Veterans roll call

[The CDR-Ret]

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(I can’t believe I disregarded the SSN designation twice.)

No worries! The first one was older than me, and was originally going to be a diesel boat, and originally was SS(N) 579. The namesake diesel boat SS SWORDFISH was on lifeguard duty, and plucked a young pilot out of the Pacific by the name of George Herman Walker Bush and also moved all of the Phillipines' gold to a safer location.

Also, good word choice by @Centerstream about asking about missing the "boat" as submarines are referred to as boats, even the nuclear powered ones that are fast attack. The Ohio class SSBNs were called ships....

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Happy Veteran's Day to all y'all! A very distinguished group who admire great tactics put in place by our GOOD General {or Admiral] Geno and his Lieutenant General CD. We all know that even the best strategic plan cannot succeed without tactics aggressively applied by the forces on the ground, in the air, on the sea and under the sea.

Here's to the best gift given to our UCONN Veterans in may (if not all) years: Azzi Fudd [ for the Air Force folks] commiting to UCONN on her birthday, and may the womrns team play a 35 game seaon [as currently planned] ending in a win in the National Championship game! Here is also to good health to the team, the coaches, the families, all who get to see the games in person, and all who share with each here in boneyard - LOVE for UCONN womens basketball.

May UCONN forever be "BAAAAAAAADDD" for womens college basketball. I am looking forward to this season more than ever before.

 

[ocoandasoc]

U.S. Army 1965 - 1966
U.S. Navy 1967 - 1973
USS Lloyd Thomas DD-764
USS Wilkinson DL=5
USS Basilone DD-824

 

[Scud49]

USAF, Torrejon AB, Spain
1968-1972

 

[winlots]

Thank you, Nan, for doing this yearly. My wife and I send our deep and enduring appreciation to all of you who have served our nation. We FEEL the sacrifices you have made.

 

[TylerTx]

U. S. Army. Retired. 1971 - 1992. Artillery Officer, Honest John Rockets, 8 inch Howitzers and Nuclear Weapons. 8 years Germany. 1 year Korea. 6 months Bahrain. 10.5 years in Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas and Florida.
Notably 4 years as a nuclear weapons employment instructor Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fire Support Coordinater for Gen. Colin Powell V Corps Germany, 8 inch Artillery Battalion Executive Officer Germany and Instructor Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas.

 

[CocoHusky]

U. S. Army. Retired. 1971 - 1992. Artillery Officer, Honest John Rockets, 8 inch Howitzers and Nuclear Weapons. 8 years Germany. 1 year Korea. 6 months Bahrain. 10.5 years in Oklahoma, Georgia, Kansas and Florida.
Notably 4 years as a nuclear weapons employment instructor Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Fire Support Coordinater for Gen. Colin Powell V Corps Germany, 8 inch Artillery Battalion Executive Officer Germany and Instructor Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth Kansas.

In the words of the @Kibitzer, General Powell is a great American.
I'm guessing that your hearing is not OK. I have met very few career artillery men whose hearing was.
Thank you for your service.

 

[Centerstream]

No worries! The first one was older than me, and was originally going to be a diesel boat, and originally was SS(N) 579. The namesake diesel boat SS SWORDFISH was on lifeguard duty, and plucked a young pilot out of the Pacific by the name of George Herman Walker Bush and also moved all of the Phillipines' gold to a safer location.

Also, good word choice by @Centerstream about asking about missing the "boat" as submarines are referred to as boats, even the nuclear powered ones that are fast attack. The Ohio class SSBNs were called ships....

I had no idea that the 726 class were called ships instead of boats. I worked through the 80s and early 90s for a Government contractor that specialized in US Navy Weapons documentation for the Trident system. I made many a trip to Bremerton WA to meet with crew members and always referred to them as boats. Hmm.

But I am guessing that the bubblehead saying is still true: There's only two types of ships - Submarines and targets.

 

[warbler1055]

US Army 1968-1970
Fort Dix, Fort Bragg

 

[Rixxx]

A respectful shout out to my Dad.

US Navy
1943-1946
Pearl Harbor, HI
Machinist Mate 3rd Class, Propeller Specialist
Never spoke about the war in my presence.

