Military Vets

[Grayeagle]

USAF ECM troop
1972-1986
Tsgt (E-6)

Lackland 1972
Keesler 1973
Davis-Montham 1973-1975
Udorn-Thani 1975
George 1976-1981
Red Flag to Nellis a coupla times
Seymour-Johnson 1981-1983
Red Flag to Nellis 1981
Crested Cap to Ramstein 1981
Taegu(K2) 1984
Castle 1985-1986

General under Honorable conditions.
(Conduct Unbecoming .. go figure)

My 3rd day at Castle, Msgt Martin (my direct supervisor) calls me into his office.
Tells me I don't act like a Tsgt, I wasn't qualified to work on his aircraft,
and he was going to do everything he could to see that I didn't remain a Tsgt.

My *third* day.
The circus was in town every day at Castle.

Well.
What's a guy to do?

Although this was years from the release of the Movie '300'
..the phrase applied.

I told him if I got up on his desk and took a dump,
..I would be acting like a Tsgt.. because I *was* one.
and if he wanted to take a stripe give it his BEST shot.

THIS IS SPARTA!!

Back of his neck turned purple.
He half stood up.
It was obvious he did not get the response he was going for.
If he had taken a swing at me it would have been a very interesting day.

As it was it took him a year to get me out early,
..he stepped on himself in public so many times he was under investigation by JAG.

Christmas that year he crashed his car while drunk.
No seatbelt, his face all messed up with big gnarly stitches, purple and swollen when he returned to duty.
More than half the shop thought I had done it.
I used the line by Clint Eastwood:
'If I had done it he wouldn't look as good'

The maint. officer accused me of sabotaging their B-52's.
One of the toughest things I ever did was not lose it laughing.

Wing Commander commendation for how I ran my shift during my first ORI there.
In Your Face, Msgt Martin.
Commendation by Base Commander when I was sent off to lawn inspector while
this half wit Martin tried to figure a way to 'get me'

Last day there, smiling young Captain with the Staff Judge Advocate calls me in.
'If you stay and fight this we can get all this garbage off your records'
Seems Msgt Martin had developed the highest seperation rate in the entire USAF.
Seems a LOT of people had noticed his actions and it wasn't just me.
I told the smiling young Captain that the thrill was gone.
He did not understand how a guy with my record could go from straight 9's to 5's
..I asked him if he had met Msgt Martin.

I had straight 9 APR's from Korea and other places I had been.
I was very good at what I did and had been for years, documented.
When I returned to the shop from lawn inspector duty,
..90+ people signed a petition asking me to be their supervisor.

The smile on my face when I got out .. there was nothing like that feeling.

-GE aka Frank

[comet61]

US Army 1978-1987

SFC

1/26th INF 1st INF DIV (Goppingen, West Germany 79-82)
3/5 Cav 9th ID
2/75 Ranger Bat

[1B?

Yup...11 Bulletstopper and a 67N..crew-chiefed on Hueys for awhile. Left just before the Blackhawks arrived.

Caught a little bullet fragment on that little Island called Grenada in 83'....

[Finrod]

US Army
1980 to 2005 (Retired)
CSM
Started 19D, ended 19Z
Too damn many places to list.

[68Hawk]

Spc US Army Infantry
4th Bde 10th Mtn Div (LI)
OIF Veteran

[Grayeagle]

So umm .. no 'stories' ??

Everyone just too damn busy eh?

LOL.

One of my first days on the line out of tech school.. Davis Montham .. A7-D (we called em 'Sluf')

..the big white 2-seater U2 floats in on final, beech baron flyin chase ..obviously a new guy shootin approach
..a little off line but not bad, nice touch down
.. bounce .. another nice touch down
 .. bounce ..another nice touch down
..drops the right wing makes a right turn out into the desert.
Lotsa dust, a few cactus, all I could see was the white fin above all the crap flyin into the air.

Just another day on the line.

-GE aka Frank

[skullman]

U S Air Force 73-77
A1C Security Police
stationed-Clark AB,Phillipines,CCK Taiwan,Eglin ab,fla.
I have many stories about my exploits while in Taiwan and the Philipines.Sadly I was taken POW (Prisoner Of potato)a many of times when headin downtown.

[JunkyII]

Spc US Army Infantry
4th Bde 10th Mtn Div (LI)
OIF Veteran

I might be coming to Drum in a few months

[MrBill]

From my second sog observation mission written in 1992 for the boys ... as I recall ...

 ... in the night every man was given a zone of responsibility and each was left with his own thoughts, each knew that with the dawn the game would be on.

Scared, you better believe I was scared, nothing in human experience is more frightening than waiting for the unknown to happen.

