On 8/14/2011 7:21 PM, Steve B wrote:
>
> I did not go to Viet Nam. I got a medical because of a knee operation and a
> heart murmur that later turned into heart valve replacement.
>
> I had buddies who went, two of which made the ride(s) with me to AFEES in
> LA, and was the last time I saw them alive. I talked a lot to them during
> those years, when they were home on leave. I also watched the news, and
> learned a lot of new words there. Anyone conscious could have absorbed the
> same information through osmosis.
>
> After that, I would run into people claiming to have been in Black Ops and
> all manner of things, but couldn't tell me what a hooch or an ARVN or a
> bouncing Betty or "beaucoups boom boom" or "shotgunning" or LZ or anything
> that a grunt would learn in the first few days.
>
> From what I heard, I believe Gunner was in Nam. But what the fuck do I
> know? At least I admit to having missed the experience.
>
> I was interested in joining the AF, and a heart murmur is not grounds for
> rejection. But I came back from orders to report for induction, and I had a
> good cushy Las Vegas Strip job making $35,000 a year in the late 1960's and
> didn't do it.
>
> If there's one thing in my life that I could go back and do over, it would
> be to attempt to join the USAF, even if I was rejected.
>
> Steve
>
>
First, you were lucky - and didn't miss anything worth seeing.
Either Vietnam OR Air Force.
(That from an Army / Navy guy :) )
Second, I hear what you are saying about the wannabes.
In my experience so many people claim to have been in Scouts that we
would have had to be full divisions instead of just squadrons.
I think of it as "Eddy Murphy Syndrome" (From the beginning of Trading
Places). It's just tough talk.
Lastly, I tend to agree; Gunner probably did see the elephant in Sunny
Exciting Southeast Asia. You don get this messed up easily, you know?
(peace, Guns)
Richard
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