I remember about that visit, but it was burned into the memory of a young boy. Even for those of us who were little kids at the time, that war and the generation that fought it had a profound effect on the development of our values and character.

Paul

Tell me about it !!!..cold war guys are the unsung heroes in the dark...more going on then that average people can comprehend....one of my hunting buddies was a K systems tech on RB-47's in the '50's and some of his stories will make your hair stand on end!!!

10-4

USN 1962 - 1966. USS Lawrence DDG4. FTM2 on the Tarter Guided Missile System Mk118 computers. I went to the Lawrence's decommissioning ceremony in circa 1989. Lots of old salts had tears in their eyes. The ceremony was like a funeral for a ship.

There was a BIG difference in my navy and the modern navy. For example, there was a pay telephone on the crew's mess deck. The gedunk wagon came all the way down the pier and parked at the ship. In my time, it was a mile walk to the main gate to use a telephone. The gedunk wagon parked about 1/2 to 3/4 mile away. Some admiral probably realized that treating enlisted men like dirt wasn't good for the reenlistment rate.

PS: In 1966 the Lawrence was in dry dock mainly for hull maintenance. We Fire Control Technicians were mainly drinking coffee and playing cards. My grandmother died. The weapons officer did not want me to take emergency leave and attend her funeral. The SOB actually asked me how fond was I of my grandmother. He gave me a week's leave only when I informed him that my congressman was a family friend and was on the Armed Services Committee. I wouldn't have reenlisted in the navy for a promotion to admiral and a $250,000 reenlistment bonus.

You are a [bleep] 1942. The best you can do is a threat of a Demshit Congressman! Grow some balls and tell the twit you loved your grandmother.

I did, you POS. It made zero difference.

USAF 1980 - 1984, Intelligence gathering
Lackland AFB, Keesler AFB, and RAF Chicksands (now closed)

We were pretty good with the old 81mm tubes, we won the Division Championship three years in a row, retiring the Ridgway Cup trophy to the company orderly room for all time. We beat out all the other weapons platoons in the whole Division.
Most of that was due to a good FDC, and excellent FOs, we on the guns just did what we were told . After that, we got tasked for practically every firepower demo that came up on Bragg, for foreign attaches and diplomats, etc. Got my mug on the cover of the Army Times during one of the firepower demos, jeez, that was a lot time ago...........

USAF - 03/64 - 03/68
Lackland AFB- Basic Training - 03/64 - 04/64
Shepard AFB - Tech School - 04/64 - 09/64
Stead AFB - 10/64 -08/66
Nam 09/66 - 09/67
Antigo Radar Station - 10/67 - 03/68

Electrical Power Production Specialist 54385

I have to throw this in at this point of the thread...It can be a small world at times as we all know..no doubt many of us have crossed paths in war or peace time without our knowledge..my dad over the years has stumbled upon old shipmates and guys he served with in the Pacific on the Carrier "Intrepid."

Weeks ago I got a PM from "EvilTwin" and we have pretty much concluded after our conversations that we were at the same battle in vietnam in '69..he was on the ground and I was in the sky !!!

ET..hope you don't mind me talking about this but your PM shook me to the core..it was many years gone by but as you well know the memories linger on!!! Best to you my friend...FLEM

Not a problem. It is pretty wild to bump into another man who fought in that battle after 40 years.

Cheapshot.The guy served and shared a story.Does not matter what you think.

Very cool thread,Flyboy. We have a few outstanding pilots on the 24. Was Jim a crazy summabich back in '69,as well?

FAR FAR worse back then Bob. FAR worse.

US Army '78-81 heli airframe repair.

A Troop 2/17 Cav, Ft Campbell, KY

11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fulda, West Germany

Air Force starting in 1969; 10 years active, 13 Reserve, retired as a Lt Col.

Pilot with 300 combat missions in Vietnam/Cambodia. Instructor pilot (taught Iranians to fly jets - ought to have gotten Hazardous Duty pay.) Did the bulk of my time as a Public Affairs officer dealing with hostile reporters - ought to have gotten HD pay again!

Cannot believe I retired almost as long ago as I served. Unfreakingfathomable. Lots of memories are as fresh as if they happened yesterday.

F4 driver??

nsagam That is an impressive pix, you can actually see the marks in the water of ship being pushed side ways from the recoil
very neat. Cheers NC

Flyboy: no, a Cessna O-2. With props. Unmarked (no stars, no words, no nothing). We flew in sterile fatigues without ID and got the REAL Mission Impossible speech about being disavowed.

Oh, and my usual right-seater was a North Vietnamese officer.

Really.

FlyboyFlem Yes several crews never came back from some of
of those hair raising flights as well. I wasn't in the USAF but in another air service so am well aware of what when down.
Cheers NC

Unmarked aircraft..sterile uniforms..no ID and in and out of Cambodian airspace...ummm ....smells like Air America !!!

Not Air America either - although we were in fact working with but not for the Company as well as Special Forces through MACV(SOG). Our unit's cover story was that we were normal USAF Forward Air Controllers (FACs) controlling air strikes and doing recon. We even filed reams of fictitious paperwork every month mimicking that.

But we weren't. You couldn't even enter our itsy-bitsy little compound with getting "the mission briefing" -- and if you DID get the mission briefing, you HAD to do the mission. No backing out once you knew what we did. The whole thing was classified until 1987 or so.

Rocky, were you a Covey pilot? Did you ever fly OV-10's?

Lottery #39 last year of the draft in 1972, no student deferrements either. Drafted out of college.

24 years in Army Special Forces E1 to retiring as a Major.

Primarily with 7th SF and JFKSWC.

work civil service for Army and now the USMC. Guess I went over to the "dark side".
Had to learn to grunt and squeal a lot.

BH

I know Plaster now, because of reunions of the FAC Association. But not then.

Covey FACs were the last active FACs in the war, flying air strike mission in Cambodia after all air ops had stopped in SVN. Earlier, they flew a mission in Laos that paralleled what we did south of that (and largely unknown to us at the time.) Their mission was called Delta Force, and ours was Mike Force. There were actually three bases from which cross-border ops operated, CCN, CCC and CCS. That stood for Command and Control North, Central and South. I was at CCS, at Ban Me Thuot East airfield.
I was Mike 58.

US Air Force
Security Police
Aug 1984-Mar 1992
381/384th Security Police Squadron McConnell AFB Kansas
416th Security Police Squadron Griffiss AFB NY
Served during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm

Forgot to add: We flew the Cessna O-2 because one story that the Goobermint would release if we were shot down was that the unmarked plane with a dead civilian pilot aboard was probably part of a drug smuggling operation. (We did NOT know that at the time - it would have really confused and whizzed off our wives if it had ever been used.) It's also why we were told we would NOT be rescued if we went down.

The OV-10 was a pure US military craft, and so that little deception would not have worked. The O-2 was a military version of the civilian Cessna 337, making the cover story plausible.

How about "Porters"...flew by many of them in umarked paint schemes....unmistakable turbo whine as they went by!!!

There is no way to know how many little "side bets" and such were going on in SEA at the time. Half of black ops is not talking about your part, and the other half is not BEING told about other parts.

All the hundreds of hours I spent tooling around over Cambodia, I never saw a single other aircraft other than ones from our own base. The sky was empty except for me, it seemed. Only years later did I learn that the damn place was almost as busy as say, Nebraska! Half a dozen covert air ops were going on all the time - including air strikes! And I never saw even a hint of it. Truly amazing - and frightening.

It is truly amazing and only a few know and probably will never tell !!! Mny Tnx...FLEM

Scott, Where was that physically located? Asking because I lived in Solomons in the late 80s early 90s and I don't recall that still being there.

Pretty benign time in service here.

Joined the Army in February 1972, had the option of serving 2 years and most likely going to RVN or joining for 3 and picking my duty station - this was the start of Nixon's All Volunteer army. Took the 3 year option and Germany.

So, 11B Light Weapons Infantry, spent 2 1/2 years in West Berlin in the Berlin Brigade, 4th Bn. 18th Inf later redesignated 4th Bn. 6th Inf.

Drank some great beer, chased a few frauleins and mostly watched the Russians and East Germans watching us.

Got out in January 1975 as an E5.

The old rec centre, right on the Pax River. I was a diver recovering test torpedoes.

USMC, infantry. 0352, TOW gunner.

During Klintoon regime; didn't know whether we were coming or going.

Cracked up my legs pretty good doing what grunts do (jumping out of and off of schit); medical'd out in 1998 as E-3.

No big deal, one way or the other. Didn't go nowhere (other than PI and Lejeune), didn't do much other than what I was told to, when I was told to, as fast as I was told to.

Well, that, and what Marines do in/around Lejeune while on liberty....

Spent 9 1/2 years in the USMC. Had a blast. Best was 6 months in gitmo (1994) and 3 years in AK (yeah we have active duty Marines up here).

Was in boot during the first gulf war and got out just before 9/11.

VA, were you at 2nd tanks? I was there from 93-96.

USMC Tow gunner no wonder you knees are shot..wonder how many million miles of tow wire is laying around in the dessert???

