Military experiences.

[Nashoba]

It's a tactical move, even at 36, I'm probably the junior of the Recon guys. If I can get the SAW I won't have to carry the radio.

lol amen to that

...and I'm sure your husband would rather see you in it than him.

Of that I have absolutely no doubt.

 

[Harp]

Armed Forces Dedication

If I ascend into heaven, thou art
there: if I descend into hell thou
art present.

If I take my wings early in the
morning, and dwell in the uttermost
parts of the sea:

Even there also shall thy hand
lead me: and thy right hand
hold me.

Psalm 138; 8-10
Dominie, probasti
Unto the end. A psalm of David

 

[PADDY]

Paddy M.

 

[SPCMickyKilian]

Entered Army National Guard 22 May 03
Basic/AIT (osut) at Fort Benning, GA- School of Infantry 15 Wks 11B10
routine drilling and activations...
NYC Surge to protect RR Stations, 22 July 05-31 Sept 05
routine drilling and activations...
Oct 4, recieved phone call, notified to report for Active Duty, Camp Shelby, MS. (try consoling ur wife after being told u have a week to put ur life in order...it was a first of many firsts for me...)
Oct 7, reported Camp Shelby MS, trained til 15 Nov.
Arrived Kuwait 16 Nov.
Arrived Iraq 26 Nov,
Arrived permanent base, 29 Nov.
Since tour started have been numerous places around AO,
March 19-24 R&R Qatar
Home, TBA
End of enlistment 21 May 09...

 

[Harp]

Hang in there Mick, you're getting shorter every day and deros will arrive.

 

[carter]

Drafted August 1970 while working as Advance Man for Geo. Rawlings U.S. Senate campaign in VA
Enlisted in US Army (delayed induction).
Inducted January 1971
Basic Training - Ft. Campbell, KY
AIT - Ft. Polk, LA (11C-40)
Jump School - Ft. Benning, GA
Orders to Viet Nam cancelled when Nixon cancelled all levies to same.
Requested posting to Germany
Posted to South Korea, 2nd Infantry Division
Arrived Inchon - reassigned to UN HQ J3, Seoul.
1 year later - orders to Ft. Lewis, WA as DI.
Chose to extend in Korea.
Discharged Oct. 15, 1973 in CA.

Neither the best nor worst years of my life but I shaped up and learned some discipline. I'd say the experience has stood me in good stead. I still have my uniform somewhere around here. Fits a much smaller guy!

 

[Harp]

I can still recall Ft Polk's Bulldog Hall.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I earned a black beret...it wasn't issued to me. (pet peeve).

That whole black beret thing annoyed a lot of people including a bunch of us in the USAF. You simply don't take something that many people paid dearly to earn and turn around and give it to everyone. That wasn't a good move at all.

A peeve of mine was with my last unit. I was assigned to HQ US Central Air Forces at Shaw AFB. When I first arrived there I saw a bunch of people walking around in DCUs wearing the Marine DCU cap. I thought there were a heck of a lot of Marines on this base, until I got close enough to see the "Marine" was wearing USAF insignia. Turned out one of the USCENTAF commanders at some point decided that the Marine cap would be the cap worn by HQ USCENTAF personnel. Later it became the cap for all USAF in the AOR. When deployed I wore the optional floppy hat. I was never comfortable wearing that Marine cap--I wasn't a Marine and didn't feel like I had the right to wear something that would make me appear to be one from a short distance or more. I'd earned my stripes, but not the right to wear a Marine uniform item.

Regards,

Tom

 

[mikepara]

Maroon machine.

The head sheds sometimes have no concept of Esprit de Corps or what motivates men. A £10.00 beret can be something sacred if earned.

The same thing happened with the Maroon beret. In WWII it was worn by all Airborne troops whether Paratroops or Gliderborne but you had to be one or the other, occasionally both.

In post war days right upto 5 Airborne brigade you had to pass the infamous P-Company to wear a maroon beret.

Now if your posted to 16 Airmobile brigade you get one with your cornflakes (or a sky blue Army Air Corps one) Neither earned.

Lots of Remfs and girls walking around posing in town.

Now the only outer sign is the BBC The blue badge of Courage (Wings)

 

[Cicero]

Served the Army in 1985-2005, mainly as a Belgian Para-Commando trooper.
Did 3 Operations..Za?Øre (Congo), Somalia and Rwanda in the mid '90s.

As a U.N Soldier in Somalia.


Rwanda.

