quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
Tavman, what ship is that? Looks pretty modern to be scuttled.

USS Valley Forge CG-50. It was scuttled really early. 18 years commissioned.

Your generosity knows no bounds!

I served in peaceful times 1975-1979 in the USMC, I have no stories to tell.

Thanks for the generous Karma. I served USN 89-93. My 3 uncles served, two in The USN, 1 in the Air Force. I'll still haven't changed my photo site so I can't post pics. Thanks again Hray.

Thank you and God Bless you for your generosity. I am a veteran that served in the US Army 2nd AD(FWD) and would like to be entered.

Extremely generous. Thank you

USMC 1978-1985
Enlisted in 1978 and out in 1985. I have kicked myself in the you know what for not staying in.
Navigator Kc-130's

Q, this is incredibly generous!

I’m entering for my wife and best friend, who served in the USN during Desert Storm.

Add me please, U.S. Army 1996-2003 and thanks for your generosity.

Very generous, thank you!

USAF- 2002-present. Pics to follow once I find a new image hosting site.

USCG active duty. 1986-1994. All I can say while I was on duty the Canadian’s never invaded the Great Lakes. Please count me in. And thanks for the chance.

I've a few friends who were armed forces, and one grandfather was a Navy WW2 vet, and the other served as a Navy medic in Korea. I'm not sure I'm entered, but Want to be able to find this post, cuz vets are awesome. Ya'll gave a bunch, something these snow flakes dont get, til they give it.

I would like a chance, thank you!

Army Reserve, one trip to Iraq
Father was Navy during Vietnam

KYANG 1980-2002 (21y, 3m, 24d): Communications Officer; Security Police Officer/Commander; Aircraft Maintenance Officer; Support Group Executive Officer. I never could hold a job!

Thanks Q.

This is a story of an experience when I was medevac from the field during Nam. This was written several years ago for a post on out 2/9 Arty site, but forever sits in the edge of my consciousness:

"Tuesday, 21 July 1969, Republic of Viet Nam

I had been in the 71st Evac Hospital , Pleiku, RVN, for about two weeks. The afternoon before, they had wheeled in an unconscious grunt and gently lifted him off the gurney to the second bed on my right. He looked to be about 19, maybe 170 pounds, couldn’t tell his height, but they must have sponged him down and cleaned him up. He was completely naked and had no bandages with disinfectant and blood seeping through. They pulled a sheet up to his neck and made sure the IVs were flowing. There were maybe forty of us in the ward, so he didn’t attract much attention in our little corner of paradise.

Paradise? Yes, everyone reading this knows what I mean by “Paradise.” I had been bathed, cleaned, and I was completely dry. I was actually lying on a sheet in a real bed – a clean white sheet. The nurses spoke English and addressed you as “Sir” regardless of your rank.

We even had two or three TV sets that were mounted on the sidewalls of the ward. I don’t remember the programming but it must have been reruns for a couple of hours each day. I only remember one thing I saw on TV during the four weeks there at the 71st.

The next day, I was watching a remarkable thing, something that was a total surprise because it was not part of my world.

It was about 10AM on July 21, 1969.

Actually, I remember seeing two things simultaneously. Neil Armstrong was climbing out the lunar module and two beds over; a couple of nurses injected stimulants and a doctor was pounding on the new grunt’s chest trying to get him to breathe again. The sound was on the TV, but the only thing I remember was the frustration one of the nurses expressed because they did not know why he had died - they had no idea. He had been medevac from the field in a coma. He was in a coma for about 24 hours before he simply quit breathing.

His was not the not the only death I had seen. His was the quietest, the most passive, the cleanest. His death had no smell, it was sterile, no sizzle from hot shrapnel, no screaming, crying, or choking on blood. He was whole, all the parts where they should be, all of his blood was contained within his body - none shared with those around him. His eyes were closed and didn’t open even when they pounded on his chest.

We landed a man on the moon and the new grunt died. The knowledge to cross space, but the ignorance of a simple death.

I had enlisted – I was not drafted - and feel today as I did then, that what we did in Nam was honorable. I served my country as needed. I am not making any moralistic pronouncements on war, no myopic intellectual’s “man’s inhumanity to man” crap or any political statement. I am simply saying that I saw one man step on the moon and another man die – one the result of the accumulated wisdom and knowledge of man, the other in spite of it – nothing more – nothing less.

Milton Pounds, Spec 4, 2/9 Arty., 4th ID, RVN, 1969"

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Thanks for you generosity. Six years in the Army National Guard. Artillery Observer.

Thanks for the opportunity.
I had two uncles who served in WWII one in particular served in the South Pacific after joining at 16. Uncle Moe would never wanted to talk about where, but apparently he was part of taking some of the islands.

Very nice. I was in 1976-1998, Army.

Navy nuke 1996-2005. Served on the uss george Washington from 1997-2001 and then as shipyard at nptu bsllston spa until I got out.

Had the honor of being the first nuclear ship in ny harbor on sep 12, 2001.

Thanks for the chance

USN active duty 1990-1994, I built and maintained underwater mines. Thanks a lot, I can't believe the generosity.

What a great karma!

Just yesterday, I was at the gun club with ArtieS and we were discussing the fact that other than a 12-gauge shotgun, I do not own any long guns. Artie was 'splaining some things about AR rifles.

Please include me as a candidate for this.

USN: 1956 - 1960

USNR: 1960 - 1962

My "weapon" was the Regulus missile. My team kept them ready for launch, and we were the guys who launched them and hopefully recovered them.

As for family in the service, my uncle, who was as tall as I am, 6'3", served in the Pacific. He was captured, and at the end of the war when he was rescued, he weighed 87 pounds. He spent quite a bit of time recuperating in Australia and he did rebound to a healthy robust man.

Another uncle, who had a PhD in Russian literature and was fluent in many European languages spent a good portion of the war (guys in my age group think of WW-2 as "the war"), in the army, on loan to OSS, fore-runner of the CIA. He was under cover in Europe. He never spoke of those spy days. After the war he was a language professor at West Point, retiring as an O-6 colonel.

Awesome!
U.S. Army 1987-1993
101st Airborne Div.