USCG 1983 to present

On the same side as the NAS then? I was assuming it was actually in Solomons Island on the other side of the river.

USAF 1997-Present
Weather Forecaster (Govt. Trained liar!)
Been all over and currently on my 3rd deployment to the sandbox, but have 6 total under my belt. More than all people in my home unit combined!
For some reason, I have supported the Army on 5 of the 6 deployments I have been on.

Weren't knees. Lower leg bones got rather.... cracked.... in multiple places.

They tried to transfer me into an LAV.... didn't fit (though they tried).

HUMM-V mounted.

Not a scratch here, although I had bullets pass close enough that I could hear 'em through my lip mike, had a few bang into my plane, and had one stopped by the only square foot of Kevlar "armor" in the plane - that we sat on.

Sucked 'em up so tight they're still darn near invisible, LOL!

US Army 2000 - 2007 Medically Retired
Blackhawk Helicopter Crew Chief/Gunner
Ft Campbell, KY 9thBN 159th AVN
Korea K-16 1-52nd AVN
Ft Campbell, KY 4thBN 159th AVN

Now, Civilian contractor doing the exact same stuff. In Afghanistan, again...

USMC, 1962-1966, 0311. PI, Camp Lejeune, Med, Carribean, Quantico.

Army 89'-94'
67S3P-Scout Helicopter Repairer, Airborne
Staff Sergeant upon exit.
Task Force 118-Ft Bragg
4/17th Cav-Ft Bragg
1/17th Cav-Ft Bragg

5 trips to Persian Gulf, before,during and after Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Still hate the desert!

Mike

Iowa Army National Guard.
Enlisted in Jan 1999
-Basic Training and AIT at Fort Sill Oklahoma summer of 1999,
-made it to E-5 SGT
-Started ROTC at U of Northern Iowa in Fall 2002
-AIRBORNE Summer of 2003 (Fort Benning, GA)
-Commissioned as a 2LT May 2005
-FA OBC at Fort Sill Oklahoma, July 05-October 05 (left 30 days early to deploy)
-Iraq deployment November 2005 to July 2007 (yes, a 21 month deployment, I was actually 30 days late for training because of OBC... 22 month deployment for guys that were on time. 6 months at Camp Shelby Mississippi and 16 months in Iraq!!!!)
-Awarded a CAB on OIF deployment
-Promoted to 1LT May 2007
-AIR ASSAULT Spring 2009 (Fort Benning, GA)
-Promoted to CPT April 2010
-OEF deployment August 2010 to present (I am the Rear Detachment Commander for an Infantry Battalion, same Battalion I deployed with previously), so no overseas duty for me this time.

Sep. 18,1972 - Mar. 19,1975 USAF crew chief jet acft 1&2 engines
Mar. 15, 1975 - Dec. 1980 WV ANG C-130E crew chief
Dec. 1980 - Dec. 2002 WV ANG C-130E/H flight engineer

I got you now. "Rec center" threw me. There's a Navy campground there now, not sure much else, although there were occasionally ships docked there when I lived there. I had forgotten about that. It's right at the base of the enormous bridge spanning the river. I want to say that the bridge was built in the late 70s.

Since you are a diver you are probably aware that Swede Momsen did some of the initial deep dive equipment testing just up the Pax near Benedict.

No, I didn't know that. I learn something new almost every day I log on here.

I have never had a pleasure dive. Every dive I had was pitch black and colder than... well it was cold let's leave it at that. I was 6'2" and got down under 140 pounds when I was a diver. There was no way to eat enough to maintain weight when hypothermia was a five day a week occurrence. Kind of soured me on the whole thing. Still have the calcium deposits on my shoulders where the breast plate rubbed.

If you are stateside, there is no such thing as "Emergency Leave". That is only reserved if you are deployed overseas and then the Navy pays your way home. Grandparents DO NOT qualify for emergency leave, only parents (or acting parents called loco parentis and could include grandparents if they raised you) and siblings. Now if you had regular leave on the books he should have let you go on regular leave, but even that is not up to him. Only ONE MAN can say no and that is the Commanding Officer. Your leave chit (by Naval Regulation) MUST and should have been routed to the CO for final disposition. Yor DIVO and LCPO should have known that and I'm surprised at their actions.

Dave just wondered if you were flying out of "Yeager"??

USN 85-91 SonarTech on an frigate an then a guided missle cruiser.

Over in the Red Sea for Operation Desert Shield Desert Storm.

USA, 1959-'61. Radio Teletype Operator, 039. Fort Chaffee, Ark., and Fort Gordon, Georgia. Never heard a shot fired in anger. With the incredible advancement of communictions technology, I don't know if the Army still uses that MOS or not. Morse Code?? Waz that?

Di dah dah!

L.W.

Whether you ever shot or got shot at is moot. ALL of you raised your hand and swore in, not knowing if you'd give your life for your country or not. But you were willing to.

Heroes, to a person - because that includes you ladies in uniform, too. Crisp salute.

USMC, 1995-2000. Radio Repairman, 24th MEU, Operation Allied Force.

USMC 1994-1998

Since he's my Dad I'll answer for him . Yes he did, 130th Tactical Airlift Group that I think was later renamed. He can verify. He retired as a Senior Master Sergeant. I know one thing, don't ever go into a bar full of a ANG 130 crew and say your Dad's a FE with WVANG. You'll need a bucket and a cab...and not necessarily in that order!

US Army, 72 to 74. RA. Thats Regular Army for you people in Rio Linda. Draft number was 217. 95 Bravo. Military Police. Steve

USN, 73-77, 3.5 of four years continuously deployed in WESTPAC and the IO. Subsequent stint in reserve in MIUW (mobile inshore underwater warfare) special warfare unit.

Can't claim service but have to respond; thanks for your service in 'Nam.
Was a sophomore in college when they went to a lottery. my number was 172 and they went to 165 in my county. Took my physical and figured I'd soon be a bamboo beater but wasn't to be. I was committed to go unlike some of my college mates who opted for northern locations--Canada. Although, my dad was a college professor and mentioned not one word to me about the Conflict, I knew he was anti-, but I intended to go if drafted.
A private pilot now, though low hours. Most important, thanks and honors to all who sacrificed for our country whether we were there wrongly or rightly; as I've often told my dad, how can we at our time and age know the moral, or political rightness of what our country calls us to do at that moment.

Thanks!

Hey that's great..know all about Charleston..attended Morris Harvey College before joining the AF...was born there and lived in Kanawha City as a youngster...The Air Force brought me to SAC Headquarters in '72 after a tour to Vietnam and Korea.... Nebraska has been my home ever since.I found out many moons ago you don't mess with ANG troops and back in those days by putting a "F" in front of the other three letters you were askin for it!!! Nice talkin with you!!...Regards.....FLEM

Yup. When I processed in they still had the C-119's. We got the C-130E's starting late '75 straight from SEA.

I appreciate your comments!!!

Army, Oct 67 - May 69.
Basic at Ft Lewis, AIT at Ft Sill where they trained me to be a surveyor. Got to RVN March 68 and the French had already surveyed it, so I became a radio teletype operator, then a courier, then an Aerial Observer, then briefly (May 69)a Forward Observer with the Special Forces and Montagnard mercenaries out of Pleiku and I came home after a total of 19 months active duty and got discharged at Ft Lewis.
Whirlwind tour. Made E5 in 14 months. The reason I only served 19 months active duty was because I was drafted for two years and they decided if you had less than 150 days active duty left when you got back to the States, you'd get an early out. I extended my RVN tour 53 days, so I had 149 days left to go and I got discharged early.
They didn't feel it was worth it to train us for something new considering what little time we had left to serve.

Bulletbutt, I was a radio teletype operator at QuiNhon from Oct. 1968 till July 1969. We may have talked. miles

Miles I flew out of PhuCat in 69 ..we weren't very many miles apart !!!!....FLEM

Bob Hope was there Christmas of 1968 but I did not get to go. If you were in the air I probably saw one of your rigs. miles

In '68 wouldn't have been me...was still training at Eglin.

USAF 88-96 satcom tech
USAFRes 96-98 cargo specialist
Georgia Air Guard 98-07 satcom tech
Georgia Air Guard 07-present comm officer

Bagram, Afghanistan 04

USN 1971 to 1977.

Jim

I was still there until July 1969. miles

USMC Feb 1960 - Feb 1964

3rd Mar Div Camp Hague in Okinawa 3rd 155 How Battery attached to 12th Marines

Fuji McNair in Japan

29 Palms Ca - Auto Mech but was TAD to 3rd LAAM for the Cuban Invasion which thankfully never happened .

Had two page 13's and a Summary courts-martial and still made E4 a year before I got out .

A possibility

U.S.Navy,July 65-Dec.68
Boot in Great Lakes,NATTC in Millington,Tenn.AME-A school.
Recon Attack Squadron Twelve based in Sanford,Fl.
Med cruise in 1966 on board Saratoga
Yankee Station in 67 on board the Connie
Med cruise in 68 on board the Forrestal,1st cruise after the big fire.
Proud too have served,I salute all past and present.

