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Vets out there

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  • Member since
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  • From: Londonderry New Hampshire
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Posted by Great Western Rwy fan on Sunday, May 23, 2010 7:13 PM

I Proudly served in the US AIR FORCE for 10 Years, Oct 1984- Oct 1994 as an "46150" AMMO troup.IYAAYAS HooRahh!!

3 Years at RAF Upper Heyford United Kingdom... Operation "Eldorado Canyon" Libya

3 Years at Hill AFB Utah... TDY for Operation "Just Cause" Panama in Dec 89 to take out Noreiga

1 Year at OSAN AB Republic of Korea

3 Years at K.I. Sawyer AFB Michigan

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Posted by cowman on Sunday, May 23, 2010 7:29 PM

USAF '67-'71.  Gt Falls, MT - Thule, Grnld - Lockbourne, OH 

Hat has always gone off to "The Greatest Generation."  Also to those who served in Korea (the one I remember). those that drew Nam assignments (served with them) and now those who are serving in Iraq and Afganistan (hear the news daily).   There have been other "actions" that deserve our respect too.

Son, an AF Guard tech, been to Iraq twice.  Can't imagine the feelings of the families of those who served in WWII, so far from home with such slow communications.

Thank you to all that have and are serving.

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Posted by subman on Sunday, May 23, 2010 8:20 PM

6 years Navy, 1  year various schools 5 years fast attack subs. Lost  hearing in left ear or would have gone the route. (You can`t stand sonar watches if you can`t hear)

Bob D As long as you surface as many times as you dive you`ll be alive to read these posts.

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Posted by richg1998 on Sunday, May 23, 2010 8:32 PM

 US Navy, 1959 to 1963. USS MIlls DER 383.

Another fallen this past Friday in nearby Ludlow, MA. Marine Sgt. Joshua D. Desforges

The city shut down the schools for the day to allow students and residents to watch the funeral procession into the city from Westover Air Base.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by AztecEagle on Sunday, May 23, 2010 8:48 PM

Although I never served,I tried to enlist in the Reserves in the early 80's but couldn't pass the physical.

However,I've had two nephews who served in Iraq in the Army and one of my neice's husband served in Afghanistan as an demolitions expert in early 2002.

I salute all of you who served honorably and loyally past and present.

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Posted by Hamltnblue on Sunday, May 23, 2010 8:51 PM

subman

6 years Navy, 1  year various schools 5 years fast attack subs. Lost  hearing in left ear or would have gone the route. (You can`t stand sonar watches if you can`t hear)

 

Left ear because one ear piece was on and the right one off so you can hear others in the shack while chatting :)

I think most in sonar lost some hearing. I know I did. 

Springfield PA

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Posted by richg1998 on Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:01 PM

Hamltnblue

subman

6 years Navy, 1  year various schools 5 years fast attack subs. Lost  hearing in left ear or would have gone the route. (You can`t stand sonar watches if you can`t hear)

 

Left ear because one ear piece was on and the right one off so you can hear others in the shack while chatting :)

I think most in sonar lost some hearing. I know I did. 

 

Been there, done that, have the T shirt. USS Mills T shirt actually. Leading sonarman on the Mills until Aug 1963.

Rich

If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.

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Posted by cleo3 on Sunday, May 23, 2010 9:01 PM
Vietnam vet, Army, Chinook crewchief. Memorial Day is a very meaningful holiday for me. I didn't lose any friends, but many thousands didn't come home alive. Ken
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Posted by O_Kamoto on Sunday, May 23, 2010 10:13 PM

cleo3
Vietnam vet, Army, Chinook crewchief. Memorial Day is a very meaningful holiday for me. I didn't lose any friends, but many thousands didn't come home alive. Ken

 

Alright!  A fellow "hooker",

 CH-47D crewmember 2002-2008 OEF, OIF

See the Dixie Club... http://www.pbase.com/dixiemodelrailroadclub
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Posted by subman on Sunday, May 23, 2010 10:33 PM

hamltnblue part of my problem was those dam planesmen poping the snorkle induction head valve all the time while running submerged on 3 main engines Oh well Uncle Sam sends me a check every month for that. It only takes 6 seconds to have the engines suck out every bit of atmospheric pressure and pull a 6" vacuum and that feels like your ear drums are being pulled out of your head at least to me it did.

