If you were in the service, do you consider yourself a "Vet"?

Inept said:
Hooches! You guys were lucky. Living high on the hog! :love: I bet you had hot running water too. :)
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Hell yeah. We had a regular latrine with a shower room and tile just like back in the states.
 

Inept said:
I forgot all about my first day in-country until now. I honestly don't remember spending even one night in Saigon. I think I was flown up-country on the same day of my arrival. I just don't remember. What I do remember was waiting at an outdoor transit center and eating in the mess hall there. It was June and it was so hot! We had what was called re-combined milk. I didn't know what "re-combined" meant but hey it was milk so I took a gulp ..... yuck! I spent 367 days (yes, two days late leaving Vietnam) and that was the first and only time I drank that crap. Luckily there was one alternative ... re-combined chocolate milk.
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Might be the reason everyone drank cool-aid
Inept said:
Hooches! You guys were lucky. Living high on the hog! :love: I bet you had hot running water too. :)
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no hot water, but it was water.
 
Inept said:
Yes, lots of that. When we arrived at Phu Hiep the artillery, transportation, and White Horse ROKs were already there but we had to start from scratch - up with our tents, filling sandbags, perimeter, and bunkers. Oh yeah, the upright barrels that served as cold-water showers seen in the background of my post #187. The only hot water showers I had in that whole year was in Tokyo (on R&R) and whenever I could sneak away to a "massage parlour" in Nha Trang.
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steam and cream?
 

fuzzybuddy said:
I was in the U.S. Navy from 1968-72. I was stationed in Chicago, D.C., NYC, and Cuba (Well, before the prison.) I was never in any peril, whatsoever.
When people thank me for my service, I tell them, " Save it for those, who put their lives on the line". It's not false modesty, those guys did give all they could.
If you were in the service, do you consider yourself a "Vet"?
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I'm a vet that wishes the "thanks for your service" crap would end. I did it for myself not you.
 
rbtvgo said:
steam and cream?
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Exactly. My first time (I was only 19 you know) the woman asked me, "Yu wan ga?" Huh? She repeated it, "Yu wan ga?" I had no idea what she was asking me. So then she asked me, "Yu wan boy?" Oooops! I opted for the "ga". This is a mixed forum so I'll let you figure out what happened next.
 
squatting dog said:
Drinking water? Oh, we had plenty. :( Just hope you didn't suck up a leach, some excess mud, or maybe some residual Agent orange. At least blood was easy to spot.


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I worked on an Internal Medicine ward when I was there and a lot of our patients were Army grunts with hepatitis from the water they had to drink when they were out in the bush. The other big one was malaria. I'd say that 90% of our patients on the ward were either hepatitis or malaria.
 
Trade said:
I worked on an Internal Medicine ward when I was there and a lot of our patients were Army grunts with ..... malaria. I'd say that 90% of our patients on the ward were either hepatitis or malaria.
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We were given malaria tablets to take daily but we didn't always have the opportunity to take them so most of us gave up. One guy I was with had his finger and toenails turn yellow. He went to see a doc and never returned. Hepatitis?
 
Inept said:
We were given malaria tablets to take daily but we didn't always have the opportunity to take them so most of us gave up. One guy I was with had his finger and toenails turn yellow. He went to see a doc and never returned. Hepatitis?
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We had malaria tablet dispensers on the wall and were supposed to take them but no one did. They tended to give you the runs plus we didn't have a mosquito problem where we were. I had heard that the grunts in the bush didn't mind getting malaria all that much because it meant a 3 week stay in the rear with us while they recovered. We only had one guy die of malaria on our ward. Almost everyone recovered in about 3 weeks and got sent back to their unit. Same for Hepatitis. Only one guy died. For everyone else it was 3 weeks in the rear to recover and then back to the bush. These were all young guys with an average age of about 20.

The most obvious thing about hepatitis patients was that the white of their eyes turned yellow. Also just an overall jaundice look.
 
We used those Iodine water purification tablets and hopefully, but not always, someone in the world would have sent you some kool aid to mix with it. If not, After a couple of months, you got used to the taste. (sorta).
But then there was this...
I crawled down to the paddy to fill my canteen, crawled back and put the Iodine tab in my canteen. The next morning I took a big drink and this leech came out in my mouth. He was dead and kinda bubbery. I spit him out and finished my water. :eek:
 
My dad served in the Marines during WW2. Guadalcanal, Peleliu and Okinawa.
Contracted Malarial and for years after, would have relapses well into the 50's.