Ron

RockyRaab Does that also apply to RCAF types on interceptors
under NORAD. In as F/C out as Captain 54-63 enjoyed 3 days in &
with A/C during Cuba. Scrambling in a snow storm so bad that you couldn't see run way lights and no place to land on the way back
and end up going to SAC base at Bangor ME and being greeted by 6-8 trucks with 50BMGs an either side of runway does that count?
Cheers NC

Johnnie Walker @ $2.35/qt and I lived in a tent Nov70--Nov71 in the Central Highlands. QL 20. 815th Engineers Camp Dillard. Ran Convoys in and out of Highlands. Web

Like the cut down M-1 Carbine, had the sear filed too didn't it?

Yep T-- Cost me $40 for that and 300 rounds-- I had an unlimited supply of hand flares that I would give to our Montagnard friends. They in turn gave me crossbows and Ammo for that carbine. My LT told me that It was an unauthorized weapon. -- Standard answer-- What will they do if they catch me? Send me to Nam? I gave it to a newbe when I left. Web PS T the Sear was not filed -- It had a selector switch. M-2 Carbine

USAF Security Police K-9 91'-96'
2yrs Goodfellow AFB working almost completely with US Customs/Border Patrol
3yrs Howard AB Panama (not the white sand beach in Florida either)
All initial training at Lackland, then Ft Dix for infantry training.
Was crosstraining into PR/CC with a line for Ssgt and decided enough was enough.

Not regular active duty, but was a Test Engineer on DoD, NRC and NASA projects from '80 to '87. Worked mostly nuclear projects from '80-'83, almost exclusively NASA '84-'87. Worked NASA/DoD missions, as well as others. Was in Payload Ops Control Center at Marshall Space Flight Center when the Challenger blew up. Lost four friends in that accident. Really sucked majorly.

Moved over to Army Missile Command '87-93. Sr. Test Engineer on FOG-M system, SDI (Star Wars), MLRS MFOM, among others. Spent time at White Sands Missile Range, Ft. Bliss, Eglin AFB, and other "interesting places" (like El Salvador).

Worked with and met many terrific folks in all branches of service. Most of the time, the service men and women I worked with made it a pleasure to do my job. I had a blast (sometimes literally).


PS: Hey Rocky, one of the guys I worked with used to fly a Helio Courier, late '60s early '70's timeframe. The word was that he was a helluva pilot. He always wanted to own one. I believe he flew in some of the same airspace you used to fly in.

Close, and very possible. Counting on my fingers here, I quit the job of RTO in July 68 and was a courier between An Khe and QuiNhon for roughly the month of August, then I went flying as an AO for 8 months, and was an FO just before I came home (crazy!).
There was a USO show/group that came to AnKhe and sang and danced for a couple nights, then they went to Pleiku to join up with the Bob Hope show. I got to sit and talk and socialize a little with one of the young ladies---she was from New South Wales, Australia---who was a real knockout... I remember her family had a 2,500 acre sheep ranch in New South Wales, and I remember I was practically tongue-tied, she was so good looking. If I remember correctly her name was Robin Aitken.
I sat with her at the An Khe airport when she flew out to Pleiku and it was pretty funny---the guys walking by and about falling over when they saw her sitting there with me. I wanted to follow her to Pleiku but I was told I would be AWOL, so I never saw her again.
Ah, the memories...

QuiNhon was a beautiful place and so were the mountains that separated the coastal plain from the central highland plateau where An Khe was---up An Khe Pass. Red Beach was best viewed along with the coastline from a Birddog airplane, and we used to fly down there just to look at the ocean and the old fancy buildings. I never got tired of flying over that country.

USMC 86 - 90

MAG-70, most of the time with MWSS-374

Mostly at MCAS El Toro but got to go all over the place. Did spend a lot of time in P.I.

Medical out after a very hard landing in a CH46 messed up my knees. Was planning on retiring but that wasn't in the cards.

Hey, I was in that last draft call in Sept/OCt 72...

I always said, I was drafted 7 times and beat it 6...during an 8 month period...Student deferment had been canceled in July 72...

I waa able to sign a waiver tho, that obligated me to go into the service once I graduated college..

I went into the Army in Sept 76....was trained as a 91 B ( basic combat medic), 91C ( Clinical Specialist), completed the Green Beret 300 F 1 Medic Course...
Ft Sill, Ft Sam Houston, Madigan Army Med Center @ Ft Lewis WA...

served in the USAR in Massachusetts, WA NG in Seattle, MN NG in St Paul, MN, and finished up at the 5501 General Hospital at Ft Snelling, MN..

active and reserve/guard period... Sept 1976 to Dec 1982...

The Guard also added 54 E to my MOS list.. Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare ( OH JOy!~)

Never getting promoted is why I got out and didn't re.up...

finished as an E 5 only..at times regret not staying in longer, but at the time and now,I have to admit, I was tired of dealing with the Full Time Reserve and National Guard Morons that ran the units during the week..

Maybe it was the time period, but the active duty Reservists and Guard People couldn't hold a real job on the street..

maybe it was growing up as a military dependent, that I couldn't put up with their incompetency...

Cool an M-2, can't see the rocker bar in the pic, most I seen were M-1 with the sear filed, full auto only. There were a bunch of them around the rotor heads cause they were so small.

At this point of the thread I just want to thank all of you who replied!! It doesn't come to an end and I know there are many more out there that haven't checked in..please do so at your leisure..I will continue to follow your mail and am always interested in your posts.

This has been something I've always wanted to do but the means was never handy..The Campfire was the opportunity and I thank everyone involved.

I hope this has been as enlightening for you as it has been for me...All of us have a common "Thread" and that's Love of Country...don't think we would have it any other way!!! So thanks again for your service and God Bless....Best regards....FLEM

Dave,

Do you know a Loadmaster named Chandler (either E-8 or E-9) in the WVANG ?
I was a Loadmaster with him at Langley ( we were charter members of the 37th TAS) back in '66 and '67.
I went to RVN like most of us. I was stationed at Tachikawa, Japan, and CCK, Taiwan for 2 years, and ran hops out of Cam Rahn, and Tuy Hoa for the 2 years on C-130E's.

Got out in '70 as an E-5.

BGunn...that's an ugly of a 130..mortar/rocket or other?

Satchel charge, they got 2 C-130's...

The base was penetrated at 0137 hours on 29 July 68 by a small size sapper unit. It is believed that the group consisted of 12 VC and their objective was to destroy parked aircraft, fuel storage and ammunition. The attack against the parked aircraft was successful and they inflicted the following damage:

�two (2) C-130 aircraft destroyed

�five (5) C-130 aircraft damaged

�one (1) C-47 aircraft damaged

�one (1) F-100 aircraft damaged
Four persons were wounded however, only one was wounded seriously enough to require evacuation. Before the sappers could reach the POL and ammunition dump they were detected and engaged. The VC losses were nine (9) killed. The bodies carried the following equipment:

�two (2) bangalore torpedoes

�two (2) B-40 rocket launchers

�one (1) 13-40 rocket

�eleven (11) satchel charges

�nineteen (19) hand grenades

�two (2) AK 47 weapons

�five (5) magazines AK 47 ammunition
�one (1) automatic hand gun (make unknown)

Here's the other C-130, notice the new "Escape Hatch" just forward of the landing gear...



Here's a rear picture of the first one...



They kept blowing up the fuel lines so much that they finally moved us all to Cam Rahn Bay.

The main ammo dump at Cam Rahn Bay got blown up and the base likely moved about 6" North from the blast. 1969

69-73...then again from 76-78...USN

BGunn, Robert D. (Dan) Chandler. Yup, flew with him a bunch. Great guy. He finished up as the wings first Command CMSgt.

BGunn...speaking of "sappers" I remember one night we were on stand down not much going on when out on the perimeter of the bomb dump all sorts of trip flares started going off...scared the hell out of the bomb troops and there were two guard towers with SP's that opened up with their 50's...after shooting for what seemed like an hour with assistance from some ROK troops who helped with perimeter defense...all went silent until dawn when they found two dead dogs that must have strayed in from the village!! Hard to believe that a couple of dogs could put so many people on edge for so long!!! And tnx for the additional info and pics.

Never saw a real Gook sapper that tripped a flare. Only thing I saw that screwed them up was good tanglefoot wire. OTW best hope you spotted their movement and call for illum.

I copped a blooper myself mostly shot Willie Pete & HE but had some flechette rounds should we go down in indian country.

Yes, he is a great guy, I haven't talked to him (e-mail) in years.

ET don't ever remember a sap team doing that either...too smart and risky to try a frontal assualt through wire and flares..they would rather come in a couple of clicks and get off a few mortar rounds just to keep everyone jumpy.

US Army Military Police 87/94

SRT Counter Narcotics
Desert Shield/Storm
Panama

US Army 1968 - 1971

Dam Hudge take a break man before you turn into a camel!!!

ARNG 1/73 - 7/05. Served in Military Police and Ordnance Corps.

Near the beginning - Ft. Knox KY.


OIF in 2003 - Ceremonial dinner with our allies and USAF.


