2/11 Armored Cav

You don't fight for your president, you fight for your country.

This explains a lot!

U.S. Army 1973-1998

Infantry with skill identifiers P (Airborne) and Y (Pathfinder)

Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, DS 1

AFJ, speaking only for myself, but all the armchair quarterbacking I do has nothing to do with the military per se, but everything to do with civilian, political leadership.

The Military is a tool of the body politic, just as thehumvee is to you as a soldier.

U.S. Army
82nd Engineer Battalion, 2/2 Armored Cavalry Regiment
Combat Engineer, Demolitions
Bamberg, W. Germany 78-81

Bamberg, was my first assignment...nice little town..ever do the "Rauchbier" what a hangover...stuff will paralize you.
unit was 1/54 mechanized..across the street from the Cav...
Rika

Yeah. We used to go to Schlenkerla for the rauchbier. I've seen it sold at Whole Foods Market and some specialty liquor stores.

United States Navy 1986-1992
FC2(SW/AW) E-5 Fire Controlman (weapons electronics- operate, maintain, repair)
MK 38 Gun Fire Control Ballistic Computer, USS Wisconsin BB-64, Plankowner
AN/SPG-51 C/D Guided Missile Radar. USS Waddell DDG-24
Desert Storm, Battle Group Bravo, COMDESRON 21, USS Nimitz CVN-68 (FYI, a fellow Pelican served in the same attachment)

Oh, and I'm a trusty Shellback! :D

However, I try to stay out of the "debates". Too much intent lost in transmission for my taste.

You spelled it right, I'm sure you done you share of Graf & Hohenfels, me I got of a flight from Hawaii(Tripler Med. Center) on a bus to Bamberg, go to supply and get your TA-50 ( remember my reply..what's is TA-50, "Top" just smiled, your going to Graf in the morning.It was November, my tan disappeared during the night and took a flight back to Maui.
for others TA-50, is your field gear/battle rattle..
I had a blast,true friends...and loved my job..still look at the sky..when I hear the whoop/whoop of choppers
Rika

USAF 85-90
Ramstien AB
377 CES
Liquid Fuels Maintanence Specialist
E-4

United States Navy 1987-1993
E-6 GSM1/SW
USS Dewey DDG-45 homeported out of Charleston, SC
USS Hewitt DD-966 homeported out of Yokosuka, Japan

I too am a card carrying Shellback.

I didn't know we were talking cheese...I'm a certified bluenose, Grimsey Island, Iceland, 1995...

and this is my first war...24+ years in the guard, and wham!

You are a man of boundless ignorance.

AJF, you can take the number of respondents to your post and multiply it by... 5? whatever.. to perhaps get a more accurate count of Pelican veterans who have "been there and seen what war is like."

And it's not because it is Friday evening.

It's because most of those veterans will rarely if ever talk about seeing action. The memories are too painful to bring to the surface, for various reasons. We must respect and honor their decision to remain out of this discussion. And yes, military power is tragically and often mis-used in lieu of foreign policy.. this is nothing new.

I know a local Pelican who saw action in Vietnam, and the horrors he witnessed are unthinkable. It's not like a John Wayne movie at all. He cries every time he talks about what he witnessed.. this strong brave man, sobbing uncontrollably. Psychological damage is a terrible thing.

*yawn*...you really need some new material my neo-commie friend.

US Navy Reserve, 1980-86
Antisubmarine Warfare Operator (E-5)
Aircrewman aboard P-3 Orions based in Jacksonville, FL and New Orleans
http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcoats/p-3.jpg
Tracked-Soviet-submarines-in-the-Atlantic-except-for-that-magical-summer-of-'85-when-our-otherwise-"east-coast"-squadron-got-"Super-B"-aircraft-which-meant-we-had-to-requalify-all-crews-from-scratch-and-the-skipper-had-to-get-special-permission-from-the-training-2-star-admiral-to-let-us-do-our-four-week-cruise-not-in-typical-locations-like-Rota-Spain-but-instead-we-had-to-the-only-place-on-the-planet-where-the-"Super-B"-mission-simulators-were-still-up-and-running-so-we-went-there-and-that-place-that-we-went-to-and-did-lots-of-"stuff"-was,-uh....well,-

Barber's Point, Hawaii

http://www.mindspring.com/~robertcoats/old_job.jpg

War is hell. :D

U.S. Army Viet Nam Infantry 1969-1970 sniper,grunt,and ocassional tunnel rat Combat Infantry Badge among other decorations.....

Ist Infantry Div 25th Infantry Div... then home

Hey Paul -

welcome back!

US Navy
6 years
E-5 EW2
Electronic Warfare
( called something elsw now. now part of the CT field )

US Navy '82 - '91 Hospital Corpsman assigned to the USMC 7 years
E6 (Petty Officer 1st Class when discharged)
Camp Pendleton, CA, Okinawa Japan and Saudi Arabia