Bob D As long as you surface as many times as you dive you`ll be alive to read these posts.

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Posted by Gil Janus on Sunday, May 23, 2010 11:18 PM

USAF - 1962 -> 1966 - mostly with the 49th FIS as an Automatic Weapons Control System Mechanic/Technican - it means I took care of the MG-13 weapons system - radar, infra-red, tracking computers, weapons launch, etc - I did this work on McDonnell F-101B/F Voodoo aircraft - a very cool bird.

Since we were short handed, I also doubled as a Weapons Loader, so I got not only fix the planes weapons systems, I got to load/re-load the planes with their missles and rockets. Much fun was had - and my team won a few 3-days passes for being the best.

Gil

Where ever you go, there you are !

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Posted by HaroldA on Monday, May 24, 2010 5:50 AM

This is a great thread and we all owe a huge debt of gratitude to all the vets who served in all time and in all places.  I was a Chaplain's Assistant at Fort Lewis Washington during Vietnam.  I still remember that during the last week of AIT the units would go through a simulated Viet Cong village and once they were done, my Chaplain and I would go out and serve communion to them since in the next few days they would be transported to the war.  To this day I think about those guys and the fact that for some the communion was one of the last things they did on American soil. 

Bless them all.

There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....

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Posted by cedarwoodron on Monday, May 24, 2010 8:44 AM

3.5 years Navy active duty 72-76, NAS North Island and NAS Moffett Field.

Glad I enlisted, Proud I served, Grateful to all others who did a turn or a career in any of the services!

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Posted by AltoonaRailroader on Monday, May 24, 2010 9:21 AM

I served 5 years in the Navy, 88'-93'. Four of them on the USS Caron DD-970 as a Gunner's mate. She now sits at the bottom of the Carribean off the coast of Purto Rico, and on the back of my leg as a Tattoo. I made E-5 before I got out and went to the Persian Gulf twice.

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Posted by BobL609 on Monday, May 24, 2010 9:28 AM

U.S. Air Force, 1969 to 1973.  K. I. Sawyer AFB, Michigan, U-Tapao RTNAS, Thailand, HqTAC Langley AFB, Virginia.  Salutes to all those who have served, are serving and will serve. 

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Posted by dadurling on Monday, May 24, 2010 12:10 PM

 20 years in the NH Army National Guard, retired in 2005. Deployments to Europe, Central and South America, two peacekeeping tours in the Balkans, but luckily didn't end up in the desert.

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Posted by scubaterry on Monday, May 24, 2010 7:45 PM

 Well I see this thread got another shot in the arm.  That's great, it's always good to hear fm fellow vets.  And I want to apologize to Crandell and all the  others for not including other militarys in my original post.  Even though it was posted a couple of years ago I just spent a bit reading all of the posts.   A vet is a vet regardless of country.  We all share that common trait of obligation and sacrifice for our countries.  Of course it was nice to spend a couple of days on a Canadian Destroyer in the Gulf.  The bar was open.  Crandell I don't know how you guys ever get anything done underway,

 I got into MRR'ing late in life so I pretty much ignored all the trains I ran acrossed during my 23 yrs in the Navy.  I remember Yakoska had a RR on base but I don't recall ever seeing any locomotives just the tracks as I stumbled over them after a night on the town.

 

Terry Eatin FH&R in Sunny Florida
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Posted by don246 on Monday, May 24, 2010 9:55 PM

drafted in dec. 65, 1year in colorado, 1 year in nam out in 67, from freezing to mold interesting is what i called it.

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Posted by R. T. POTEET on Thursday, May 27, 2010 7:26 PM

I was a blue suiter for twenty years and 26 days beginning 5 Aug 1958. Did my duty in AFSCs 304X0--Radio Relay; 305X1--Computer Maintenance; 511X0--Computer Operations. Entered onto the retired roles 1 Sep 1978 as a Technical Sergeant (E-6). Had PCS assignments in Texas--of course, Mississippi, Turkey, Pakistan, Washington, Massachusetts, the Philippines, California, Vietnam--of course, Germany, Arizona, the Azores, and back to Arizona. I was an Air Force "Brat' and I didn't have what I would label a particularly "Good Career" and, had I known what was ahead of me when I took that first oath of enlistment at Fort Douglas, Utah on that  5th day  of August in 1978 I most probably would have remained a civilian; I hadn't, however, been out but a very short time when I began to reflect that no one could ever offer me any amount of money whatsoever for the experience of those twenty years.