Retirement in 2005 (with my daughter and my boss).

Thanks for your service.

I've had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Chandler and I always thought he was top shelf.

To Odessa,

Dang Colonel, you don't age much! First picture looks much like the last. Thanks for you service.

US Army, '87-'90, 63E20H8, Gulf 1

U.S. Army 1968-71
100BO Rotary Wing Aviator
RVN 1970-71, Tay Ninh, with visits to Cambodia
187th AHC, Crusader Two-Zero
28 awards of the Air Medal

Long time ago, and no regrets.

US Navy

2002-2006

Cytological Technician - Interpretive.

USMC, '57-'64 1st Mar Div.

I managed to serve in between wars going on.. I was always ready to go and got all the training the military would allow me to get, considering peace time.. just in case I was ordered into a combat zone..

Like any sane person, I am thankful I did not have to see combat..

I am proud to have served my country... but to all you guys who actually had to put your fannies on the line in real combat, I stand in awe and appreciation to YOUR service to our country...

I also admit, my step dad, advised me if I could avoid going to Vietnam, to do so, anything short of being a draft dodger...

He is a retired Air Force 0-6, who spent a total of 49 months in combat service in Vietnam...6 months was spent flying F 4s on his last tour of duty...

all of his other flight time was flying C 130 Black Birds in Special Ops... NO markings on the Aircraft...no rank or insignas on their uniforms, and the only weapons allowed to be carried for self defense were communist made weapons or WW 2 surplus items..

he was shot down 13 times during his 49 months in Vietnam.. and only one of those was in S. Vietnam, and that was at Khe Sahn after flying in supplies, trying to take off... in 68...

the other 12 were behind enemy lines...

a further 40 C 130s were so shot up on missions, that they were just junked for parts instead of being repaired...

I remember the C 130s from Pope AFB were he was stationed in 66, 67 and early 68, you'd see one of the squadrons returning from a TDY tour of Vietnam, all of their aircraft had been repaired so much from being shot up, you frequently couldn't even tell what the original camouflage colors were on them..

nothing matched and many panels of just bolted on plates covering sections of the fuselage.....

I was just amazed! so the guys who have been in combat for this country... God Bless each one of you...

1985-1989 Active USAF
1989-1994 USAF Reserve
1991 Active USAF Desert Storm

SSGT Photo Intel, Target Intel, Intel Ops.

� Navy '49�'53 (regular active-duty enlistment)
� Class 8-50 (Feb�Aug 1950), Navy school of photography, Pensacola
� '50�'53, Naval Photographic Center, DC
� microfilm-editor for Naval intelligence
� production crew, NBC-TV documentary Victory at Sea and many other Navy-made films
� processor and inspector for Navy footage (WW2 and Korea) released to civilian studios (e g: Warner Brothers) for use in theater productions
� brief PIO TAD @ naval academy, Annapolis
� deck-maintenance specialist

(IOW, REMF!)

Ken, I used to enjoy watching Victory at Sea, the US Army's show - The Big Picture, and the USAF had a similar show, forgot the name, but watched it too.

High Brass - guess I just started out looking old!

� much later �

'74�'78 writer-editor (civil service), Army � Dugway Proving Ground (Utah)
wrote and edited beaucoup Army documents on nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare � including Army encyclopedia of biological and chemical warfare.

( � and, surprisingly, Army documents on environmental and ecological research.)

Ken..have the videos..many congrats on your works..Victory at Sea a great piece of work and always very special for my Dad!!..TNX...
FLEM

Yep, I have the "Victory at Sea" DVD set, one of a very few reasons for me to turn on the TV.

Got a draft notice in '65, joined the Navy. Went ot basic and 'A' school in Great Lakes. (Never been so cold in my life). From Tampa, Fl. to great lakes---what a shock.
USS Rushmore LSD 14, Little Creek, Va
USS Shadwell, LSD 15, Little Creek, Va.
USS Bordelon DD 881, Charleston, SC
NAS Pensacola, shore duty
USS Sacramento AOE1, Bremerton, Wa.
Med criuses, North Atlantic cruise, Unitas criuse, Wespac cruises.

62-65, US Army, 101st, 82nd, and 5th SFG. Dominican Republic. 32 NITE blasts.. Was out befor Nam really got cranked. Lost a brother over there in 67.

Mk 45 Mod 1, by any chance?

I did a bunch of manuals for that ol' fish � left Big W (Baltimore) for a better job just before the prime contract was awarded for the Mk 48.

The Mk 45 Mod 1 ("ASTOR") was quite a fish! Very deadly! I assume that the Mk 48 was even meaner.

One of my buddies (SN when I knew him) wore six hash marks on his sleeve, but they certainly weren't gold!

US Army Supply Clerk, 1981-84. "Death From Documentation!"

US Army 30 Nov 1987 to present.

Expat

The tag bellow about says it all. the bages is fire fighter/ I was rescue.

US Army 1973 to 1976. White hat MP duty at Ft. Sam Houston and then to Nuclear Security B Btry 1/43 ADA (Nike Hercules) Ft. Richardson AK.
Rejoined the Iowa National Guard in 1985 and spent 13 years as a UH 1H crew chief and the last 4 as a Platoon Sgt. Two activations. Desert Sheild/Storm. Did Aero Medevac from Ft. Knox Ky. and Ft. Hood Tx. Activated in February of 2003 and went to work for the 160th SOAR doing phase maintenance for the Night stalkers. I retired out as a Platoon Sgt. Sept. 2005.

My only overseas job was in Afghanistan for 5 months in 2009 mentoring with the Afghans Border Police and National Police. kwg

USN 1965-69 ADJ-2 Fixed broken birds. We were tanking and did ECM with some old A-3's. Good clean fun for a 20yr old kid. I'd do it again in a minute. First Wes-Pac on the America in 68 with VAW-13. Ken

Sco..,

Well....it wasn't quite that bad. Alto, the security leaks I see now days blow my mind. Your friend and I would have disapeared for years if we'd done what seems to be an everyday occurance now. Just for fun, there's more than one former ASA guy on this web site.

O

Thanks to all you guys but especially the 'Nam guys as that was my generation. Best to all of you guys; shame on the reception given you in the '70s. Ignorant college kids, high on hormones, hubris, and ethanol, but never in doubt about what's right. Do you think you see a similarity to those "running the guvmnt" now?

I salute you.

US Army 90-2000 Gulf War 1, all over the states, and Thailand once.

At the proving ground, I was one of only four people who were cleared for the most highly classified details of our most highly classified weapon (more tightly protected than the Manhattan Project had been). I'm still awed by its simplicity and its target effects � in its way, right up there with Bikini, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki (but not nuclear!).

I still won't mention what I remember of those details � for which a couple of guys served time for blabbing about � although I haven't been officially bound to silence since 1978. As far as I'm concerned, it still deserves to be as tightly classified as it ever was, even though that classification seems to have been not only loosened but even devastated since I was sworn to such an extreme level of secrecy.

Guess who told the MSM about it! Our esteemed President Carter! Fortunately, for some reason, they didn't pick-up on it. Probably didn't realize its potential. Perhaps mind-numbed by its simplicity.

I hope that I don't talk in my sleep!

USAF Transportation 1976-2001
Fairchild AFB, WA 1977-78
Kadena AB, Japan 1978-81
Hickam AFB HI, 1981-84
Bozeman MT, 1984-87
Maxwell AFB, AL 1987-88
Beale AFB, CA 1988-1990
Seoul, Korea 1990-1992
Pope AFB, NC 1992-95
Cp Smith, HI 1995-98
Scott AFB, IL 1998-2001
Retired May 2001

USN-Submarines, TM3-(SS),'66-'69.. First on USS Redfish (AGSS-395) last on USS Razorback (SS-394)..

Ken - We all know Carter's an idiot.. Too bad the MSM hasn't figured that out yet...

USMC 1990-1994

desert shield, desert storm, desert wtf are we still doing here?

2nd & 3rd Mar div.

my cousin & aunt put this together for me recently, which was a nice surprise it hangs on the wall at deer camp now.

Rollin'...............

- Naval Academy - class of 1989

- Main Propulsion Assistant - USS Iwo Jima

- Weapons Officer - USS Richmond K Turner

- Cruise Missile Course Supervisor -Altantic Fleet Training Center

- Combat Systems Officer - USS David R Ray

- Communications Officer - Strike Group Nine

That is a riot!

I never had the honor to serve in the military. Just wanted to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone that has served our country.

USAF 67-70 130 mechanic
6486 FMS PACAF Hickam
61st FMS MAC Hickam
TNANG 78-95 CATM
MSGT

USA '68-72 Choppers
B/2/17 Cav 101st ABN I Corps RVN '69-70 Scouts/Guns
Ft. Rucker, Al. Flight Instructor 6 mos. Scary stuff that.
HHT/2/17 Cav 101st ABN I Corps RVN '71-72 ASO/Lift
F/9th 1st Cav Bien Hoa '72 Scouts
B/229th AHC Bien Hoa/DaNang '72 Lift/Nighthawk
B/7/17th Cav Pleiku '72 Scouts/Lift

Always wanted to be in the 1/Last Cav, couldn't find 'em anywhere.