When I deployed during the Gulf war, they would hand out Mefloquine tablets every week and at first,
they would watch us take the first pills, then they gave up.

At the time, I or anyone didn't know about any problems taking these pills, just remembered what my dad went through.

Mefloquine was used from 1989 and has been proven to cause a number of disabilities, including Parkinson's Disease.

Along with the problems that has come to light about the Anthrax Vaccination we received, these have always been a concern
to me as I get older.
 
Inept said:
Exactly. My first time (I was only 19 you know) the woman asked me, "Yu wan ga?" Huh? She repeated it, "Yu wan ga?" I had no idea what she was asking me. So then she asked me, "Yu wan boy?" Oooops! I opted for the "ga". This is a mixed forum so I'll let you figure out what happened next.
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gotta laugh..........we didn't know a d__n thing when we were young did we?
We did what they told us, we did our duty. Some of us survive to talk about it and some of us died. BUT we did what was asked of us. We served. We gave back what our country asked. I am proud of that. You should be proud as well. Good, bad, it doesn't matter. IT WAS RIGHT. History can sort out the issues but the subject of all the history is you and I and all those like us who did our jobs.
America is soft, America is lazy, America is only interested in pleasing themselves. Learn from history folks.
Piss us off and see what happens. Wake up the sleeping tiger. Find out first hand what the sleeping tiger is all about.
We are the greatest country in the world and by Gods grace and mercy we will continue to be so.
You and I and all those who served at that particular time are part of that. All that served before or after represent the same.
 
Inept said:
My first time (I was only 19 you know) the woman asked me, "Yu wan ga?" Huh? She repeated it, "Yu wan ga?" I had no idea what she was asking me. So then she asked me, "Yu wan boy?" Oooops! I opted for the "ga". This is a mixed forum so I'll let you figure out what happened next.
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rbtvgo said:
gotta laugh..........we didn't know a d__n thing when we were young did we?
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That's right, not a d_n thing. I went in for the steam and hot shower. I don't remember if I was aware of the massage services or not ..... but I definitely knew nothing about any "happy ending", as it's called today. I was a "cherry boy" for sure when I walked into that place in Nha Trang.
 
I was in the Navy from 1958 to 1962 - a safe time to be in the Navy - never thought of myself as a vet but I do take advantage of tax credits. I served on the USS Allagash (AO-97). Someone mentioned firing an M-1. My first experience with guns in the Navy in boot camp. With a 22. The procedure was to fire from a prone position - lean forward, fire, pull back the bolt, drew back. I drew back before drawing back the bolt (never pointed at anything but the target) and got immediately disqualified. That had no consequence for my career. The other guys got to fire a second shot - only difference. I did experience a moment of firearms training aboard ship.

We were called to the stern where a gunners mate had us take turns firing a 45. He handed us a loaded pistol, told us to pick a spot in the ocean, aim at it, fire at it. I am sure that I hit the ocean. When I got to be a petty officer I got to stand watch when in port overseas. I was require to carry a 45 (famous 1911). It was unloaded, with a magazine in a case on the holster belt. I'm not sure I knew how to load the gun or chamber a round. And I was given no instruction about under what circumstances I should use it. Fortunately, I never had to and fortunately my Navy "career' as a Radar man never required me to be adept with firearms.
 
rbtvgo said:
what do they say? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Seems like yesterday, doesn't it?
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Years ago I had another Vet tell me that we reflect on our military days but it might not be that we are reflecting upon but more so on our youth because though an experience it wasn't fun . .
 
NotCompSavy said:
Years ago I had another Vet tell me that we reflect on our military days but it might not be that we are reflecting upon but more so on our youth because though an experience it wasn't fun . .
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I disagree. It wasn't fun. But it was exciting and different. It was our youth in all it's manifestations. Do you really think that the boys in wwII thought any differnt. They didn't know, they were young like us. Like us, it changed them. That is the truth. Times may change but the situation is still the same. You join, you serve, you experienced. You are never the same again.
Do you really want to discard that. It is part of what you are, who you are . You were young, you served, you remember. That's you! just like the rest of us.
 
I served in the Marines from 1976 to 1979. I sure do consider myself a veteran. Did not see combat as their were no war's going on. If you join the military you contractually are putting your life on the line.
if Uncle Sam needs you to do so.
 

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