Posted on 10/18/2005 2:56:51 PM PDT by RetiredArmy
On October 19, 1970, at approximately 1800 hours, near An Khe, Republic of South Vietnam, which is located in the Central Highlands, I donated to the cause. I was wounded and spent the next six months in Army hospitals in An Khe, in Japan and at Martin Army Hospital at Fort Benning, GA. Another year to rehab my leg back to some usability. I recovered sufficiently enough to complete a 20-plus year military career.
I was a young and dumb kid of 19 in those days. Today, I am much older, and I hope a hell of a lot wiser. I support every man, woman, and child that is serving in the military, supporting their family members in the military. It is a life of total sacrifice and dedication to the safety and protection of the Republic. I made and lost many good friends in the Army. I miss them all to this day. Time and distance have separated us. But, that does not take away from the great times, the hard times, the bad times. But, I sure as hell would not swap it for anything on this earth.
Folks, not because I am a military man, but because I KNOW what military people and their families go through each and every day, please, the next time you see a military person in uniform, PLEASE take the time to stop them and tell them you appreciate what they are doing. I can guarantee it makes you feel like a million bucks to know that people actually give a damn.
I never fail to do so, and my thanks to you.
thanks...
yeah Thankfully the Good Lord looks out after fools like me :)
Me too, me too. Roger that.
Thanks for your service, RA.
Great post...your words ring true. I still think back to my tour in the Army (76-84) and mostly remember the good times. The guys that I served with did some amazing things during the Carter years. After seeing what we had to work with in terms of materiel, ammo, and Presidential leadership, I still wonder why (other than MAD) the Soviets didn't try to cross the Fulda Gap.
No disrespect intended to my fellow soldiers and airmen. They would have performed well, but we just didn't have the numbers to sustain a battle for more than two weeks.
I guess it falls back on MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction), and maybe all of those Soviet divisions weren't as combat ready as feared.
Thank you..thank you very much.
"Just remembering."
I remember An Khe very well. I occasionally drove a truck down there from Camp Enari to haul a load of rock back in a somewhat futile attempt to pave our company area so it wasn't always a sea of mud. 1967-68, that was. Not much of a "highway", good place to get ambushed. Glad we both made it back.
And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.
For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.
It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag.
No one should dare to even think about being the commander in chief of this country if he doesn't believe with all his heart that our soldiers are liberators abroad and defenders of freedom at home.
Sen. Zell Miller.
Thank you for your service, RetiredArmy.
Spent my 4 years Army 84-88. No combat so I must hear from my fellow soldiers on how it really was.
PS I think the same of Washington State as you do :)
Welcome home brother
a hearty thanks to you for your service from a military brat! I appreciate what you've done and trust me, being a Navy brat, it's tough on both the soldier and the family. My father served 24 years in the Navy and his father did close to 30 years in the Army including 2 tours in Vietnam. On my mother's side, my grandfather was in Pearl Harbor when it happened and we all know that not many made it out of that unscathed, but he was one of the lucky few. Anyway, I'm rambling, thanks for your service!
I was lucky...the poor fellows at the Nike-Hercules had 24/7 responsibilities, and the facilities at their remote locations were spartan, to be kind. Our tac park at Hahn was 10 miles off base, which created major problems during inclement weather.
It was a pressure cooker, no matter where you were stationed. Still, the memories were great, and we played a role in keeping Europe out of Soviet control.
Thanks for your service, Army!
USMC
Chu Lai RVN. 1966-68
Only a traitor or moron wouldn't support our own military. I too am a vet. However, my questions, suspicions and yes, even lack of support have always been directed at the politicians, for going in, their motives, their objectives, plans for winning and exiting.
I try to. I had the pleasure of meeting a nice young man in the service at the Phoenix Airport back in July. I saluted him and he laughed at me, but we hit it off.
He was going back to his base in Washington I think after spending a week with his young family at home. Then he said it was back to 'the sandbox.' I insisted on buying him a sandwicth (I was going to eat one myself) and I took the time to thank him for his sacrifice and work, and that everyone really appreciates what he and his friends are doing.
For what it's worth, he did casually refer to 'the sandbox' as 'fun,' which really suggested to me that he was a deadly weapon! We parted ways and I didn't catch his name, and even though he laughed at my salute, it was sincere (and I know he knew it was sincere).
Folks, always take two minutes to thank our servicemen and women.
Maybe you met little Bill along the way...
Thanks for your service and your sacrifice for us back home.
I was prepared to go when I first got my draft card in '72, but my lottery number didnt win.... I still have my card.
What do you think?Thank you.
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