USAF 68-72
SSGT

Cool! Crew Chief here, on 130 B&E Models.
Pope AFB X2
Clark AFB, PI
Cam Ranh Bay
Da Nang
Panama Canal/Central/So. America

You was in my old outfit 6 years after I went home!

Good to see you back Sir,

USN
MM3 aboard the USS Bataan 2005-2008
nothin fancy

128th AHC door gunner on vacation 1968-1970 sponsered by USA

USN 68-72
Vietnam 6/69-6/70 w/ River Assault Squadron 15 in delta.

Brown Water Navy, a bunch of great guys.

USCG May 4 1964-1 Oct 1985,like others a lot of my family has served in conflicts

Fore father,Revolutionary War
Three Great Grandfathers Civil War
Two Grandfathers in WWI
My Father WWII,Tail Gunner B-17, 22 combat Mission over Germany.Interesting thing after he passed on I found in his papers written on a foreign Bill, the names of the people he went over with and the ones who didn't come back, Also a list of all the places they made Bombing runs .
Two Uncles fought in Korea,one uncle Navy Pacific.

I have one of my Great Grandfathers Civil War discharge and some of my Great Grandmothers pension papers.

What an amazing military family tree..you should be very proud to keep it going!!!!....FLEM

USMC - 1972 to 1976 (E1-E5) 0341
USMCR - 1980 to 1986 (01-03) Unrestricted Naval Aviator
USN - 1986-1998 (03-04) Unrestricted Naval Aviator

My dad was a WW2 hero in the Army Air Corps
Two brothers were short time Army enlisted

O.Okie....not up on my Navy lingo..what's Unrestricted Naval Aviator???....FLEM

I'm the only member of my family with military service within the past three generations. Served 31 Yrs + (1958 - 1989) in the US Air Force as a Crypto Linguist (Russian)/Air Intelligence NCO. Retired with 8 yrs + as a CMSgt in 1989. My father was a coal miner in Eastern KY (Harlan Co.) during WW-II so was exempt from draft or volunteer service. Of my total service, spent 26 yrs overseas in Japan, Pakistan, Korea, PI, Iran, Ethiopia, Turkey, England and Germany chasing the Russian bear with my headphones. Caught him a couple of times too. Had some amazing experiences some of which are probably still classified so I'll shut up there.
Went to SEAsia twice. First tour a office-bound ground pounder but my second tour was a Targets Validation NCO on ABCCC, a 24-7 C-130 Comm and Control platform. At least the language was English or Pidgin Thai for that tour.
Loved every day in the Air Force and would go back tomorrow if I wasn't too old.
Love Pre-64 Mod 70's, CRF Rugers and CRF Mausers and shoot as much as I can.
Don Boyd

Killer Spades had too much fun GI! We did the '72 Spring Offensive at An Loc and Quang Tri...12 O'Clock High and all that hoo-haw. Could write a book about any single day probably...at either place. Ratta-tat-tat

I did LZ X-Ray among others.

US Army 90-93. 31D mostly with the 5th signal battalion at Ft. Polk, LA. I remember loading our trucks onto a train one day and watching which direction it left. South would have meant it was going to a port, west meant training at the NTC at Fort Irwin California. It went west and that's how we found out we were not going to Saudi Arabia.

I'm thankful that I never deployed to a combat zone and stand in awe of those of you that did. Thanks to every one hear.

I just saw pictures today of my wife's young cousin graduating from Basic this weekend. That and this thread brought back some good/proud memories.

Lean, mean and livin' the dream. Marine Combat Engineer serving with 1 MEF in Afghanistan as we speak.

Good to hear from you. Humped all over Helmand and Kandahar in 2008. Was based out of Tombstone. Always loved to see engineers working hard.

On morning after a long night in Helmand summer of 2008, before the serge. I'm the runt on the right.

[img:left][/img]

60 MM. Mortar squad leader. I Company Weapons. 3rd. Battalion 4th. Marines 2nd. Marine Division. "THUNDERING THIRD" 1983-1987.

Still checkin in on all you guys since posting this thread...Don't have a handle for you but will call you Son of SU..Thanks son for your service..glad you checked in and stay safe..God Bless!!.....FLEM

SU35..great lookin young lad you got there..you must be very proud!!

You guys look like the "Real Deal"...tnx for your service....FLEM

Unrestricted = We can fly both fixed wing or rotary wing. Restricted aviators can only fly fixed wing.

I have NEVER heard that expression/rating , then again I only did 30...jorge

While no longer with us.."a real teacher of facts".
He was the real deal...RIP,"Mikey"

For a friend:

Donald Henry Zillgitt
Storekeeper 2nd Class

PERSONAL DATA
Home of Record: Inglewood, CA
Date of birth: 02/26/1944

MILITARY DATA
Service: United States Navy
Grade at loss: E5
Rank: Storekeeper 2nd Class
ID No: B980835
MOS: 0000: Not Recorded
Length Service: 02
Unit: DET B, SEAL TEAM 1, TF 116, USNAVFORV

CASUALTY DATA
Start Tour: ------
Incident Date: 05/12/1968
Casualty Date: 05/12/1968
Age at Loss: 24
Location: Vinh Binh Province, South Vietnam
Remains: Body recovered
Casualty Type: Hostile, died outright
Casualty Reason: Ground casualty
Casualty Detail: Gun or small arms fire

URL: www.VirtualWall.org/dz/ZillgittDH01a.htm

I met with his brother (my bud's father, Donny's brother) last month. They still don't talk about it. It hurt Donny's brother too much.

BMT

Are you confusing Unrestricted Line officers - those that can command at sea and Restricted Line - those such as medical and JAG corp that can't?

I've certainly never heard of anything like you suggest.

For my time - A Naval Flight Officer in the EA-6B 1986-2007 - Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Bosnia active, Northern Watch, Southern Watch and Kosovo as Reservist. 2400 Prowler hours and 501 traps.

My wife will not participate in discussions of my activities in RSVN to this day, she chooses to ignore it as she was so afraid I would not come home and see my daughter we conceived just before I left. It is a totally taboo subject in her presence. Not all casualties were from combat.

I understand. Its funny, too. We sat around and talked about physical fitness tests (my buddies kid) just got home from practice.

Dad talked about the time that Donny's swim team was challenged to do 500 sit-up. He talked like it was yesterday and how Donny did 2,667 sit-ups before absolutely failing.

John had to carry Don back in to the locker-room. The dude left it all out there.

I expect he gave his missions the same treatment.

Kiss your wife for me T, eh?

BMT

Yep, I do frequently, and I never try to open her little chest of scaries, some things are far better off left under lock & key.

As an aside, it took me almost 25 years to open up even a little about my experiences, I have to be comfortable with my company to pull that book off the shelf.

Oh man, I just GOTTA be on her all time high chit list after what you just sent on Apologies rendered to the Lady!!

Nope, I told her what was in the box and she said FINE, I DON'T want to see it.

I respect her feelings and she respects mine. Now if ya start talking about it in her presence all bets are off!

I was on orders for a nice safe tour in Panmunjom with the 728 MP Co. when I got pulled in transit to go, she is still pizzed at the Army for that too.

Tnx Pugs..wondered why you hadn't checked in....FLEM

Lee.. my book was also on the shelf where it had been for along time until awhile back when it got reopened by Evil Twin..Still blows my mind that both of us were at the same place fightin the bad guys 40 yrs ago...Jim my book now has its final chapter thanks to you!!....FLEM

Hill 474. Binh Dinh Province. Jan-Feb 1970. Your Gatlings got a workout because of us. Close air support from a Spooky. Who'd have thought! I was down on that hill and you wuz up making trouble!!!!

Yea..and just glad we didn't give you the closest of all haircuts!!!!

Man, if'n ya knew just HOW close a Spooky walked a burst, you wouldn't know whether to schitt or go blind!!!!!

There was a bunch of us in that A.O. time to time. Our aviation officer was with the 101st flying Hueys, in a "stranger than fiction" moment he was at Rucker picking out 3 decommissioned Huey's and one of them was the FIVE-O-DEUCE, the very bird he flew out of Ahn Ke as a warrant officer pilot.

My grandfather went all the way from the beaches in Normandy to Berlin as a forward observer. He rarely speaks of it... and has nightmares when he does. He's a GOOD old man in his 80s and is a true American hero.

One of his famous quotes is the only lottery he won in his life was a free trip to Europe, and the a**holes shot at him the whole time he was there.

I pale in comparison to his service. Army from June 24th 1999 to September 25th, 2003. 501st Signal as a Satellite Communications Operator and Maintainer for a short stint, then was sent back to school to go to Satellite Control School, and wound up in 1st Satellite Control Battalion in Okinawa, Japan.

Was barred from re-enlistment due to medical problems, and wound up working as a contractor for the Army doing pretty much the same thing for another 5 years.

Compared to most here, my service is a candle compared to a figurative bonfire.