To each of you who served, no matter what that capacity might have been, and when it might have been, I am grateful to God for your service and extend to you a profound "Thank You!"

. . . . . . . . . . and as a sidebar tomorrow I attain a big number seven zero . . . . . . . . . . thirty years and four or five more layouts to a hundred..

ADDENDUM: although it is, perhaps, more appropriate to tender a "Thank You" to our Canadian friends on November 11th--after all, Memorial Day was set aside in 1868 as a day of commemoration for the (Union) dead in our recently concluded Civil War--I wish to tender to all of you a hearty thanks for your service over the years. We citizens of the United States are a little deficient in our knowledge of your military accomplishments so I will just take a minute here to reflect on some of those, if I may be so bold.

In World War Two your contribution to the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic was second to none; your forces put up one of the stoutest defences in the defence of Hong Kong in December, 1941 following Pearl Harbor; you formed the majority of the forces that made the assault at Dieppe on the 17th of August, 1942; your 1st Army hinged the left flank on the advance into Belgium, Holland, and Germany in 1944-45. And if one really wants to read a story of military glory pick up a history book on World War One and ready about the 1917 battle around Ypres in Belgium and about a mudpit called Passchendaele. That has to be one of history's greatest feats of bravery. Well done, sirs; well done and I will thank you for your service over the years.

From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet

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Posted by RedGrey62 on Thursday, May 27, 2010 7:50 PM

While I served 27 years in the Air Force including two tours in Iraq attached to the 101st Airborne Division, we must never forget that Memorial Day is to honor those who did not return.  Unfortunately I knew a few of them and I was proud to serve with them.

Ricky Keil, 1981-2009, CMSgt, Retired

"...Mother Nature will always punish the incompetent and uninformed." Bill Barney from Thor's Legions
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Posted by Hamltnblue on Thursday, May 27, 2010 8:57 PM

subman

hamltnblue part of my problem was those dam planesmen poping the snorkle induction head valve all the time while running submerged on 3 main engines Oh well Uncle Sam sends me a check every month for that. It only takes 6 seconds to have the engines suck out every bit of atmospheric pressure and pull a 6" vacuum and that feels like your ear drums are being pulled out of your head at least to me it did.

 

Luckily being on a nuke I didn't have the brains sucked out too often but now and then they ran the diesel during reactor scram drills.   Even worse was when they would stick the snorkel up and equalize pressure after the Hipac had been running for an extended period and not being at PD for several days. 

Springfield PA

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Posted by jguess733 on Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:50 PM
I absolutely love it when sans are vented inboard. It's like living in a port-a-potty. Or when nobody can figure out how to work the ships entertainment system because meat head unhooked everything to plug a laptop into so they could show a power point for a training session. But I think the best is when we broach the ship just so those P-3 jockey's can find us. Heaven forbid they loose a war game. But I wouldn't trade my fish in for anything.

Jason

Modeling the Fort Worth & Denver of the early 1970's in N scale

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Posted by LooseClu on Thursday, May 27, 2010 9:51 PM

USAF 1964-68 as a Russian Linguist and intell analyst.  Spent the last 1 year 9 months and 11 days in Alaska which made the decision to get out of the military and return to college (in a far warmer climate) a no brainer.  Retired now and living on a barrier island off the Texas coast( and I still really hate cold weather).

Roy         Onward into the fog                 http://s1014.photobucket.com/albums/af269/looseclu/

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Posted by EM-1 on Friday, May 28, 2010 10:21 PM

When my dad openend a letter for me from the draft board in Jan. 1965, he called them and told them where to find me- Flight 18, 3703 Training Squadron, Lackland AFB, (Yehaa!) Texas.  I was a Draft Dodger - I selected 4 years active duty in the AF instead of waiting to be drafted for 2 years active duty in the Army.  Beat the Draft by 3 weeks.  Spent 24 weeks at Chanute AFB in Illinois for AGE tech School, 18 months at Wheelus AFB, Triloli, Libya.  When I was getting ready to rotate Stateside, they asked me where I wanted to go.  Not wanting ro see sand anymore, I asked for East or West coast assignments.  Had the system figured out apparently, they sent me to Forbes AFB, Topeka, Kansas, just a couple hundred miles from the geographic center of the company.  While PCS there, I got to spend a 6 month TDY at Whiteman AFB, Knob Noster, Mo, 4 months on 2 separate TDYs to Brasil, where I met and eventually married my wife of 41 years, and also got to see a little bit of Trinidad, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.  Barely had time to get familiar with Topeka.

