Any Vets?

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CRASH

CRASH

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Happy Veterans Day! What service, when, and maybe where?

U.S. Navy. 1992 to present with another at 3+ years ahead of me. I'm currently stationed at NAS Lemoore, CA.

Here's a recent pic of me at the graduation dinner for the Navy Senior Enlisted Academy in Rhode Island. I'm the goofy dude in the middle.

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SCHWINNRAY69 said:
Thanks for your service! :D
Click to expand...

I'm with "SCHWINNRAY69" on this one! Thanks to you guys & all other vets on this site & everywhere for that matter! Our freedom comes at a high price! My dad was in Germany 4 years during WWII. I also remember when the Vietnam vets came home only to be shunned. Made me sick! Thank you to all who have served & also to all serving now, your sacrifice is truly appreciated! 8)
 
both my grandfathers, and my step-grandfather served. i have only the highest respect and deepest appreciation for everyone who serves our country to keep the rest of us free and safe.one day is not enough to celebrate your courage.
 
BrandonBasic.jpg

My oldest son (A-stan, 2010-11), middle son (Iraq 2005-06, A-stan 2010-11), and me (Iraq, 2003), at the middle one's Basic Training Graduation. Missing is my son-in-law, Iraq, Kosovo, and in Berlin when the Wall came down.

Thanks to all of our veterans. :)
 
US Army Reserve and Army National Guard 1982-2003. Was lucky enough to serve all my time in good ol' Wisconsin. Thanks to all who have served.
 
US Navy from 1982 -1992 Served 5 years on the USS Spiegel Grove LSD-32, now a diving destination in Florida (they sunk it for a man-made diving site). 3 years Base police in DamNeck Virginia, 2 years on the USS Long Beach. Clinton paid me to get out and I have never looked back...

Rg
 
I joined the Navy while Carter was president. Then they downsized in 92 and I was forced out with a hardship discharge. Then I served in the National Guard until 9-11, then got called up and 2 years later joined the Air Force, then retired. I consider it a privilege to have been given the opportunity to serve. I work now on a contract job in close contact with our active duty sailors. I wasn't going to say anything, but here we are downsizing our military again. Volunteers with good records of service are being forced out. That is completely wrong. There aren't enough jobs to go around in the civilian world and we're touting job programs for the vets. However, they will continue to serve as they always have. My hats off to them.


Back when beards were allowed, 1982 and mine wasn't gray and silver as it is now.
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Me - US Army - 19D Cavalry Scout - 1st of the 10th Cavalry - Ft Carson, CO from '82 to '84
My dad was a Naval Aviator - flew A-4s and then A-6s off many a carrier flight deck - had almost 1000 traps when he finally retired after 32 years. He's now buried with my mom at Arlington National Cemetary.
My grandfather was also an aviator in the Navy - delivered numerous B-17s from here to across the pond into England during WW II. I know someone will try to correct me because the B17 was mostly used by the USAAC but he was in the Navy, I'm certain of it!

I thank you all for your service to our country.
 
Vietnam era war time.
Very opposed to that war at the time. Believed, not good for America. No change now in that belief.
Student (college) deferment 2-S until I graduated Dec. 1969.
Quickly changed to 1-A in Jan 1970.
Draft lottery number 142. Automatically coming up to be drafted about July 1970. I was very familiar with my draft board. She was a nice lady.
Enlisted for 2 yrs. April 11, 1972 in order to set my own entry date.
Could not get a job with my college degree, beyond sack boy at local grocery in spite of federal law at that the time.
Yes. I tried. "Come back after you get out, boy".
Basic training at Ft Lewis, Wa.
During that time there was a big stink in US Congress about % of minorities sent into the direct fighting.
Can't dispute that, I believed it to be so at the time.
Congress fixed that situation quickly.
Everyone in Basic who was a college grad, graduated Basic training with orders to 11-B.
11-B = Infantry Soldier.
8 weeks - Infantry AIT at Ft Lewis, Wa. Training was 90% NATO preparation, 10% VN as they thought they understood it. They had no real clue even at that late date.
Arrived RVN - Cam Ranh Bay - 1 Sep 70.
Assigned to a unit in the 23rd Div. out of Chu Lai VN.
Humped just about every Infantry weapon out there until I scored a "rear job" on a Fire Base.
Took a 2 week leave to the World in March 1970. Got back the day my Fire Base was hit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_FSB_Mary_Ann
I missed it by the grace of God by hours as I got back to the Co area late in the afternoon.
My unit, C co. 1/46 was hit hard. Many names on the Wall now.
Lots of changes took place as a result of losing one of the last significant "battles" of the late war.
We got our "b*tt" kicked in spite of much bravery on the part of the guys out on the hill that night.
Ended up assigned to a compound west of Da Nang when the Marines left it to us when they officially left RVN.
No problem there personally. Went to the R&R center at China Beach, almost every Sunday off.
(the nurses were nowhere as good looking as on the TV show of the same name).
Funny how situations change.

This is one of those posts that I should just hit "delete", but everything I have said, I experienced and is true.
Go ahead and flame me or argue the times if you want, I really don't care.
 
Great personal insight. Thank you all for your service. :D
 
Flame you for what? What you said sounds like your truth and I appreciate you sharing it. This thread isn't just for flag waving and drinking the kool-aid about the military. People thank me for my service and sacrifice. I appreciate their sentiment, but roll my eyes inside because I don't feel I deserve it. I think my family deserves more credit than I do, having to endure not having Dad around for such long periods of time and so often. It breaks my heart what I have to put my kids through. That's the sacrifice I make. I never stormed a beach at Normandy. I never held a hill in Korea. And I never fought in a rice paddy in VN. In my war I've flown at 26,000 ft monitoring the radar activity of an enemy who didn't have any radar left. (The anti-radar part of Iraq freedom was over in the first 3 days, and I was flying off North Korea at the time :roll: ) I've stood on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier launching jets who put the warheads on the foreheads, but I was pretty far away from harm.
Sure my jobs have been dangerous, but when I compare what I do to the no-joke fighting my father and grandfather did, then I don't hold myself to the same level of admiration.
Bottom line, who am I to judge you for anything. You didn't want to join, but circumstances put you in service. Sounds like once in you did what you had to do, and you got lucky and came back. So while the total number of my years in service is larger than yours, what you endured during those years far outweighs mine. There is one reason you have my admiration and my thanks. Happy Veteran's Day my friend.
 
ARMY, 82nd AIRBORNE 1981-85 -Grenada Raider, Operation Urgent Fury- Island of Grenada 1983,
IMG_0062c.jpg
 
US Air Force and Air Force Reserve. Hopefully retiring soon. I too was in Berlin when the wall came down. Veteran of Desert Storm and served in OIF in Baghdad 2005-2006.

A BIG THANK YOU to all other veterans and a thank you to those who believe in and support us!
 
1 of my Dad's brothers was in the Army while the other was in the Air Force back in the 60's, my dad was in the Army during the Vietnam War but he was lucky to go to Korea instead and my Nephew is in the Army Reserves.
 

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