USMC 73-75, Infantry. USN 1980-2009, flew S3B Viking primarily. Five thousand plus total hours, 3000 in the Viking. 599 total traps, Lebanon, Lybia, Desert (the first time), Yugoslavia, OEF.

Brother Jorge, you were a Helluva Zoomie but yer REAL Badge of Honor is that you are forever a GRUNT!!

Roger that ET! A zoomie that is grounded in reality!

Kudos to your Grandfather..

and good post on your part..

I feel the same way about my time in service...while reading your post, or Jorge's about his time in service...

I volunteered for a lot more training than I was able to get... but being peace time, post Vietnam...the Army was almost like being in the Boy Scouts instead..

I grew up as a military dependent, so I was around a lot of heroes....

NOt that I desire the country to be at war somewhere.. I just wanted all the training I could get incase I ever had to go into combat..

I chose medical corp,( 91 B, 91C ) but also wanted to be jump qualified and to be Green Beret qualified..on top of the med training...

the old man was stationed at Pope in 66 to 68, in the middle of Ft Bragg, and mom was secretary for the commanding General of the Green Berets...so I knew all about it..

wearing glasses, is what kept me from doing what I wanted to do most, since I was about 12... and that was to be a pilot..
like the old man was..and Jorge...

My respect for combat vets is immense..

C'mon you guys. The reality is that NOBODY'S service is minimal. You guys were all ready to Stand To. You just didn't have to. NOT a bad thing. Thank your lucky stars that you don't have to carry some of the memories that we do and accept your own well deserved Salutes.

Hey..are you and Lee callin me a "Zoomie" too ??? I resemble that remark

I always felt like I was part ground pounder because we always flew low enough most of the time and below minimum bailout altitude..figured if anything happened we would look for a good spot and try to ride the ole girl down....you know the old saying about jumping up just before you hit!!!Saw enough Ak muzzle flashes at fairly close range so you ought to give this old sarge a break!!!.....FLEM

Oh, I had my times. September 11th wound me up on guard duty minutes after it happened. Problem was we were under a pretty heavy typhoon at the time. So I got to get a taste of the weather.

Army gave me the opportunity to blow out both knees and a shoulder. That's why I was only at Campbell for a short stint. Bum knees keep you out of Air Assault school, and I was a red mark in the commanders book. They found the first way to get me out of the unit as quickly as possible, worked out well for me though.

Being Comm, I got to hear a lot of the action, and if you think the comm guys aren't a target even if they aren't on the front lines, I don't know what to tell ya haha.

I'm proud of the time I served, and the experience and values I picked up along the way. I just didn't get sent into combat, although the SGM told me if I failed the school I was being sent to that I would be pulled right back to the unit and shipped to Kosovo as was already planned for my team. Needless to say I didn't fail the course, no matter how bad the instructors wanted me too.

My service was a minimum is the way I see it, and compared to my grandfather, and some of the others here, I'm not much to talk about haha.

Jorge just interested what boats you were on in your 30 !!

The ones wid da flat tops on dem Flem

US Navy May 1987- June 2008.
C-2A Greyhound (aka COD) from 1989-1993. Landed on most of the US Navy's carriers at the time...even the USS Lexington.
E-2C Hawkeye from 1993-1997. I did 2 cruises off USS AMERICA (Bosnia, Somalia after Blackhawk Down, and the std Persian Gulf stuff) then onto a "special mission" squadron chasing drug runners all over the Caribbean.
C-9B 1997-2008 flying all over the world. Most interesting things here were going to places that "do not exist." Being handed a lat/long and told the weather was good...get going NOW.

I spent most of last summer in Africa as a gubermint contractor doing ISR (Intel, Surv, Recon). It was VERY interesting.

Over 6000 total hours, 251 traps and I wouldn't trade the experiences for anything.

RH

Always wondered about that big old saucer antenna on top of the Hawkeye and whether it created lots of lift or was the drag component a trade off??....guess the same can be said of the AWACS.

The dome is designed to produce enough lift to support itself when flying in the "on-station" profile. In normal flight, it created a lot of drag. When trying to go as fast as possible into the break at the boat, the E-2 could only go about 260-280kts. The C-2 (same engines, wings and slightly heavier) could easily do 320-340kts.

RH

Tnx..always wondered about that......

Only 27 years for me Jorge . . . "unrestricted" only applies to pilots

USMC '04-09
6154 HMLA-367 (Uh-1N and AH-1W)
OIF 6.2 and 8.1

Neat thread from last year.

I do not know if it counts but

US Army- Signed up for 31 Bravo (Military police) I ship to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in October 2012. Right now I have five years but there might be more added on in the future.

I've served in the general militia since I was sixteen years old.

What are your intentions of doing with the information, that you "don't want to leave anyone out"?

Message me if you don't want to disclose this publically.

Service branch � U S Navy

units �
boot camp, San Diego, August�November 1949
Aviation Fundamentals school, Memphis, November 1949�February 1950
Photography school, Pensacola, February�August 1950
Naval Photographic Center, Anacostia, DC, 1950�1953

date of service � 1949�1953

noncombat service � microfilm processing and editing for ONI
production crew, 1952 TV documentary Victory at Sea
PIO photography (TAD) U S Naval Academy
several functions on variety of Navy documentaries, training films, etc

Compared to my unstruck paper match, that's a heap!

US Army 1970 - 73 Paratrooper 101st Airborne

I applied for Officer Training School at 15 (too young but they allowed me to apply as I'd be 16 at the time of the intake) passed all the tests, medicals, fitness etc and was accepted. Got my papers saying to report in two weeks at Waiouru and a week later got another letter saying not to report as I had been rejected.
I went in and asked the recruiting officer who had put me through the tests etc and got told he couldn't say why I was rejected but that he would look into it. A family friend worked for the department of defense and we got her to check into it as well. It turned out it was all to do with ethnicity, the military wanted more Maori officers so a few of us white boys got rejected and they replaced us with Maori guys despite the fact that they scored lower on all the tests than us.

The following year I applied for regular force infantry, again got accepted but managed to injure myself just before the start of basic training (split two vertebrae in my lower back about a month before basic) I tried to bluff my way in but they turned me away at my final medical.

So, no military service for me but I will always have huge respect for anyone who serves.

USN 1970 to 78 boot camp glakes in feb dam was it cold. served on USS.William C LAWE DD763 keel was laid in march of 44 saw her first combat on december 10 1972.she was old but still could make 34 knots.next was the USS lasalle agf3 out of bahrain.last ship USSPIEDMONT AD17(DOC).Lawe was last Atlantic fleet destroyer to leave the waters off the coast of Vietnam.I was a BT E-6 when I was done 1978.

USAF.

C-5A Mechanic back in 1970 when they only had received a couple of them at Travis AFB.

Later became a Flight Engineer on C-141, E3A, KC-10 and last assignment was on the E-4B.

Army, March 68 - Sept. 70 Nam

US Army 1982-1986. Played in many different theaters, but spent most of my time in Europe during the Cold War. Finished up with MI at Ft Carson, CO.

Enlisted into National Guard 1988, Scout Helicopter Repairer
Commissioned as an Army Engineer, 1991.
Progressed through various company level leadership in Bridging and Sapper units through 2001.
1998/1999 company command
Went active duty into AGR program in 2001 as an intelligence officer (S2) for an engineer battalion, and full time OIC.
2003, Intelligence officer (S3)and deputy operations officer (S3A) for an engineer brigade
May 2005, Personnel Officer (S1)for an engineer brigade
October 2005, operations officer for an engineer brigade
October 2006, Operations Officer and full time OIC for engineer battalion.
2007, Executive Officer for engineer battalion
2009, moved to joint forces headquarters as the mobilization officer
2011, Force integration and readiness officer at JFHQ.

U.S. Army 65-68;aviation, Camp Holloway, RVN 67-68 UH1 mechanic in 545th TD, UH1 crew chief 119th AHC-Gators, blue flight.

USN 1987-2007 (retired), Electronics Tech, ESWS, EAWS, and Small Craft pins.

USS Dixon (AS-37) out of San Dog from 88-91.
NCTAMS EASTPAC out of Wahiawa, HI from 92-95.
USS Chosin (CG-65) out of Pearl from 95-98.
SACLANT in Norfolk, VA. 98-2001.
FLECOMPON SIX (VC-6) Norfolk 2001-2004.
Portsmouth Naval, Portsmouth, VA 2005-2007.

Nice, not many folks can give this old arty guy size envy

USMC field arty controller/surveyor. 1986-1991

USMCR Grunt with Bravo 1/23; '75-'81. Didn't do anything exciting except march a lot, and spend nights in the mud, rain, and cold in the winter, Sweat at 29 stumps in the summer. Did make two Nato training ops that were real fun and quite the experience. One on Vieques Island and another in Turkey!

Funny the whole time I was in, never got to ride in a jeep! We still had M151 pups. So I bought the old 1942 Ford GPW when I retired.

Bob N.

