Would you want to visit old duty stations, bases, etc?

The only base I want to go back to is MCRD, where I took boot training, not interested in going back to Vietnam, was invitied a couple years ago, turned that down.
 
My last post prior to discharge was a small radar site at Bucks Harbor Maine, closet town was Machias, Maine. 74 military personnel no civilians. I have gone back and visited one time about 55 years ago.
 

Nope. Some of them harbor painful memories for me. Others are located in states/areas that aren't worth the drive.
 
Most of my tour I was stationed at Travis AFB, and I might like to check out the flight line to see what new aircraft they are using now, but other than that, barracks are barracks, and hospital, mess hall, etc... really don't interest me that much.
 
I do visit Quantico from time to time, but I would like to tour Parris Island again just to check out the changes. I also visit Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day for the ceremony. I have friends from Vietnam buried there and I make sure to visit their grave,
 
My last duty station, Rota Spain, would be interesting to visit. I believe it has changed a great deal. I didn’t live on base for most of my tour, so I’d also like to see my old home town of Puerto De Santa Maria. Had I stayed in the Navy I might well have retired there, or in one of the nearby beach towns.
 
I think it is all about reconnecting with our past. Good or bad, when you get older you start to survey your past. What if! or if I had done this!
At our ages we are all flooded with the same kind of thoughts. Not a bad thing but disturbing. It's not about who we are. It's about who we were.
Did it matter? Did we do the right thing? We are all in the same boat. Both good and bad.
I have asked the Lord, thru prayer, the same questions about my life. All He says is that I should continue to search. I suppose in a way that that is the right answer. There are many decisions that I made that I regret. There were many that were right. I did my best. Where does that leave me??
Good or Bad..................?
 
I was a Corpsman, stationed at the hospital EENT clinic in GTMO, Cuba.(70-72) I saw a video of the base as it is now. Surprisingly most of it is the same, but now with McDonalds and a lot more family housing. Since I spent two years, working within the walls of that clinic, I think it would be cool to see it , again- for a minute.
 
This is a fascinating thread-I was a volunteer at a Vet Center in 1983 and it changed my entire life.
The PTSD Vietnam combat Rap group vets voted me into their meetings. I also was on a very large veterans web site for about 25 years, helping vets and their survivors get THEIR deserved compensation from the VA, not always a vet friendly entity but that site is not what it used to be.

I know many Vietnam vets who have gone back to Vietnam. One went 5 times.My husband (USMC)also thought about that many times, but with 100% PTSD and AO disabilities he didn't quite really want to go-

I think some Vietnam vets who do go back are seeking what they left there- their Innocence, returning for their deceased buddies, and the shock of the devastation of Agent Orange..... and a return back to the 'World,' if they go to Vietnam, that is totally unlike what they returned to during the War , with it's anti Vietnam vet protests.

I know vets who said as soon as they got off the planes in USA
after their Deros, they wanted to go back -they felt the whole country had become dinky dau!

My daughter ,as a SEA tourist, was in the Cu Chi tunnels, a few years ago.
 
I value the service of All of you veterans, more than I can ever say.

Dont know if this map can be enlarged for you-it has been highly helpful to me ,as a volunteer veteran advocate-over the years because, no matter that you gave Honorable Service, sometimes the VA would question vets I helped to prove they were in Combat in Vietnam, and they needed to know what place they were in when it occurred.

It is in Vietnamese but someone I know could translate it if needed. Vietnam Map.jpgMonkey Mountain, the Purple River etc,,had been Americanized but most Vietnam vets know that ,for example, HUE is pronounced waaay- I could talk all day about Vietnam.
 
I would love to go back to Dunoon Scotland, where I was able to ride on 2 nuclear subs. as well as getting involved with sailing in the lochs.
 
I would love to go back to all the places I was stationed at during my Navy days but the Government has shut them all down in the meantime! Regrettably we don't believe in a strong defense force in Canada any more. We make token contributions to NATO because it is required of us but heaven (The U.S.) help us if we are ever attacked! :(
 

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