Dawn ... we wait ... 2 hours pass ... at last whup, whup, whup, whup, sarge chucks a louie lime (green smoke) into the center of the clearing the radio operator advises the pilot that the LZ could get hot. Just before he flares all hell breaks loose, we blow the claymores and every man unloads, first the grenades, then run for the ship firing in your area as you go, the first three men out all go down, the rest of us run out, its like running through a swarm of bees. As I come to the first down man I grab his suspenders as he struggles forward, everyone is assisting each other our return fire has ceased. getting the guy I was holding on to aboard I turn back to assist the next man and am knocked dead on my prettythang, all the wind is knocked out of me,and I just sit there trying to get my breath. Every thing is moving in ultra slow motion hands pull at me we are lifting off, I now know there is a God ... he flies a Huey.

Every man was hit at least once but we were all aboard and all alive, and no one cared if anyone had soiled themselves or not, plugging holes was the order of the day now.
Again I was lucky, hit at an extreme angle my breastbone had deflected the bullet. 9 days in the hospital and orders to report back to Washington. A cluster on my purple heart and a star for the CIB.
This was my last trip into the bush, but not may last trip in the Nam.

[10thmd]

Honorable Discharge (medical)
11B and 11C
1-32nd INF 10thmd

OIF1 and 2  2003-2004

Participated in Operation Fajr the second siege of Fallujah

[USRanger]

11B  '95-'04

B Co 3rd Ranger Batt
C Co 1/325thPIR 82nd Abn.
B Co 2/187thInf(Air Assault) 101st Abn.

Bosnia
Kosovo
A'stan
Iraq

Wounded Khost, A'stan Mar. 2002(small arms) and again in Mosul, Iraq Jan. 2004 (VBIED)

[Shifty]

USAF 1978-1994

Crew Chief
O-2A
F-111E
A-10A

[ebfd11]

USMC 1987-1991

Aircraft Crash Fire Rescue 7051
MWSS 172, MCAS Futenma Ja.

deployed to:
Mainland Japan for 3 months (winter survival training at base of Mt. Fuji)
Seoul, Po hang, and Pusan South Korea.. i cant remember the exact name of training but we trained along side of the R.O.K. Marines and they are ruggad little s%^t's.
Guam for water rescue training with the navy
Phillipines for Jungle Environment Survival Training aka JEST school (worst 3 weeks of my life, even worse than boot camp)
Thailand For training with Thai Marines.. Operation Bearhunt
and the best of all,
Australia For a joint training and bellybutton whooping of the USA in mock war games .. best 3 months that I had was there..
and I am a Shellback due to going to Australia and Thailand we were assigned as security detail aboard the USS Denver...


participated in Operation Just Cause (22 Hour flight from Okinawa to Texas .. then to parts classified)

Honarable Discharge Jan 4, 1991 -- involuntary reenlistment Feb 1 1991... Operaration Desert Storm, then Honarlbly discharged again March 31 1991

Semper Fi

[Brooke]

  to you guys for your service.

[Reschke]

From my second sog observation mission written in 1992 for the boys ... as I recall ...

 ... in the night every man was given a zone of responsibility and each was left with his own thoughts, each knew that with the dawn the game would be on.

Scared, you better believe I was scared, nothing in human experience is more frightening than waiting for the unknown to happen.

Dawn ... we wait ... 2 hours pass ... at last whup, whup, whup, whup, sarge chucks a louie lime (green smoke) into the center of the clearing the radio operator advises the pilot that the LZ could get hot. Just before he flares all hell breaks loose, we blow the claymores and every man unloads, first the grenades, then run for the ship firing in your area as you go, the first three men out all go down, the rest of us run out, its like running through a swarm of bees. As I come to the first down man I grab his suspenders as he struggles forward, everyone is assisting each other our return fire has ceased. getting the guy I was holding on to aboard I turn back to assist the next man and am knocked dead on my prettythang, all the wind is knocked out of me,and I just sit there trying to get my breath. Every thing is moving in ultra slow motion hands pull at me we are lifting off, I now know there is a God ... he flies a Huey.

Every man was hit at least once but we were all aboard and all alive, and no one cared if anyone had soiled themselves or not, plugging holes was the order of the day now.
Again I was lucky, hit at an extreme angle my breastbone had deflected the bullet. 9 days in the hospital and orders to report back to Washington. A cluster on my purple heart and a star for the CIB.
This was my last trip into the bush, but not may last trip in the Nam.

I used to love sitting around listening to my dad's friends from way back when talk quietly about their times and different experiences in Viet Nam. I have heard a few stories similar to that and some where there was only one or two left that could make it to the LZ and they did simply because they were telling the stories. Thanks for sharing and serving.

 

[smedddd]

24 years service. Exactly 15 years and ten days under water!
Currently driving a desk on shore duty....it doesn't suck.

USS Newport News SSN-750
USS Miami SSN-755
USS Topeka SSN-754
USS Carl Vinson CVN-70
USS Alabama SSBN-731

.....been all over the world (my favorite port is Gibraltar) and participated in all the conflicts since 1985; but I've never actually been in combat where someone was shooting back.
I didn't like the CVN...those surface ship guys are stinky. 

LOL

V/R and <S>, LTARjink