Yesterday's Weapons Forums

On the way home from work a bit ago, I stopped at wally for 5 dubya 20 oil & a filter. Better change the oil in my ride before I have to lay in snow to do the deal. In the oil & filter aisle I saw a stove up old fart in a mobility scooter. Had a Viet Nam Vet cap on so I asked in what part of that unhappy country he had served.

He told me a couple places I had heard of & offered no war stories which gave me a very favorable impression of him. Mentioned duties like standing watch during the night. "Walked your post in a military manner, I bet", said I.

He just smiled. He asked where I had been & I just mentioned northern I Corps. He nodded like he knew where it was.

By that time, I had the stuff I needed & when leaving, I slapped him on the back (not too hard) & said, "By God, I'm glad you made it back all right, old vet!" He shook my hand with both of his & acted about half tore up.

Probably glad somebody finally noticed the $8 cap he had been wearing for 3 or 4 years. SW

sometimes i wonder at those that pretend , what do they really get from it ? most VN vets i know really dont say much and its only after you really get to know them that they share much ,

maybe he just wants folks to think that scooter was earned instead of a lazy benefit of our stupid system ,

but then maybe he was for real and you actually choked him up ????

Only a small percentage of the vets were actually in any kind of combat. I don't need to tell you, yal know better than me for sure. Maybe hen was some REMF and is now ashamed of it ? Or maybe he's some lonely old fart who desperately needs somethng to hang the shreds of his self respect on ?
Just trying to be positive here. Old people can be very pitiful and pathetic.
But yes there can be no excuse for stealing somebody else's valor.
Methinks you handled it good Steve.

A

One of my (many) quirks is that I don't believe in thanking vets for what they did.

If you said that to a vet pilot who had dropped napalm on a village by mistake... a) how will that make him feel and b) would you really thank him for that?

I prefer to look a vet in the eye and shake his hand while saying I am glad he made it back.

I have seen some old timers stand up a little straighter afterward. SW

I hope all our service men and women make it home especially for the up comeing holidays.
USN 68-72
Shellback
USS Klondike AR - 22
USS Perkins DD-877
USS Orlick DD - 886
Carry On

The smoking lamp is lit..

...well dang!....another squid...!...
... Attack Squadron VA-75... when deployed,was aboard USS Saratoga CV-60,but spent a lil ' time here and there on the Independence,Forestall and Kennedy ...Photo Intel Specialist,and part time Aircrewman... '72-76' ....and strange as it may sound I didnt get excited when the smoking lamp was lit- didnt start smoking till my ex-wife pulled her major shit... ....but I did quit smokin' 10 years ago...but I could go for a good cigar... ...I got a few hats I rotate wearing that are squadron and ship related and a 'nam era vet one....once in a while I run into a fellow Navy vet that turns into some good ol' remeniscing but I do get an occasional 'thank you',but I just tell them to remember the folks that didnt make it back

i had never looked at it quite that way hogger , i need to think on it a bit , but i see your points and appreciate where they come from , just a new way to think for me - i sorta set my ways when so many coming home from VN were so ill appreciated and in many cases treated poorly ,

i know that was the only war we experienced such disrespect by so many [damned commies ] most since have not had that treatment , maybe because of that experience setting so fouly with those of us that cared about being americans that appreciate their fellow americans service ..........

maybe because it was a draft and no-one since has had that , im just not sure ....

gotta think on it a bit

When I was on board the Klondike
What turned out to be her last west-pac
Cruse. We were in Vung Tau. For quite
A wile. So we got time to go Ashore.
And as you said the open markets
Were something to see .I remember
Seeing women slicing meat off of
Something hanging off a pole that was
Covered with flys , they cooked it up
A little and sold it to who ever was brave
Enuf to try it. They called it monkey meet
It looked awful big to be a monkey to me?
Any how thanks for the memory's

Willie,

You could post some of your experiences in the Viet Nam forum.

And because I don't thank vets by no means indicates I don't appreciate what they did.

Our pal, Mario was involved with squadrons bombing the NVA. I might not thank him for his service, but I would darn sure say, "Ya done good!!!" and buy him a beer or 12.

Navy pilots dropped a crap-ton o' napalm & high explosives where it did the most good!

It was a group effort. SW

that IS what i got from your post hogger - i never thought along those lines before , i respect what you are saying and am seriously studying it , you have valid points that i never considered since the 60s - i need to , i need to discuss it with some friends here as well when the time is right , these guys are dear friends and highly respected vets by me , ill never disagree with your approach - you have the creds to say what you want or not ,

hope ive not come off wrong - im just seeing things differently , its why we have these open forums ,to open our minds and find understanding , i need to learn something new every day , im learning here ,

Today there are so few actual combat vets to actually thank since there are so many desk jockeys wearing combat fatigues walking around like they took fire. I've heard this from numerous civilians working at our local USAFB Wright-Paterson. I once had a WWI vet tell me he was a ball gunner on a B-17 and I mentioned how few airmen actually saw combat and he quickly apologized that he was only with the ground crew in England. At least he was targeted by long range unguided surface to surface rockets like the rest of civilian England, and not stung by paper cuts at the office.