 

[dhermann1]

USMC 1966 - 69

In the summer of 1966 I had just dropped out of college (not doing too good at all) and had received my notice for my draft physical, which meant that being drafted was soon to come. I went down to the 4 services recruiter in Jamestown NY to see what my alternatives were. The Navy and Air Force had their quotas full through November, but not the Marines! And since I had a Marine Corps heritage (my parents met in Washington during WWII when they both worked on Leatherneck Magazine) I had always had a feeling about the Marine Corps. So I joined up! I took the 3 year enlistment option, to try to get a better MOS. As things turned out, I wound up in Hawaii, and never got to Vietnam, even tho I enlisted at the height of the war. (That's a story for another occasion.)
I was a Data Processing Operator at Camp Smith, in Halawa Heights, overlooking Pearl Harbor. I got there in June of 1967, just in time to watch them "bomb" Pearl harbor all over again when they made the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!"
I never got to Nam, and I have mixed feelings about that. But I'm proud I served. I was far from a Medal of Honor Marine, but I showed up for work every day and did my job. I got to go to rock concerts with Jimmy Hendricks and Jefferson Airplane and hang out on the beach at Waikiki every day.
We used to go down to Ft DeRussy where the R&R guys stayed, and buy burritos and cokes. The huge hollow black eyes those guys had as they got off the bus told you more about combat than any movie could ever portray.
As I said, I never saw any more action than a computer display could provide, but I learned a lot about life. I learned enough to believe, even tho I consider myself definitely left of center politically, that there should be universal military service. Period. Every one should serve. It's good for the country to have a citizenry that understands what the military represents, both good and bad.
OK, I'm off my soapbox. Who's next?

 

[Harp]

Ever check out the wahinies and surf over at Kaneohe?
Oahu was a great crash pad.

 

[Story]

As I said, I never saw any more action than a computer display could provide, but I learned a lot about life. I learned enough to believe, even tho I consider myself definitely left of center politically, that there should be universal military service. Period. Every one should serve. It's good for the country to have a citizenry that understands what the military represents, both good and bad.

Service guarantees citizenship.

Would you like to know more?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMTz9nIUkGc

 

[dhermann1]

Ever check out the wahinies and surf over at Kaneohe?
Oahu was a great crash pad.

Mucho plenty wahinies. "Coed season".
I tried body surfing once at Blow Hole, and got cartwheeled 360 degrees. My feet were in the air and my head was pointing straight down. I swallowed a couple quarts of salt water. I decided then and there that I was a fresh water Marine. But I had a lot of great experiences there. There were just a few remnants of the WW II Hawaii that I was able to explore. The bars on Hotel St were just about passe as hangouts, and Waikiki was the in place.
You could walk thru the International Marketplace and hear Don Ho singing to the tourists every night. Saw the Hawaii Islanders at their old stadium on King St. Went up to the north shore to Waialua and Haleiwa, when they were still country villages. Flew to the Big Island on a C-54 and back on a C-47. On the way back the pilot, who was a programmer in our office, but was also a pilot, got his hours in by cruising in a slow low circle over the Kilauea Crater for about an hour. That was VERY cool. Then went back to work and processed the raw data of a very real war on the other side of the Ocean. You experienced the reality of it even at that distance.
But I was very lucky. Very lucky. Wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but I wouldn't do it again.

 

[Harp]

Parts of Oahu were locked back in time it seemed, the smaller
commmunities that pocketed the island. One place had a drug store
with a 1930s soda fountain bar, the works. Loved Honolulu, but it
was crowded and being a transient non permanent party, I tried to
stay away from congestion, especialy Hotel Street bars-- MP/SP. lol
Kaneohe and the windward side of Oahu was my favorite beach.

 

[dhermann1]

When were you there? I looked at Waikiki on Google Earth ,and where the Jungle used to be is all big buildings, I assume condos and hotels. The north shore was totally rural back then. I fell in love with Haleiwa, but I looked at the places for sale there on Realtor.com recently, and realized that it's completely gone now.
This thread has put me on a roller coaster of emotions, I must say.
I just want to say to all you active duty guys (and gals) out there, that my hat's off to you. There couldn't be a more stressful combat situation to be living through (except perhaps Stalingrad). We're all thinking about you and praying for your safe (and sane) return.

 

[Harp]

When were you there?

'Nam-time, R&R cruisin; stayed away from Waikiki and crashed in
Honolulu's Makiki Heights, and hung around the Windward side; tried
to stay away from military as much as possible. lol

 

[dhermann1]

If you were there between June 67 and July 69 I might have seen you getting off that bus at DeRussy. Military experience sure is a game of chance. Right after my boot leave in June 67, when I was on my way out to Hawaii, I bumped into an old friend at the local airport. I was a Marine private, he was an Army 2d Looie, but it didn't matter. We chatted and wished each other luck, and took off in our separate directions. We both came back. Me having smoked a few tons of dope in Waikiki, him after getting his platoon out of hot water in Vietnam, getting a big ugly scar in his achilles tendon, and picking up a Silver Star. You just never know.
Hey, I gotta pack. Going on vaca in minutes. Later.

 

[Nashoba]

Home, TBA
End of enlistment 21 May 09...

You're in the homestretch hang in there!

 

[Harp]

If you were there between June 67 and July 69 I might have seen you getting off that bus at DeRussy. Military experience sure is a game of chance.

I was in the game's fourth and last-get-out-quarter, and have only myself
to blame...lol we all chose it and all, my outfit; and I would not trade any
of it, or the guys I served with. But life was never the same afterwards.