Veteran Appreciation Thread

[Muhammad]

Big THANK YOU to all veterans as we celebrate Veteran's Day weekend in the United States.

If you or your loved ones are military veterans, please take a moment to share your stories in this thread.

I'll start: One of my brother in laws is active duty USAF, another is NAVY, and my late father in law was a veteran as well (can you tell my wife's family is a military family?).

 

[Harry in Ky]

I have no stories of any consequence. I did my time in the USAF from 1968 to 1972. My first tour was to Wheelus Air Force Base near Tripoli Libya. That was cut short because some young upstart named Khadafi (or something like that) decided he would run the country for a while. He stated that Americans were no longer welcome there , and claimed the base for the Libyan Air Force. At that time I believe that consisted of about five planes.

I ended up being transferred to RAF Upper Heyford in southern England. I thought I would be there until my time was up since duty in the UK at that time was a three year tour. Surprise surprise! With about ten months left on my enlistment I got travellin' orders to Myrtle Beach AFB in South Carolina. I was there until my discharge.

I grew up in farm country so tractors were part of the way of life back then. I started working on them when I got out, and have never stopped.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Drafted in 1970, about five out of my 225 basic training group were sent to Ft Sill for Artillery. Graduating a class every other week it was Vietnam. They got to us and except for the platoon leaders whom were held back two weeks, our orders were Germany and Korea. So, I ended up in Hanau, Germany. Backing up to AIT, one day we drove by a gun that I did not recognize so I asked my sargent what it was. He said that's an 8 inch, don't worry, you will never see one of those. Yeah, right. When I got to my outfit, my sargent said, "your my new driver and as such, you also get to pull the lanyard". So, basically, I had a blast. My brother, that dog, drafted in 1968, he ended up in Hawaii.

 

[tractortroof]

I can’t believe I qualify as a veteran, all I did was get a great education out of the deal 91-94. Now I get free healthcare.
Wife and I just visited San Diego and the Midway museum….amazing. Those were some real heroes there.

 

[EddieWalker]

I was in the Marines from 83 to 88 and had a great time with Embassy Duty. Yaoundé Cameroun for 14 months and Jakarta Indonesia for 16 months.

Today is the Marine Corps 248th Birthday. Every year that I was in, I was the Youngest Marine at the Ball. The Youngest and the Oldest Marines gets the first two pieces of Birthday Cake.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Drafted October 1963. I was shocked since I was almost past draft age time, working full time and going to night school at the University of Houston.

JFK was assinated shortly after my introduction to Ft. Polk's fine accomodations. After Basic I was sent to Ft. McClellan, Alabama to serve in the Chemical Core at the CBR School. Viet Nam Conflict (War) was just getting cranked up but I fortunately did not have the pleasure of visiting their country. I was bounced around to work at several US bases during my tenure. The most depressing however was time spent with the exit of the Airborne Units and Ranger Untits departing from Ft. Benning, GA. I tip my hat to every one of those brave souls.

After my 2 year stint with the Army I was invitied to participate in the Active Army Reserves with the 455th MASH Unit in Houston for 2 more years. That duty was pretty mild considering most of the personnel there were doctors. Their duty there working in Ben Taub Hospital there in Houston was probably worse than their active duty had been. I happily decline to extend my tenure for yet another 2 years after completing my time in the Inactive Reserves.

 

[scootr]

Thank you to all that have served our armed forces.
My father inlaw and nephew included.
Without your sacrifice we would not be free.

 

[kozal01]

Drafted in 1970, about five out of my 225 basic training group were sent to Ft Sill for Artillery. Graduating a class every other week it was Vietnam. They got to us and except for the platoon leaders whom were held back two weeks, our orders were Germany and Korea. So, I ended up in Hanau, Germany. Backing up to AIT, one day we drove by a gun that I did not recognize so I asked my sargent what it was. He said that's an 8 inch, don't worry, you will never see one of those. Yeah, right. When I got to my outfit, my sargent said, "your my new driver and as such, you also get to pull the lanyard". So, basically, I had a blast. My brother, that dog, drafted in 1968, he ended up in Hawaii.

Boom Boom! Artillery! I did basic at Ft. Sill in 2003

I Joined the Army in 2003, drove all around Iraq and Kuwait for all of 2005 for OIF III hauling munitions from Sadam's favorite ammo dumps, supplies and a lot of random junk. Got out in 2009

I took the day off of work today to go help my favorite non profit Operation Black Sheep Operation Black Sheep If you were in Vietnam you may be interested in this organization.

Thank you to all who served and for you Vietnam vets, Welcome home!

 

[reb]

Spent 4 years in the Navy.

Spent most of my time on a minesweeper. One time we were in an exercise off Corrigedor (sp?), the scene of some pretty wild stories in WWII. We were sweeping dummy mines, planted for the exercise. We cut one loose that was covered with barnacles. All those that were planted for the exercise were clean. The deck officer (an unpopular individual) went out with the motor whale boat to investigate. We saw him (from a safe distance) banging on the mine with a boat hook. It turned out the mine was from a previous exercise, not from WWII, but we did not know that at the time.

Another time I was transferred (as an electronics technician) to a smaller minesweeper that had a special, one-of-a-kind sonar. It was scheduled to go to Viet Nam for a special operation of some sort. This was before Viet Nam became a really hot news item. The ship (boat?) was fitted with a thick aluminum (non-magnetic) gun shield and, I assume, a .50 caliber machine gun. The operation was cancelled, fortunately.

 

[dusty3030]

Sgt USMC 1991-1999. Probably would have stayed in but at that time they were drawing forces down so no reenlistment bonus in '99. Took my DD214 and GI Bill to college. Wouldn't trade those years for anything.