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Veterans day

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Floridatexan
ZVUGKTUBM
Hospital Bob
Sal
Hallmarkgard
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1Veterans day Empty Veterans day 11/11/2015, 10:49 am

Hallmarkgard



I am a Veteran. Now that it is over, a proud Veteran . For many of us being in the Military was a rite of passage. It changed me. I was never the same after spending 4 years in the Army. I did not really want to go , I did not have much of a choice. I received my draft notice so I went ahead and joined.

I had a lot of good times and a lot of bad times. Basic training in South Carolina in January and February was not the ideal place to be. But I made it. I did what I was thought was impossible for a guy with Asthma and poor eye sight. I never gave it much of a thought. It was not an excuse. But I do smile when I hear of people who say they could not serve because they stuttered and were too short. LOL Tell that to my friends “Automatic Jack” and “Stubby” Green. Sleeping on bunk beds in a open bay with 30 other guys, bath rooms with no doors, pulling guard duty and working in the mess hall(KP) when you were very tired changed the way you looked at every thing.

But I was lucky. I went to Fort Devans, out side of Boston Massachusetts, for my Army schooling. It was a 26 week choice so I was able to enjoy what New England had to offer. I took trips, many to Boston, saw the Worlds fair in 64 in New York, and enjoyed much of the charm of the area. I was surprised. The people of the area was very nice to a real southern guy with out much money. They were good people, just like the folks back home

From Fort Devans I went to Fort Hood in Texas. Very small groups of us with no real purpose. Not a very good place to be. Wound up being the training clerk. Worked in the Motor Pool and went to the field to do “Training exercises, some times like war games. I never had to do much so it was not all bad.

But I did not want to stay in Texas. I was able to transfer to Chitose Japan. I stayed in Chitose for 2 years. It was a surreal place. 50 years later and there are really no words to really describe it. We worked hard and we played even harder. I made friends for life. People who know me better than my family or my wife. People who know what I will do when the pressure is on or if I will do what I said I would in the most trying of times. A bond that really only Veterans share. Two years is long time to be away from America. You learn to see the U.S. in a different perspective. I left a very different person. I was becoming a true Veteran

From Japan I went to Korea, out side Seoul The Korean war had only been over for 12 or 13 years at that time. There was Martial law. Everyone off the streets between 12 and 6 am. Poverty was every were. I talked with people my own age that told me of the horrors of war and how they survived. Many lost all their family. Seeing people in the slums who had no water, no food, no shelter was almost more than I could/can comprehend. It bothers me to this day. I could have did something but I came back home to worry about how white my shirts should be.

So It is Veterans day. No need to say “Thank You” or give me any thing. I have done and saw more than most people will ever understand. But I really do say thanks for remembering many of us on this day. I was lucky. Many of my fellow Veterans were not. Pay them the deep gratitude for what they did..

2Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 11:08 am

Guest


Guest

I appreciate the humble recollection of your time in service. Can't keep me from saying, "Thank You!"

3Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 12:36 pm

Sal

Sal

That is a great story told well and humbly.

I enjoyed reading it.

I don't mean to denigrate anyone's military service and no disrespect to you personally, Hallmark, but my take on Veteran's Day this year is a little different.

And that is, if the MIC could get a look at my FB page they would be grinning from ear to ear.

As a nation, we really need to get past this military fetish.

It's unhealthy.

4Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 1:40 pm

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

deleted



Last edited by Bob on 11/11/2015, 9:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

5Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 2:23 pm

ZVUGKTUBM

ZVUGKTUBM

Salinsky wrote:As a nation, we really need to get past this military fetish. It's unhealthy.

I'm a veteran, and I agree with you completely.

The world would be a whole lot more peaceful if the United States did not pose a threat to many so-called "adversaries." We are one of the most militant nations on this planet, as proven by history; especially since about 1945.

http://www.best-electric-barbecue-grills.com

6Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 2:29 pm

Floridatexan

Floridatexan


Today is a tribute to people who put themselves in harm's way for the good of all. It's not a day to discuss our foreign policy misadventures or to make political statements. It's a day to thank the individuals who made sacrifices for the rest of us. Thanks to all who served.

Veterans day Calvincoolidge121592

7Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 2:50 pm

Sal

Sal

I disagree.

I'm FB friends with two goofballs from my high school days.