I remember reading "With The Old Breed" about a first hand account of fighting on Peliu (sp?) and then on Okinawa by a front line Marine and his general disdain of those in the rear. It's a shame civilians seem to bestow the same praise for those doing support jobs in the States than those rare few who actually took small arms fire or had radars locked on and SAMS coming at them. I don't even know if the Navy takes casualties any more, aside from a terrorist attack abroad or a flyer taking flak aimed by a degraded air defense system hit by stealth and smart technology. Not exactly like flying straight and level and having 88's burst amongst your bomber formation, taking small arms fire during a strafing run, or dodging SAMS and MIGS without any electronic counter measures or stealth.

I do greatly admire the few that had their lives in jeopardy and wish those that didn't would acknowledge that when civilians thank them for there service. I do know all the medaled heroes usually say the only heroes are the ones who didn't come back or were gravely injured. Where did all the humility go?

Best Regards,

Mark

...... POG's

Much respect to many of my brothers. But there is a difference between those with a gun in their hand and those with a pen. I know it took all I had to not back hand a certin air guardsmen reservist I'm aquatinted with that seems to believe he rates vet plates.

I'm not to sure about those who wear the hats and all that moto stuff.

My grandfather ran around with a BAR with the army in the phillipeans during ww2. Never wore anything in relation to what he did during the war.

My wife's grandad was a medic in Korea. He doesn't wear anything in relation to that conflict. Though he will get dressed up for some annual Korea trip they do.

And I can't say I have any interest in wearing anything related to what I've done and where I've been.


But then again the iraq conflict wasn't exactly the glorious triumph that ww2 was to the greatest generation. No welcome home parades. Just a long bus ride in the dark to the armory. Maybe if I was part of that I'd wear a hat.

Just erks me, especially when you've lost friends to a conflict.

But I to like the glad you made it back remark.

i understand better today i think , i will not question your wisdom further , in fact i may join your ranks - i had not considered that my naivete might make me miss the truth in this case ,

i explained this to a friend and he pointed out that i missed the greatest point , that you cannot thank a person for something they did not do ,

im one who seldom misses that kind of point but then i always believe in those that served [or say they did] in that era because they got so little support upon return , ill be far more observant in the future ,

...I guess that makes me a POG then ...bein' Navy ....no boots on the ground in 'nam,but on the sea-and air once in a while,thats why I have just regular veteran plates instead of vietnam vet plates....never got shot at,but sure as hell was locked on by SAM and AAA radar a couple times doin' my job...not that the other side woulda 'pulled the trigger' at that particular time,but there still was a 'pucker factor' involved when you heard that tone in your flight helmet headset... saw my share of a few friends and shipmates lost , including one who was shot down on a bombing mission over North Vietnam and spent some time in the Hanoi Hilton towards the end of the war,but died some years later from injuries related to his abuse by the NV...that drive in him continued on in his Naval career...when I got to meet him again3 years after his release he looked completely different,but he still had that fire in him .....had no "welcome home" on my end-didnt expect one,pretty much treated like a piece of shit at that time an ostracized like everyone else was,but thats just how it was then and rolled with it... I wear some of my hats once in a while-because I occasionally run into some great fellow vets....and 'cause I know it aggravates the living shit out of some of the socialist Obozo voters around here that will also vote for Cankles.....I can see when I look at them and they glare at me with that evil stare like in the old days.....I just smile at 'em and consider it a polite way to tell them "bite me" without saying a word
.....I'm still a vet,with no regrets for it...

When i served my time it was just getting into the missile deployment stage of the cold war. The base didn't have an air strip other than a small dirt one. Before VN and after Korea so what does that make me.

Rad

Dad was a WW II air crew vet, and he got shot at a lot. Old Mk IV Lancaster look like a pepper shaker, and it still flew...
Never saw him wear anything~ except a tiny air force pin in his lapel when he got married.

He always hunted White-tailed Deer on Nov. 11th. He had no qualms at all about missing the parades and speeches.

Those that do, do.
Those that don't, don't, and there ain't no middle ground.

He did take advantage of the Veteran's Land Act, and I couldn't have been prouder of him for doing so. There's also a lake named after him way up North, but he didn't live long enough to see that one..

Regards,

Doc Sharptail

mine was a left gunner on a B-29 , he had a couple theater made patches for the kills he never spoke of , they showed up in his letters home after he died , 11/11/00

ill not forget this day ever ,

i do still call it armistice day , that's what my grandfather called it , it is what my father called it and because im a history person , it is what older minnesotans probably recall as there was once a very severe storm on this date that killed a lot of folks here ,