 

[TylerTx]

In the words of the @Kibitzer, General Powell is a great American.
I'm guessing that your hearing is not OK. I have met very few career artillery men whose hearing was.
Thank you for your service.

You are correct, I can’t hear it thunder. Hearing aide doesn’t help!!

 

[CocoHusky]

A respectful shout out to my Dad.
US Navy
1943-1946
Pearl Harbor, HI
Machinist Mate 3rd Class, Propeller Specialist
Never spoke about the war in my presence.

Would just like to extend that shout out to that entire generation-The Greatest!

 

[Jackcatscal]

U.S. Army ROTC, Fordham College, 1963-1967.
Active duty, U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1971-1974. Fort Dix and Fort Meade.

 

[Steelerone]

Some of the best years of my life although I didn't know it at the time. USMC 1953-56. Camp Lejuene, Cherry Point, Korea, ABC warfare instructor and rifleman. Thank you to all the Boneyarder's who served (even you Navy guys).

 

[Steelerone]

USMC - March 1967 to January 1991. I served 2 consecutive years in Viet Nam from Jan 1, 1968 to December 29, 1969. I have been around the world 9 times, including 3 years in Israel. I received a battlefield commission in November 1968. I do not like people thanking me for my service. They spit on me, threw drinks, and called us names on my first night in CONUS. People have no frigging idea.

Gotta let it go VOD. I served before Vietnam but when I was discharged became a police officer and went through the same thing in the late sixties and early seventies. But there are more good people out there than bad and when all is said and done you know what you did and that is enough. And when someone thanks you for your service now I believe they mean it and it's never to late for appreciation. From one Jarhead to another, ""Thank you for your service".

 

[Styxx]

Even if you’ve posted in threads in other years, post again. You can’t be thanked enough.

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To all my Brothers and Sisters: Thank you for your service.
To those who have paid the last full measure: You are not forgotten.
A special shout out to those of you who can name a few of the bars in Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Olongapo City

 

[Ozimoto]

My dad was USMC stationed at Geiger Field (Part of Cherry Point MCAS). Steelerone, you just missed him as he was in from 1950 to 1952. He was an aircraft crash rescue firefighter.

 

[Ex Nutmegger]

A special thank you to all of you who served under fire. You are the true hero’s!

 

[phil sampieri]

Shout out to my Uncle Lou Rio. New Britain CT. Survived the Bataan Death March but also wouldn’t talk about it.

 

[Steelerone]

My dad was USMC stationed at Geiger Field (Part of Cherry Point MCAS). Steelerone, you just missed him as he was in from 1950 to 1952. He was an aircraft crash rescue firefighter.

Oz, After I got out of boot camp I spent four weeks advanced infantry training at Camp Geiger. I think we were the first platoon to do so. Cherry Point was a great duty station. I was in Headquarters Squadron and at one point my commanding officer was Captain Harris. I later found out that he was the father of Emmy Lou Harris. I got there in 54 for a few months. The town outside of Cherry Point was Havelock. Twenty churches, twenty bars, twenty tattoo parlors, one movie house.

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Some of the best years of my life although I didn't know it at the time. USMC 1953-56. Camp Lejuene, Cherry Point, Korea, ABC warfare instructor and rifleman. Thank you to all the Boneyarder's who served (even you Navy guys).

THis is one of the forums that all animosity is seen in fun, instead of brawls in smoke-filled bars.
The cool thing about carrier battle group operations was that you have all of the special forces at one time or another making "pitstops" on the "flattops." One of my favorite times was when we were to drop some Rangers off via helicopters and pick them up with one of our submarines. As I was coming down the ladder to the O-5 deck, a very pre-occuppied MSGT was beside himself. I asked what's up? He responded that he was at a loss as to how he was going to rendezvous with the submarine, but was able to tell all the peices he had "locked down" for this op. I asked him what his provisional plan was, and replied that he was thinking about setting down a whiskey grid over the water on his GPS unit or words to that effect. I asked him if I could see his GPS device, which he promptly handed me. After perusing it for about 5.32 seconds, I showed him the front face of it showing him the WGS-84 button, and then asked him if he had crypto loaded on his portable transceiver, which he replied, "yes sir!" So I told him that all he had to do was press the WGS-84 button, use his portable transceiver, and relay his position to 1/100 of a second of latitude and logitude, and the submarine could broach right under him and have his team egress in about 52 seconds, OR he could lay down a whiskey grid and be "swimming/rowing/slow cruising for about 5 NM." He chose using the World Geodetic Survey of 1984, and the submarine was actually able to recover them in about 41 seconds, as they were "coming in hot."

