quasi Report This Comment Date: May 15, 2012 03:36PM
For someone who was around during the Vietnam War, there was something spooky
this morning about being in a jungle like setting and hearing that distinctive
thump, thump, thump from those big rotor blades on a Bell UH-1 "Huey"
helicopter, a mainstay of that war.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 15, 2012 05:27PM
I forgot, are you a Viet Nam vet?
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 15, 2012 07:03PM
No, I was fortunate enough to be too young to get caught in that mess.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 15, 2012 07:30PM
I got in on the last coupla years of it. I was smart enough to join the Navy
rather than get drafted. It was a close call. Ironically they stopped just
before they got to my lottery number and I spent the next 3 years kicking myself
in the ass over that in a way. In retrospect I am glad I did the service time
though. I don't regret it.
Wolfgang613 Report This Comment Date: May 16, 2012 01:41AM
Thank you for your service BlahX3
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 16, 2012 10:26AM
Blah your situation with the Navy was exactly the same as mine. I joined in
1970 to avoid the draft then the stopped taking them in 2 numbers before mine
came up. I had the same feeling about it but I really don't regret the time I
was in that much. I was in for 3 years 8 months 22 days 14 hours and 32
minutes.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 16, 2012 02:09PM
Yep. I recall you saying something about that before. I went in 2 years later
than you and stayed for 3 years. There were definitely times I didn't like being
in the Navy but as I said I have no regrets about it.
pro_junior Report This Comment Date: May 17, 2012 04:28AM
G.I. beans and G.I. gravy...
gee I wish I'd joined the Navy...
left...left...left-right...
rumor had it your chow was better than ours...
Lt_Col_Bill_Kilgore Report This Comment Date: May 17, 2012 04:31AM
I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill
bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of
'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the
whole hill. Smelled like.......victory.
Someday this war's gonna end...
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 17, 2012 10:47AM
I couldn't complain about the food in the Navy, it was very very good.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 17, 2012 11:31AM
It was no rumor. The food was fine.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 18, 2012 11:07AM
The food had to be because with the majority of sailors stationed on ships that
was about the only good thing they had. Other branches of the military could at
least go off base to eat frequently but when you are hundreds of miles out to
sea it is rather difficult to go out to eat.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 18, 2012 01:33PM
A guy I used to work for was on an aircraft carrier during Vietnam and he said
the drinking water on board always had a slight taste of jet fuel.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 18, 2012 01:36PM
Boy, that is the truth. Sea duty is a pretty difficult adjustment and the food
was a blessing for sure. It didn't make up for being out at sea for months at a
time but it helped.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 10:55AM
Fortunately my sea duty consisted of land bases my whole enlistment and I never
had to serve on a ship. My little brother did though on a destroyer escort for
years until his medical discharge.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 12:43PM
My buddy Joe who passed away last year joined the navy just to spite his dad
who was a career army officer. The dad, a Colonal at the time, knew enough of
the right people to get Joe kicked over into the army where he damn near got
killed over there in the jungle. He was given up for dead once until somebody
finally noticed he was still breathing.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 02:09PM
Boy that is a fuck story Q.
You lucked out JG. I spent the majority of my 3 years at sea.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 03:41PM
Tell you what, old Joe was a smart,tough southern boy who did not take shit
from anybody 'cause he'd already been to hell and back.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 04:32PM
Sounds like a good way to remember a buddy.
Sailors always bitch a blue streak about being out at sea for so long but for
the most part there is something about it they all loved. For starters, there is
nothing comparable to a 360 degree horizon and the sky at night is
indescribable. If I had to choose whether or not to do it over again I'd do it
again without a doubt or hesitation. Sometimes I have wished I would have stayed
in the Navy as a career for 30 years and had full pay retirement. It isn't that
much money but beats the hell out of being unemployed without any income at all.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 05:22PM
Yeah, my youngest is in the Air Force, half way through his first hitch and
he's all ready to muster out. I'm not particularly fond of him being in the
service but I've been coaxing him to stay with it so he won't be where I'm at 30
years down the road. He doesn't quite understand that every job has it's sucky
side and a guaranteed three hots & a cot aren't there on the outside.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 05:36PM
There are definitely worse things a guy could do with his life. Maybe after he
gets out he'll change his mind about it and they'll take him back in unless he's
a total fuck up. It's a tough call for a young person to make.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 05:47PM
His biggest gripe is the number of fuckups he's surrounded by but, again, he
doesn't understand that that goes on everywhere.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 06:01PM
If he stays in maybe he can help make a difference. That's always been a
problem in the military, a lot of the good guys and gals want to get out rather
than stay on and help improve the situation.
quasi Report This Comment Date: May 19, 2012 08:03PM
Go Air Force!
[
www.youtube.com]
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 20, 2012 11:18AM
I only wish I hadn't been such a lazy screw up when I was in the Navy but I
wouldn't change a thing because if I had changed I would not have the really
great family I have now. Changing anything in the past changes the future and I
am happy now.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 20, 2012 11:58PM
I hear ya JG. I can say the same damn thing about myself. I wouldn't change
anything either except maybe had tried not to worry so much and enjoy the ride
more.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 21, 2012 10:07AM
Well I did enjoy the 2.5 years I spent on Guam but not the beating I took on
Crete from a Seal Team Chief Petty Officer I think might have been Jessie
Ventura.
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 21, 2012 05:05PM
Time in service requirements to make Chief Petty Office is over 14 years.
Ventura was only in for 6 years.
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 22, 2012 11:55AM
Good, I am glad it wasn't him
BlahX3 Report This Comment Date: May 22, 2012 02:41PM
I never got in any fights when I was in. A couple of close calls is all. I tend
to be a happy drunk
jgoins Report This Comment Date: May 23, 2012 10:56AM
I'm a happy drunk as well but I was hitting on a waitress he also wanted.
