Lest we forget

[Darren Henry]

I am using my 5200 th. post to ask that everyone remember the people from all the free nations that have, and could potentially have to again defend our freedom.

In Canada we observe ceremonies that culminate in two minutes of silence at 11:11 on Remembrance day (Nov. 11). I'd ask you to please think about those who served and the hardship it placed on their families. In the poem "In Flanders fields" it was already stated that the dead were the lucky ones, for "they shall not grow old as we. grow old".

Think about the families. Not just the first world war, when this was written, but WW2, Korea, Vietnam ( yeah we had troops over there too!!!), Yugoslavia, on and on.


think about those whose lives will never be the same. The WW2 vet with "shell shock"/ the  Vietnam vet with one leg called a "baby killer" in the streets/ our people coming home with injuries from an IED from later deployments and being ignored. I always felt that receiving an injury like that would have been worse than death, for me and and my family.

Think about the peace keeper --- 20 ish years old , offering up his life and freedom if required so you can sleep well tonight after you are allowed to bash the government ,and demand more.

Freedom is not free!!All gave some/some gave all!!!

[kodydog]

Thank you Veterans.

[MinUph]

Absolutely a big round of gratitude to all that served and all that still serve our countries. We all appreciate your service and wish you all Gods speed.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Bob flew into San Francisco in 1970 on Emergency Leave.  His grandfather had died and he was the only grandson so he was given compassionate leave.  He worked with message traffic while in 'Nam and his security clearance precluded him even leaving their area of operation so he never saw "action".  In those days, when flying, you were required to wear your Class A uniforms.  When the deplaned in S.F., he and other military personnel were greeted with cries of "Baby Killer" and spat on by several peace nicks.  Bob was adamantly against the war but deeply believed that when your Country asks you to do something, you do it.  So basically he agreed that the war was wrong, just would never in 3 million years spit on someone for doing as their Country asked of them.

Happy Veteran's Day all!

Virginia 

[Rich]

One more:
Freedom is not free.
Thank you veterans,
Rich

[brmax]

Thank all you Veterans, I and my family Honor your selfless courage.
As a Veteran I Salute you.
Thank You, as we are privileged to be protected by you and the determination you have.
You are clearly a cut above.

Good night, and again Thanks
Floyd

[kodydog]

Thanks for that Virgina.

In 1970 I was in 7th grade. Some of my friends older brothers and my next door neighbor was fighting in Vietnam but at 12 years old I really didn't know what was going on. I didn't read the papers or watch the news on TV. My parents never talked about it and the world news back then was nothing like it is now. Sometimes I wonder if my parents should have sat me down and explained the situation but I guess they were trying to protect me.

So all I know about the conflict is what I see in historical accounts and stories from people like you. Pretty chilling graphics. And sad how the solders were treated when they returned. The boneheads doing all the shouting and spiting didn't have a clue what was going on. My take is the skirmish could have ended rather quickly if congress would have kept out of it.

[Mojo]

I enlisted in 1975 fresh out of high school in the Marine Corps as a ground pounder. I can remember coming back from Camp Pendelton and not wearing my uniform and wearing a hat to hide my freshly shaved head. Even in 75 they still despised military personnel.

I had many friends who fought in Nam. Many were pilots and flew everything from Jolly Greens to F-4 phantoms. But I also have alot of close friends who busted bush and jungle hunting the VC. A coupe are still messed up in the head and suffer from PTSD. One of them was in the Khe Sehn seige and was mortared and sniped for 3 months. My cousin was in the Marines, 1st Bat and pounded the ground around purple heart trail and the famous hills - 329, etc.

I never seen action but have a deep respect for those who did. Nam, Korea and WW II vets seen some of the very worst fighting in our Nations history.

Chris

[byhammerandhand]

I think all wars had bad fighting, one way or the other.   It seems like weapons technology always outpaces tactics and medical care.

I re-watched Ken Burns' "The Civil War" last month.  Poor sanitation, poor understanding of medicine, face-to-face close quarters combat, "frontal charges" in the face of artillery and grape-shot, and if you got hit in a limb with a Minie ball, your bones were shattered and faced amputation, assuming they could get you off the battlefield before you bled to death.  Some single battles had a death toll that exceeded all of Viet Nam.