USAF 1985-1994
Photo/Target Intel

Zweibrucken AB Germany

Foreign Technology Division
Wright Pat AFB

Electronic Security Command
Kelly AFB

Desert Storm
Incirlik AB Turkey

Reserve time spent at:

Homestead AFB

NSG Homestead (Card Sound)

Key West NAS (Truman Annex)

Opa Locka CGAS

Last I heard you were deciding between becoming a Marine or becoming a Soldier - glad to see you chose the Army - we always need more good MP's - welcome!

It was a hard choice, I wrote out a list of advantages and disadvantages of the two branches. In the end the Army was the better.

If I joined the Marines it would have been a year IF a position in the MP corps was available to go to school. In the Army I ship to Fort Leonard Wood for OUST. 17 weeks for everything then I wait till I get my orders. It will be 2013 when I finish training.

Do you remember this kid?



He would run up to our plane a lot of the times we landed there (even with the engines running !!), and I would give him something to eat.

He was a cool kid.... I wonder if he's still alive...

Someplace around here I have a picture of the 175's going off along the runway (big smoke-ring out of barrel). MAN those things were LOUD !!

Civil Engineering started out in the plumbing shop in 74 and retired as zone superintendent in 94 the tag below fills in the rest

In 1959 I went home on Emergency leave from NW "C" School at NAS Norfolk my dad was on his death bed. I caught a military HOP out of NAS Norfolk with an overnight stop over at NAS Memphis to Los Angles and I had the privilege of meeting two of the last U.S. Navy Silver Eagles. One was a 1st Class P.O. and the other was Chief Petty Officer, The Chief was the Pilot of the plane with a LT as the second officer. I was told at the time that the chief was certified to fly anything in the Navy's aircraft inventory both winged and rotary.

Gee...and I was just wondering why I had that dumbschidt Nathaniel on ignore.....

Drafted into the Army 5/66.
Trained @ Fort Riley, KS.
Mekong Delta 1/67-2/68 w/ 9th Division.
Fire Direction Chief in air-mobile 105 Howitzer battery.
Total time in service 21 months, 13 of it in VN.
Was ecstatic to make it back and get out of the service.

US Army 68-77
Shape HQ 69-72
Ft Hood 72-74
Germany 74-77

United States Army, 1960-1986, including two tours in RVN.

TT

U.S. Army August 1969 to Jan 1997.
Two trips to Vietnam flying helicopters.
Enlisted August 1969 to Sep 1970.
Warrant Sep 1970 to Aug 1981.
Commissioned Sep 1981 to Jan 1997.
1st Cav, 82d Abn, 172 LIB, 101st Abn twice, 2d Inf, 160th SOAR.

I am truly honored to so many remarkable vets. I, myself didn't serve. I do come from a family with a military background though. I am named after my Great Great Uncle, who fought in the Civil War. He was a member of an infantry unit from Western Pennsylvania and died in the latter stages of the war, supposedly from a long range sniper shot. I am honored to own his personal sidearm, a civilian model 1851 Navy Colt revolver.

My mother was pure German. Her folks immigrated here from Germany, and we have found out she had a distant relative who served with the German Air Force during WWI. He flew with Baron Von Richtofen, was a confirmed ace with 5 kills, and was killed in combat.

My father served under General Patton during WWII. Pretty much wherever Patton went, Dad was there. He was given the choice in 1940 to volunteer for the army, or to get well acquainted with Ohio's penal system for some "minor indiscretions." Dad was no angel as a teen. As an example of the things he managed to do to get him self in trouble, there was a little incident involving some womens' undergarments that were found flying off the front porch of the high school principal's house. He was not allowed to receive his diploma unless he publicly apologized. 'Never got the diploma. Dad was in Europe and Africa for the entire war. He was an infantryman, and was awarded 2 Purple Hearts. He never seemed to lose his ability to get in trouble. We have a whole stack of his V-mail. In one letter, he's private, next he's a corporal, then a sergeant. Next he's back to being a corporal... He had some great stories-like chasing some antelope critters in Africa in a jeep. Rolled the jeep, and him and his buddy ended up having to pay for the jeep. Or fishing some of the best trout streams in France with liberated German grenades. He was wounded the second time I believe in either Paris or Rome during the bloody street fighting. He took a round to the belly. He took the scar from that wound to his grave. I can still remember the indentation on his gut where that round went in.

My wife's family has a long history of military service also. Her dad served stateside during Viet Nam, and spent about 20 years afterwards in the Minnesota Naional Guard.

My wife's uncle was a flight engineer on B-24's in Europe. He is an accomplished artist and archetect, still working today. He did nose art on many Liberators he crewed on, and some of his nose art is actually in the Smithsonian. He's got a wealth of info on the airwar in Europe and his mind is still razor sharp. I can sit and talk to him for hours on end. He missed a mission on one of his birds he was assigned to and the plane went down without a trace. No one saw it go down, and extensive searches never yielded a clew to it's whereabouts. The German and Italian records showed no notes on it, and no one saw it drop from the formation. It's like it just vanished off the face of the earth. A direct flak hit? Who knows?

My humble words pale in the light of your sacrifices, gentlemen, but just the same, I offer each and every one of you my unending thanks. It's a true pleasure to know a little about those who stepped up to the plate so we could be free today.

Thanks again guys. You most certainly deserve it.

US Army, '77-'81, 82nd Airborne, didn't see any overseas service, though we did go to Panama for Jungle Warfare School.


11C-1P Indirect Fire Infantry (81mm mortars)

We retired the Ridgeway Cup, for Division's best mortar platoon, after winning it three years in a row.

Beyond that, nothing special.

us army, commissioned (ra) in 1970, retired in 1996. i'd do it all over again if i was a young man.

Worst 2 year job I've ever had.

Crap,....!!!! That was the LONGEST job I've ever had !

Nothing but quiet reverence for those who served, and contemplative sorrow for those who never SWORE the oath, and tried to do the best with what was served up on their plate.

I have ZERO, ....ZILCH,....NADA,...to speak about,...I was drafted, and was a Mechanic.

BRRrrrr

GTC

U.S.Army 1956-1962. Ft.Chaffee,Ark and Ft.Sill,Okla. High speed radio operator.159 FA Rkt Bn. and 529th Observation Battalion.

Not state side but served under NORAD RCAF
54 - 63 Interceptors CF100's and VooDoo's(101)
Various capacity entered as a FLt. Cadet left as a FLt. Lt. aka Captain Cheers NC

Feb 70--March 70-- Basic at Dix
Apr 70-- May 70 --Carpenter AIT Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
June 70 - Nov 70---Shake 'N Bake Senior Carpenter Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri
Nov 20 -70 D co. 815 Engineers --Dillard QL 20 Central Highlands Vietnam.
Dec. ? 70 - Nov 19 1971 NCOIC Guntruck Wild Thing D CO. 815th
Jan 72 - Feb 72 -864th Engineers-- Fort Lewis Wash.
Feb 72- Feb 73 -- I traded 1 year of active duty for 1 year of Active National Guard Duty 10 miles from my hometown. Spent 2 weeks in the summer of 1972 at Fort Drum ,New York playing War Games asking myself, what the hell am I doing here-- Don't mean Nothing---- Web

Guys really appreciate all the replies but never thought this thread would continue into this year.As 2011 comes to a close I wish all of you the best and thank you for your service ....Woody

Ditto!

The gist of this string makes me shrink from thinking of myself as a veteran.

I'm not worthy to lace your guys' boots.

Oct.66-Sept71. 858 Med.Gp. Attached to 454 Bomb Wing(Heavy) I never left the states.

Woody,...

Were life a little different, we might all be doing / writing this from the shores of the Indian Ocean, or the Gulf of Tonkin.

Not a whole BUNCH different, either, just a little

And thanks to you for letting us say publicly what many have never even said privitly before.

US Army 30 Nov 1987 to present.

Expat

21 Sept. 2005 to present US Army active duty, 4th BDE ABN, 25th ID. Fort Richardson, Alaska. The only airborne brigade west of the Mississippi. I did 15 months in Iraq in 06-07, and I'm currently on my third tour, second time in Afghanistan. My heart-felt gratitude goes out to all veterans, past and present. I'm proud to serve, prouder still to be numbered among those who served before me.

My Uncle always bragged he served in the 110th Underground Mess Kit Repair Squadron. Does that count?

1984 to 2005, U.S. Coast Guard, Quartermaster

I started ROTC at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the fall of 1969. My draft number was 23 so I went into Advanced ROTC and was commissioned into the USAR as a 2Lt in June of 1973. I went to Ft. Lee, Virginia, on ADT to become a Quartermaster but saw no deployment. The Army had too many officers at that time and made a deal with me and a whole bunch of other people. I would be a mobilization asset for the next 8 years but did not have to be active in the Reserve. I also got no retirement points and had very few of the other benefits of military service. They had me if they wanted me but did not have to pay me. I was ordered to temporary duty every couple of years for a physical and was promoted to 1Lt. I was asked if I wanted to go back on active duty for a while so I could be promoted to Captain, but declined because I was involved in the critical stages of research for one of my degrees. I was honorably discharged in 1981.