 

[The CDR-Ret]

I had no idea that the 726 class were called ships instead of boats. I worked through the 80s and early 90s for a Government contractor that specialized in US Navy Weapons documentation for the Trident system. I made many a trip to Bremerton WA to meet with crew members and always referred to them as boats. Hmm.

But I am guessing that the bubblehead saying is still true: There's only two types of ships - Submarines and targets.

I believe it was an effort to keep the Commanding Officer billet as an O-6 vice the O-5 rank for the fast attacks, as capital Ships. My last Carrier Battlegroup Operation training for the team that was to embark on the carrier who was to execute naational tasking under Iraqi Freedom was delivered at SUBBASE Bangor, Washington. I really appreciated the facilities up there.
Navigating the Hood Canal with a fast attack submarine (several years before) was a hoot when approaching Foul Weather Bluff, which was very aptly named, as a wall of 35 degree rain was falling and turning to ice on all of our guys on the sail, and you could not see anything through the rain an the other side of the wall of rain, and the radar was not much help either. Just had to make a run, as a fast attack submarine on the surface just looks like a row boat on the radar in such choppy waves....
Stealing lines from Top Gun, we were in "target rich environments" very often along the way, and only two reasons to go back to port: out of weapons OR out of coffee [because being out of coffee is a reactor safety violation! ; ) ]

 

[The CDR-Ret]

Gotta let it go VOD. I served before Vietnam but when I was discharged became a police officer and went through the same thing in the late sixties and early seventies. But there are more good people out there than bad and when all is said and done you know what you did and that is enough. And when someone thanks you for your service now I believe they mean it and it's never to late for appreciation. From one Jarhead to another, ""Thank you for your service".

Steelerone: Thank you for your service as a Police Officer as well as a Marine! Both mine and my wife's god-daughters are Marines.
Just so you know, I became a Steeler fan in the fifth grade as I discovered NFL football - veru little coverage in Iowa, or I was just not aware. All of my cousins were Viking and Dallas fans, and not knowing that preseason games were meaningless, I wrote a paper for English describing how the Steelers were better than both the Redskins [now the Washington Football Team - should be the Washington Team of Football so the acronym would be WTF!?!] and the Dolphins [both teams that were in the Super Bowl the previous year] and that they would win the Super Bowl without a single game played in the regular season. That was the Steelers first Super Bowl win, and I have been a fan ever since, particularly since I could talk smack to my cousins for years about the four championships in six years....

 

[The CDR-Ret]

To all my Brothers and Sisters: Thank you for your service.
To those who have paid the last full measure: You are not forgotten.
A special shout out to those of you who can name a few of the bars in Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Olongapo City

I believe my memory of bars' names in Olongapo were obliterated from embibing of excessive amounts of San Miguel..... Still like the shout out nonetheless.....

 

[Jackcatscal]

I should put a pitch in for my friend Ken, who was in my (first) wedding party. He dropped out of college in the sixties and enlisted in the Army. Went from E-1, 2, 3, 4, 5. During that time, he went to Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, got his green beret, and served a combat tour in Viet Nam. Went to OCS, and went from O-1, 2, 3. Another tour in Viet Nam. The war ended, and he’s an officer without a college degree, so he gets cut. Went back to college, finishes, plus gets a master’s degree. (I think one or both degrees at Fordham.) Goes back in the Army, but his commission is gone, so he goes in with his reserve grade, which is E-6. Applies for his warrant, gets it, and goes from W-1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Retires out of the Pentagon. After he retired, he founded and ran a rehab program for military amputees.

I’ll also mention my friend Jim, who was an F-4 back-seater during Viet Nam. He was shot down over Laos, marched to Hanoi, and kept as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton for three years. John McCain was in the next cell, and Jim praises him for keeping the other prisoners’ morale high. After his release, Jim completed his Navy career, and retired as a commander. A very sweet and gentle man.