Neither of them had any options after graduation other than the military, so they both enlisted.

Neither of them completed their commitment.

One was dismissed after pulling a knife on another serviceman during a fight, and the other was dismissed for doing too many drugs and refusing treatment.

They were both given general discharges which turned into honorable discharges after five or ten years I think.

Now, they're all over FB posting pics of flags, and saluting service personnel, and weeping eagles.

Give me a fucking break.

8Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 2:58 pm

Sal

Sal

So this book is a sidewalk strewn with junk, trash which I throw over my shoulders as I travel in time back to November eleventh, nineteen hundred and twenty-two.

I will come to a time in my backwards trip when November eleventh, accidentally my birthday, was a sacred day called Armistice Day. When I was a boy, and when Dwayne Hoover was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

Armistice Day has become Veterans’ Day. Armistice Day was sacred. Veterans’ Day is not.

So I will throw Veterans’ Day over my shoulder. Armistice Day I will keep. I don’t want to throw away any sacred things.

What else is sacred? Oh, Romeo and Juliet, for instance.

And all music is.


- Kurt Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions

9Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 5:17 pm

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

deleted



Last edited by Bob on 11/11/2015, 9:57 pm; edited 1 time in total

10Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 5:40 pm

Sal

Sal

“Perhaps, when we remember wars, we should take off our clothes and paint ourselves blue and go on all fours all day long and grunt like pigs. That would surely be more appropriate than noble oratory and shows of flags and well-oiled guns."

Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle

11Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 9:32 pm

knothead

knothead

Hallmark I want to just simply say a sincere thank you for sharing your memories of the journey you have taken . . . .

12Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 9:57 pm

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

Sal,

I now feel shitty about what you and I put in this thread.
It's Veterans Day and Hallmark didn't deserve his thread to be subjected to what you and I put in it.  He wasn't praising war or any of that.
Just sharing a part of his life experience.
The stuff you and I posted needed to be in a different thread,  not this one.

So for that reason,  I just deleted the posts I put in it.

13Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 10:19 pm

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

http://www.northescambia.com/2015/11/veterans-final-wish-granted

14Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 11:19 pm

Hallmarkgard



No offence taken Mr Bob .  I posted just to show that not all veterans are Combat heros hanging  from Helicopters or were even personally involved in fighting.  Some of us just muddled our way though our time until we were able to get out.   I was lucky, others were not.  One time I was coming back for a courier trip and I got stranded at Kimpo. The Koreans were rioting and Martial law was in effect so I was stuck for the day with a group of guys on the way back from
the DMZ.. They were some type of Infantry unit.   It was cold and raining.  They had set up tents for everyone to stay in.  I thought, God Damn!!!  This is crap!!  Damn it. So I pulled up and went to the mess tent to get something to eat.   The food was not very good(being polite)  I sat down to eat and started listening  to the guys talk.  Wow!  They were talking about how great it was and were hoping they could stay another day or so!!!   Even with all the bad conditions, rain, cold they liked it because they felt safe.  I really felt small.  Even thought I wore the same uniform, I was not who they were.I was very humbled by people who went though hell.  Those are the people that we owe understanding and compassion to.
Just a story of times long ago. It explains why I think like I do..

15Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 11:39 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

knothead wrote:Hallmark I want to just simply say a sincere thank you for sharing your memories of the journey you have taken . . . .

cheers

16Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/11/2015, 11:50 pm

Joanimaroni

Joanimaroni

knothead wrote:Hallmark I want to just simply say a sincere thank you for sharing your memories of the journey you have taken . . . .

cheers

17Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 2:30 am

Markle

Markle

ZVUGKTUBM wrote:
Salinsky wrote:As a nation, we really need to get past this military fetish. It's unhealthy.

I'm a veteran, and I agree with you completely.

The world would be a whole lot more peaceful if the United States did not pose a threat to many so-called "adversaries." We are one of the most militant nations on this planet, as proven by history; especially since about 1945.

Yeah, we see how well much more PEACEFUL the world has become since semi-retired President Obama chose to both lead from behind and not threaten anyone but our friends and allies.

You wanted a vacuum, you got one, now it's filled with ISIS, other terrorist groups, Iran, Russia and China.

What a plan!

18Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 7:16 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

Markle,

This thread is not the place to argue about that.  I'll reply to your post in the "Kohl's sucks" thread.

19Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 9:05 am

Sal

Sal

Bob wrote:Sal,

I now feel shitty about what you and I put in this thread.
It's Veterans Day and Hallmark didn't deserve his thread to be subjected to what you and I put in it.  He wasn't praising war or any of that.
Just sharing a part of his life experience.
The stuff you and I posted needed to be in a different thread,  not this one.

So for that reason,  I just deleted the posts I put in it.

Fuck it.

I'm sick of all the star-spangled bullshit.


20Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 9:18 am

Hospital Bob

Hospital Bob

Sal,  I predicted this response from you about 3 seconds after I wrote that post.

Neil Young is now just an over-the-hill rock and roll singer.  Over the hill same as me and same as you. 
For once,  I'm going to agree with you about this age thing.  Us geezers,  Neil Young,  me and you,  need to all shut the fuck up.  It's time to hear from the younger Americans because they're the ones getting their arms and legs blown off,  their brains scrambled,  and their lives lost by all this madness.  Not me or you or Neil Fucking Young.  We're all sitting back living the life of Reilly (and I don't mean Bill although he's living as large as Young),  while the 20 and 30 year olds are doing all the suffering and dying.
So stop with that goddamn elevator music (as seaoat likes to call it).  Only geezers want to hear that shit anymore.

Face it,  bud.  You're pushing 50.  It's time to stop pretending you're the voice of the "young".  Maybe on this forum you are since the average age is werthers cough drops.  But not in the real world.

21Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 9:32 am

Guest


Guest

Sal has reached a level of enlightenment so pure that he can see no difference between being a citizen of the USA or iran, china, mexico... etc.

22Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 11:47 am

EmeraldGhost

EmeraldGhost

I joined the Army in Aurora, CO after two miserable days hitchhiking from Leadville to Denver in February .... and after having an epiphany that I was, actually, not going to be America's next greatest singer/songwriter.  (I pawned the guitar .... they said I couldn't take it with me to basic)

They promised me 3 hots & a cot &  I promised them 4 years of following their rules.  I kept up my end of the deal & they kept up theirs .... so we're even.

It got me out of the cold at least ... and I don't feel so obligated to follow their rules anymore.   Cool

23Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/12/2015, 10:18 pm

Sal

Sal

Bob wrote:Sal,  I predicted this response from you about 3 seconds after I wrote that post.

Neil Young is now just an over-the-hill rock and roll singer.  Over the hill same as me and same as you. 
For once,  I'm going to agree with you about this age thing.  Us geezers,  Neil Young,  me and you,  need to all shut the fuck up.  It's time to hear from the younger Americans because they're the ones getting their arms and legs blown off,  their brains scrambled,  and their lives lost by all this madness.  Not me or you or Neil Fucking Young.  We're all sitting back living the life of Reilly (and I don't mean Bill although he's living as large as Young),  while the 20 and 30 year olds are doing all the suffering and dying.
So stop with that goddamn elevator music (as seaoat likes to call it).  Only geezers want to hear that shit anymore.

Face it,  bud.  You're pushing 50.  It's time to stop pretending you're the voice of the "young".  Maybe on this forum you are since the average age is werthers cough drops.  But not in the real world.

Haha.

I'm all good now, Bob.

My FB page is back to baby pics, and puppy pics, and chicks making smoochie faces, and foodie pics, and sick burns regarding your favorite sports team's rivals.

As it should be.

That jingoistic militarism freaks me out.

24Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/13/2015, 1:07 am

Markle

Markle

Bob wrote:Markle,

This thread is not the place to argue about that.  I'll reply to your post in the "Kohl's sucks" thread.

I followed up on what was posted before me by our good friends ZVUGKTUBM and Salinsky.

25Veterans day Empty Re: Veterans day 11/13/2015, 8:42 am

Guest


Guest

Salinsky wrote:That is a great story told well and humbly.

I enjoyed reading it.

I don't mean to denigrate anyone's military service and no disrespect to you personally, Hallmark, but my take on Veteran's Day this year is a little different.

And that is, if the MIC could get a look at my FB page they would be grinning from ear to ear.

As a nation, we really need to get past this military fetish.

It's unhealthy.

Military fetish....seems like Seaoat, you have probably had a military guy steal a woman from you.

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