My hat is off to all who served both in and out of harm's way. I, like many, wrote a blank check to Uncle Sam and his lovely wife, Columbia, but never had much taken out of my account. Some had a great deal removed, some had everything. 1January2012 is a good time to remember all who raised their hand and swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

August 1969 Basic training Fort Dix, NJ.

Then to Fort Eustis, VA for Aircraft Mechanic both Fixed Wing and Chopper School. Spent time in Korea and Viet Nam. Door Gunner & Mechanic

Back to the states at Fort Hood, Texas 2nd Armoured Division Tank Mechanic.

National Guards 172nd Artillery Division A Company. ETS was 1990.

Ken

USN Sept 18 1989 - July 22 1998

USS Emory S. Land (AS-39) Sub tender
Special Boat Unit 20

Served as a Machinist (MR2) at both commands then got out due to cutbacks and my rate being very top-heavy. Went off to Colorado school of trades in 99.

Miss it!

Interesting. Another Minnesota Jarhead. I was with 2nd Tanks and 1/8.

88-92

5th generation South African, served in South African Army 1981-1983, Technical Services Corps. Worked on armored vehicles, troop carriers, tanks etc. Emigrated in 1986 and became a naturalized citizen in 2000. Eldest daughter now serves in the Air Force, 320th Missile Squadron at F.E. Warren in Cheyenne.

USMC 93-99

Godogs57
Your comments this am provide the chuckle I need to start the day
Happy 2012. Cheers NC

The service you men provided - is part of the reason why the rest of us all sleep a little bit better.

Thank you.

USN 1966-1970. Aviation - Mostly got to walk on land. Great Lakes, Whidbey Is Wa., Guam, DaNang, Bangkok, Townsville Australia, Osan Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hawaii, Alameda Ca, and SanDiago Ca and some short detachments on carries including the Ranger, Constellation, and Enterprise. Finished as an E5 Aviation Structural Mechanic, but mostly worked the line, And I would do it all over again.

USMC 2006-present

US army 66-69
Basic Fort Lewis Wa, advanced Fort Knox Kentucky.
Assigned to Maintaince Equipment company spring of 67 and in the fall deployed to Vietnam
Fall of 67 transfered to Tripler Army Medical Center for a non-combat injury. Spring of 68 temporarily assigned to Headquaters Company USARPAC.
Fall of 68 permanelty Assigned to Headquarters Company USARPAC
Home in the fall of 69.

US Army 1982-1986
35H Precision Measurement Electronics Lab tech

Basic - Ft Leonardwood, MO
AIT - Lowery AFB Denver, Co
Waegon, Korea
Teague, Korea
Ft Huachuca, AZ

Went in as an E-1. Got out as an E-5.

Bob

USN 1979-1987
USS Conyngham DDG-17,
BT1-SW
Persian Gulf many times.. Larry, Curly and Moe, those that were there will know what that is/was ..
Instructor, Naval War College, Newport RI

USAF rescue 77-81 sgt.

Very small contribution compared to many.

Served with the ANG in the 29th. Div. in a tank scout squadron from 1964-73. Communications officer.

Chair of Wounded Warrior/Veterans Committee in DC area for Safari Club.

Peacetime only, not counting Dominican republic. USA RA 61-64, ending just after the Bay of Tonkin Resolution. Did time in the Aleutian Islands closer to USSR than to mainland US.

1B

Peacetime only, not counting Dominican republic. USA RA 61-64, ending just after the Bay of Tonkin Resolution. Did time in the Aleutian Islands closer to USSR than to mainland US.

1B

rocky:
I have a real good friend who flew F4's out of thailand on N. Vietnam and ground attack in other places including the trail. Known him for years. What i didn't know was all the medals he had until the kerry dust up during the election a number of years ago. Two things he said to me have always stuck. I asked him since he had a pilots license, and instructed among other things, why he didn't fly today. He said "ronnie, when you come in about 100ft off the deck at 400 knots and drop naplam and light up the forest with "crispy critters" cessna's don't cut it. crispy critters?
the second was how he got the medals. Answer when they asked you to volunteer for a night mission over vietnam or the trail and they didn't really expect you to come back and you did they gave you a medal.
He still sports one of those mustaches with the sharp points.

USAF 1979-1999
Aircraft Electrician then converted to Aircraft Electro-Environmental technician. Worked on the following aircraft:
B-52 G & H models
KC-135 A, Q, and R models
F-15 C & D's models
F-16 C & D's models
A-10 Warthog
UH-1N Helo's
T-38 and T-39 trainers

friend of mine, now deceased, was in the navy during vietnam. He had a cut down m1, he found it in a river, took it to an armorer who installed the go fast parts, and cut in down, he put a thong on the back of the stock and called it his "whore house" gun. Always thought that was kind of funny

Army Nat. Guard, 1970-76, trained as combat engineer, but spent 5 years in 116th Armored Cav. We almost got to Nam. Our battalion was #1 on the national list to go when Nixon quit calling up guard units.

US Army, 1989-1998, Gulf 1, Somalia, 2 tours of ROK, numerous UN missions. I miss the soldiers,commaradre and travel, but don't miss the BS. Ets'd as a E6. Thanks to all for your service.

Blessings, Tom

US Army Specialst 5, E5 (draftee) 1965-1967
Kaiserslautern, W Germany
Heavy truck driver in a transportation company that pulled trailers of refrigerated and frozen food throughout Germany, France, Netherlands, and belgium.
Kind of a lonely assignment being gone all the time, but had the peace of not having superiors on my back and in their sight.
Also, had the perks of being able to take civilian clothes and spend an extra night when in an interesting place like Paris, Amesterdam, or Berlin.

I thank all of you folks for your service, My one and only regret in life is not serving. I'm 52 now and back then I looked at things differently. Now I realize how important this is to our country

USAF, 1977 - 1981, Aircrew Life Support Specialist
F.E.Warren AFB
90th Combat Support Group
37th ARRS, Det. 10
UH-1F's
Did a short TDY to the Small Arms Range on base when they were undermanned. That was a hoot!
Seperated as E-4/Sgt.

US Army,RA, July 1972-July 1974. 95 Bravo. Military Police.
Ft Sill Oklahoma, SVAD,(Savannah Army Depot) Savannah, Illinois.

USMC October o8-present. 0311/8152 infantry rifleman/stragegic weapon security team,

i remain proud of my service as a draftee type, involuntary servitude, as an Army E1-E5 soft stripe, at Fort Hood Texas, as a member of the first cavalry division. the people i worked with and reported to were all good people.

now, that we"re in a hell of a mess, i wonder what we should do next to secure the Southern borderlines?

USMC
1989-still going

US Army 66/68
Vietnam 66/67 IFFV Art Na Trang
Discharged 68 as E5
Commisioned W1 1981 CARNG until 2002
7 months active on Airport mission 2002
2003/04 16 months active, Balad Iraq 1 year 03/04
2632nd trans Co. Guntruck
Retired 2005 as CW4

Restricted or unrestricted only applies to Naval Aviators. I only did 27.

I decided I didn't like being in the navy after only 24 years. You must be a slow learner.

USAF, Communications Command, cable splicer 361x1 '85-'89. Not the most glorious of things, but folks do like their telephones

USN.........HM3..........1962-1968. Dominican Republic 1964-1965 makes me a vet. So doesn't serving during Viet Nam. I was one of the lucky ones that never went ashore in Nan. My hat is off to all those that did. Stationed out of Little Creek, Va. Spent most of my time attached to the fleet Marines. At first I thought being a swabby chancre mechanic would be a nightmare. But the sea going bellhops treated me like a king. Thank God for the US Marines.




This was home for most of my time.

USAF 1983-1993

A-10 engine mechanic 434th TFW Grisson AFB
B-52 and KC-135 A/R Engine Mechanic 92 FMS Fairchild AFB
C-141 Flight Engineer 18th ALS McGuire AFB

Desert Storm, Desert Shield

TIGER FORCE
1-327 INF, 101st ABN
'04-'06

I am very thankful to know such fine men. My greatest regards to one and all who took the oath and protected our freedom. I did not serve, but am very proud of my father who marched across Europe under General Patton. Dad finished as a Sgt. 1st Class with two Purple Hearts and every campaign ribbon Patton's men earned.

Impressive service records.

USA, '68-'72 'Nam.
101st Abn, 2/17th Air Cav, I Corps (MR1)
1st Cav, 229th AHB, 1/9th Air Cav, I,III Corps (MR1,3)
7/17th Air Cav, II Corps (MR2)

U.S. Army 1972-1992.
C 2-34 Armor, 4th ID 11E20
HHC, A 1-32 Armor, 3rd AD 11E20W1
A 3-32 Armor 3rd AD 11E20W1
B 4-40 Armor, 4th ID 19E30
A, C, Tank Company, HHT 1/11 ACR 19E40B8
B 2-77 Armor, 9th ID 19E40B8
I Corps G3 Warplans 11B40/19E4NB8
B, HHT 5-17 Cav, 2nd ID 19E4NB8
I Corps G3 Warplans 11B40/19E4NB8

2LT: Where's my foxhole Sgt? You're standing in it Sir. You just haven't taken the dirt out of it yet.