Every Memorial Day I remember the times I hosed out the birds after picking up guys or body bags from a “hot” LZ. Scraping your friends off the walls of a burned ship is also harder than getting mortared or just shot at.
Yes, Bruce- there are jobs folks don’t think about, or even know about. I got called to notify three families of guys I knew- couldn’t ever do it again. That one really sucks.
Church, sorry for the misunderstanding. Making a brief comment on a “blog site” about a complex and disturbing issue, will lead to some “misinterpreting”. Should have said “help notify”?
Going along with folks giving “Official notification” (was as you noted) when near Benning was considered a comfort as someone who knew their husbands (in my cases I already knew them). At the time, I wasn’t aware of Mrs. Moore’s activities which were MOST HONORABLE. Her trials and frustration with “the system” were depicted in “We Were Soldiers”.
And yes, I did visit a few of the families of men I knew who were killed, including a high school friend killed just a few days before I was discharged, and my Mom’s first statement when I got home was “Jim was killed in Viet Nam last week.” Gee- thanks mom, I needed that.
I also went to a few military funerals. I do NOT do funerals any more! (Including my brother’s last September.)
That “gun salute” was eventually why I had to stop going to my daughter’s swim meets (starter pistols). It was flashing back on friends lost that was disturbing and caused “startle” response even when you knew what was happening at the meets.
When I visited “The Wall” a very kind volunteer there spent some time with me. She got me a list of the First Cavalry casualties. Going over the list and finding men I’d known “casually” from basic and AIT, as well as friends I’d known well in ‘Nam, many killed after I came home, led to my wife describing it as “an obsession” for a while.
Memorial Day for me usually sucks, so it does again. I guess I can be glad I never went into the shrimping business. (Though my friend Sammy, who died of cancer caused by Agent Orange in ‘95, DID have a brother in the shrimp business on St. Simons Island, GA. Meeting the boat at the dock and having a HUGE shrimp feast IS a good memory of ‘68.)
MaryWorth Premium Member about 14 years ago
OUCH! The thing about Blumenthal is he HAD done a lot for our veterans!
grapfhics about 14 years ago
At least he put some time in as opposed to a well known someone with “other priorities”. Just keep quiet.
WarBush about 14 years ago
<======SHHHHH!
MaryWorth Premium Member about 14 years ago
grapfhics, go ahead and say the name… we know it is Bush! For someone so pro-military he was so anti-veteran ( recall Walter Reed Hospital? ).
leerab78 about 14 years ago
“So-and-so did it too” is not a rational argument in defense of anything despite it being a favorite on this site
Jaedabee Premium Member about 14 years ago
^ I believe the proper usage is “tinfoil hat.”
CorosiveFrog Premium Member about 14 years ago
Reminds me of a quote by some jewish intellectual; “I died in Aushwitch, it’s just that nobody knows it.”
:(
Mythreesons about 14 years ago
Bruce4671::::How absolutely awful! So glad you were able to get out of there. Thank you for your service to this country.
CorosiveFrog Premium Member about 14 years ago
^Want an exorcist?
Dtroutma about 14 years ago
Every Memorial Day I remember the times I hosed out the birds after picking up guys or body bags from a “hot” LZ. Scraping your friends off the walls of a burned ship is also harder than getting mortared or just shot at.
Yes, Bruce- there are jobs folks don’t think about, or even know about. I got called to notify three families of guys I knew- couldn’t ever do it again. That one really sucks.
zekedog55 about 14 years ago
Cheney said “I had other priorities at the time.”
By his own definition of what it means to be an American, he prioritized away being patriotic.
Dtroutma about 14 years ago
Church, sorry for the misunderstanding. Making a brief comment on a “blog site” about a complex and disturbing issue, will lead to some “misinterpreting”. Should have said “help notify”?
Going along with folks giving “Official notification” (was as you noted) when near Benning was considered a comfort as someone who knew their husbands (in my cases I already knew them). At the time, I wasn’t aware of Mrs. Moore’s activities which were MOST HONORABLE. Her trials and frustration with “the system” were depicted in “We Were Soldiers”.
And yes, I did visit a few of the families of men I knew who were killed, including a high school friend killed just a few days before I was discharged, and my Mom’s first statement when I got home was “Jim was killed in Viet Nam last week.” Gee- thanks mom, I needed that.
I also went to a few military funerals. I do NOT do funerals any more! (Including my brother’s last September.)
That “gun salute” was eventually why I had to stop going to my daughter’s swim meets (starter pistols). It was flashing back on friends lost that was disturbing and caused “startle” response even when you knew what was happening at the meets.
When I visited “The Wall” a very kind volunteer there spent some time with me. She got me a list of the First Cavalry casualties. Going over the list and finding men I’d known “casually” from basic and AIT, as well as friends I’d known well in ‘Nam, many killed after I came home, led to my wife describing it as “an obsession” for a while.
Memorial Day for me usually sucks, so it does again. I guess I can be glad I never went into the shrimping business. (Though my friend Sammy, who died of cancer caused by Agent Orange in ‘95, DID have a brother in the shrimp business on St. Simons Island, GA. Meeting the boat at the dock and having a HUGE shrimp feast IS a good memory of ‘68.)
SherriannPederson about 14 years ago
Life here on earth has given many FREEDOMs they had never known in the past………….