One of the big scares was at Wheelus when an excited CQ came running through the barracks about 2:15AM calling out that we were on alert, and the code was DEFCON 4, not the usual practice code.  Turns out it was the big NYC Blackout.  False Alarm.   I was kind of numb already, since when I got off night shift two days before, I got a little over an hour's sleep, when 8th pulled an ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection).  So, I had an almost 24 hour duty day with.  Then with the DEFCON bit, I got another nearly 20 hour duty day with no sleep and two meals (K Rations, yet).  About 56 hours with maybe 3 hours sleep and 7 meals.

In spite of the long hours and hard pay,I had a great time, met a lot of great people, worked for a quality and competancy of supervisor I rarely had in civilian life, nearly became a lifer, and never regreted a second of the time.

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Posted by blackpowder1956 on Friday, May 28, 2010 11:13 PM
I was a Navy physician from 1976-1984. I am now an Anesthesiologist in private practice. My father spent a 20 year career as a pilot in the USAF; F-86's in Korea to C-123's in Vietnam. He received a Silver Star for operations over Khe Sang. My wife served 11 years as a Navy Nurse. - Mike
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Posted by last mountain & eastern hogger on Friday, May 28, 2010 11:19 PM

 Whistling

I salute all of you VETS and thank you all for your service to us all.   We are fortunate on this blessed Continent that we both have such valiant dedicated neighbors going both ways.

From the wide spacious Canadian Prairies I wish you a great Memorial Day week end and may all our Servicemen and Women come home safely.

Johnboy out........................................

from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North.. 

We have met the enemy,  and he is us............ (Pogo)

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Posted by Colorado_Mac on Saturday, May 29, 2010 12:11 AM
It's funny how this thread started 5 years ago and gets revived periodically. Of course, since I'm new here I haven't weighed in yet - Army 3 years counterintelligence commo and 3 years armor. Then 9 years as a DoD contractor for the Navy. I remember storing copies of Model Railroader in the empty ammo tubes on the tanks.

Sean

HO Scale CSX Modeler

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Posted by Medina1128 on Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:02 AM

cacole
I served 26 years in the U.S. Army and then worked as a civilian instructor at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center for another 16 years.

 

Ft. Huachuca! Hello, from a fellow "Zonie"! Oh, and retired Air Force, too.

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Posted by Medina1128 on Saturday, May 29, 2010 7:06 AM

R. T. POTEET

ADDENDUM: although it is, perhaps, more appropriate to tender a "Thank You" to our Canadian friends on November 11th--after all, Memorial Day was set aside in 1868 as a day of commemoration for the (Union) dead in our recently concluded Civil War--I wish to tender to all of you a hearty thanks for your service over the years. We citizens of the United States are a little deficient in our knowledge of your military accomplishments so I will just take a minute here to reflect on some of those, if I may be so bold.

 

 And a rousing rendition of "Scotland the Brave" to you, as well! For those that don't recall the song, we "Yanks" used it in our Old Spice commercials.

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Posted by CTValleyRR on Saturday, May 29, 2010 8:32 AM

10 yrs USN as a Supply Corps Officer, and a veteran of the first Gulf War.  USS Normandy (CG-60), SEAL Team TWO, USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (SSN-708).  Now I build submarines at Electric Boat-- gets in your blood.  I also grew up in the village of Boalsburg, PA, one of several towns in the country with a legitimate claim to be the "Birthplace of Memorial Day".

Speaking for myself, just because Memorial Day is an observed holiday for us Yanks, that doesn't make anyone else's service to and sacrifice for his country any less valuable.  As we celebrate our service to our country, take a moment to congratulate yourselves on your service.  You can be justifiably proud of it.

Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford

"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford

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