lol...
we may passed each other while freezing our tails off in Graf..
or Hohenfels...
you definitely came thru our clinic..
remember the guy selling schnitzel broetchen out of his VW bug...

Rika

Yep, I was drafted in 69. They found out that I was an accomplished surfer/ lifeguard, so they sent me to Nam in Tanks. Haha!

Cheered Richard

Thought I'd already responded to this. Drafted in '64 & inducted on Valentine's Day. Basic at Ft. Ord where I was selected as a platoon leader. Did fairly well on all sections of the Army Battery of Aptitude Tests & sent to Ft. Lewis, WA where I served in a General Staff section until discharged. Hit two levies for Viet Nam, but my NCOIC had my name taken off both times. I was thankful to have the benefits of education assistance bill later going to college.

David (the young man to my left) and I are still friends. That picture was taken on the lower steps of the Capital Building in 1989.

He made Chief and then transitioned to CIVLANT...I recommended him for a job he still has, doing great. He was at the farm shooting with me a month ago.

What it is all about...make them more successful than you.

I treasure each and every one, every re-enlistment ceremony; names of their parents, wives and children. The why and how.

Here is another one, a great kid with a checkered past that turned it around, pictured with his wife and Mother, we flew to a small airport in PA for the ceremony:

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USAF Strategic Air Command 1966 - 1970. SSGT. In flight refueling systems technician. My father served in the 376th bomb group out of North Africa. Shot down over the Med. 32 months POW. Ironically, I served in the 376th Strategic Wing at Kadena in Okinawa. We wore the same patch!!

Lots of folks here are older than I realized (Vietnam era vets). Thank you all for your service.

Add me to the old guy list. USN, early to late 70s.

The one who would say "Hot pizza!" in the "obscene phone caller" voice over his PA? He was always driving around. We had a kid Jurgen who lived across the fence from our barracks on Puddeldorferstrasse that would sell beer, salami sandwiches, etc.

that's him...
figure he made a couple of hundred marks each night..
bug was for working...
no need to stink up his Benz..

Rika

I never served in the military. There was no draft and it was a peaceful time when I graduated HS in 1977, there just did not seem to be many kids joining that I knew. Still, I wish I had in hindsight and actually went to the Navy recruiter w a friend and almost joined but decided on college instead.

If you served, you are a veteran. That's the way the VA looks at it and any place that gives veterans' discounts as long as you are alive. I recently spent time w my uncle who is 92 this year. When he turned 18 in 1945, he immediately went down and enlisted in the Navy. WW2 was raging for years and your chances of getting killed were high. The war ended while he was in training for his military job, (submarines). Lucky SOB. He is a veteran. He was ready to die at 18.

Could have been worse ……

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Charlie don't surf

I was a Cpl working at ITR Camp Pendelton, the First Sgt called me in and said he had my orders for VN. I asked when do I go, he said you only have 15 months left, I can keep you here no problem for a couple months and you will be too short to go and spend the rest of your time right here. I said I would like to go, see what it's all about, he sat back and said he was surprised. That was 1967, sometime early 1968 I walked into a tent and there he was. We talked and he said, " I knew I would be coming, just not when, it is my life, didn't expect you to go for it"

I was also not opposed to going and actually wanted to see what it was all about too. I'm not sure my NCIOC (E-9) agreed with what was going on there as I looked back on it. The first time I walked into his office and announced, "Well Sgt. Major Perkins, get ready to kiss my ass good bye. I'm on levy for Viet Nam." He picked up the phone while I was there, called some Sgt. somewhere, said he had my name on a levy and to take it off.

I retired from the AF Reserve in late Dec (over 42 years for pay purposes). I started working on retiring about a year ago and it took them until now to get the paperwork straightened out (backdated to Dec).

I had retired from active duty in 2002 with almost 26 years and about a year later they asked me to come back into the Reserves. Been doing Reserve duty with an active duty unit part of each year ever since. It was a good life and it is hard to believe that it is over. Good thing, because my mess dress (tux for nonmil) and my service uniform were getting a little tight. My goal was to retire in the ones I bought as a MSgt in the late 80s...and managed to do so (got the stripes off without doing any damage when commissioned...as they had never been dry cleaned). Unlike many, I did something almost completely different every assignment, travelling all over the nation/world. Most of those assignments were relatively safe and without a lot of hardship (other than being pretty poor E1-E4). The last few jobs translated well into my next career (after active duty)where I have done very similar work with continued relocation/travel (working around my Reserve commitment).

I had hoped my son would follow in my footsteps, but it was my daughter who did. It has been an honor to put on my uniform and commission her three times. Once to active duty out of ROTC, once into the Reserve for Med School and finally back to active duty after Med School. She is a Major now...and will soon be a Lt Col. She just won an award as top FGO on her huge base (but she is a superstar and has dozens of awards). She will surpass everything I have ever done in my career in just a few years and some day, I will have to salute her. Funny how things turn out.

Another old guy. Drafted into Army in '67 and discharged in '70. Glad I served, wouldn't want to do it again. Used to have dreams that I got drafted again and no matter how much I told them I already served, they'd just tell me to sit down and shut up!--Dave

Usmc...Paris Island....95-99...

That was a crazy movie!

I did have a go out in Cameron Bay, after getting medivacd there for malaria.
It was allmost like a vacation down there.

Paul, that sounds like satisfying duty helping with the reups.

Cheers Richard

USAF 1982 - 1986 Electronic Warfare Specialist

I got to China Beach for a day, they had surf boards but as soon as I got one they closed the beach, there were some sea snakes coming in the surf.