WWI - Trench warefare, stand-offfs, mustard gas

WWII D-Day, battle of the bulge, island hopping against entrenched Japanese

War is hell.

I never seen action but have a deep respect for those who did. Nam, Korea and WW II vets seen some of the very worst fighting in our Nations history.

Chris

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

Thanks for that Virgina.

In 1970 I was in 7th grade.

Oops, actually I was in 9th grade in 1970.  At the time, all I knew was what was in the paper and on TV.  Footage of skirmishes was like 5 or 6 days afterwards.  Desert Storm really tripped me out because we watched the start of the war literally while we were eating supper.  I will never forget hearing Peter Jennings and his reporting that night.

Back to 'Nam.  We took the Omaha World Herald or Weird Herald as my late FIL loved to call it.  Foot soldiers, at least in the Army, were referred to as GI's (General Infantrymen I think).   I lived, and returned to, Grand Island which has always been shortened to GI.  I remember one day when I was probably 7th or 8th grade reading a news account of a "skirmish" as newsman always referred to the action in 'Nam as.  I started crying when I read how man GI's were killed.  My mother asked me what was wrong and I tearfully asked her who I would marry if all the boys from Grand Island were going to be killed in Vietnam.  I'm sure she was laughing her @ss off inside as she patiently explained that Soldiers were referred to as GI's and certainly most of them were not from Grand Island.  What a duf I was.  LOL

Sad thing about Viet Nam is that nothing really changed.  All of the men and women who died there pretty much died for nothing.  And everyone I've known who was over there was changed by the experience.  The two I knew who saw action one is on disability for PTSD and the other absolutely cannot talk about what he saw and did.  Bob saw no action but lost a lot of faith in our government because of the message traffic that he saw come through on the teletype machines he operated.

Virginia

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I enlisted in 1975 fresh out of high school in the Marine Corps as a ground pounder. I can remember coming back from Camp Pendelton and not wearing my uniform and wearing a hat to hide my freshly shaved head. Even in 75 they still despised military personnel.


Chris

I was out of HS for a year before enlisting in the Army.  I remember coming home for Christmas about 2/3 the way through Basic Training and we were required to wear our Class A's both coming and going.  How did you get by wearing civies?

I had no problems at the airport but it was Christmas time and as a female there may have been a double standard.

I remember getting a certain about of grief from the locals when I moved off-post (Hopewell VA right out the front gates from Ft Lee).  A lot of the locals just did not like the military which I always thought was funny since the military poured a sh*tload of money into that town and most of them had jobs as a direct result of all of the military there.

Leavenworth was not like that at all.  I saw how the military were treated and it was very respectfully but we bought our house there in '82 so enough time had passed that the scars of an unpleasant war had begun to fade or perhaps the townfolk of Leavenworth knew that their town would dry up and blow away without the government dollars that Ft Leavenworth and a large Veteran's Hospital complex brings into their purses.

It does make me sad that anyone would treat a military member disrespectfully for their willingness to serve their country.  Whether or not the war was "right" or despite it being an unpopular war or whatever, those men and women are doing what their country asked of them not asking what their country can do for them.   

Virginnia

[Mojo]

I changed out just before my flight........lol..:) If had been caught I would have paid for it dearly.

The problem with Nam was that it was a political war. Too many places were off the target list. The VC knew this and parked their ammunition stores and SAM missiles in Hanoi. Hanoi was off limits to our bombers.

I had a buddy who sat in front of a radar screen and watched waves of B-52's head out and bomb nothing. He had intelligence reports in front of him and no target rich environments were any where near their bomb runs.

The other major problem was Nam was an underground war. The VC had massive tunnel systems and had huge complexes underground that could not be spotted from the air. Recon platoons would walk right over these underground complexes and not even know it. Ammunition dumps, control centers and even hospitals were buried underground. Charlie would come out at night, shoot up a platoon and then disappear into tunnels and were gone.

The outcome of the war would be different today as the technology and modernization of our weapons systems would have given them no where to hide.

Chris