Veterans & Active Duty

[johan_steele]

I thought it might be nice to have a thead asking who has/is serving.

I was USAF for just shy of 7 years. Autotrack Radar, ATC Radar Maint, and Finnaly CSSP... aka Chaplain assistant.

In advance I take my hat off to all veterans and those on Active Duty. Thank You.

[gunny]

I was active duty in the USMC from 86 to 92 then served 8 years in the USMCR - fourteen years all together. I was in the infantry everything from rifleman to team leader - squad leader - guide - plt. sgt. and a plt. commander int he reserve.

Jamie

[larry_cockerham]

My thanks to you all. I was neglected by the draft lottery in 1969.

[scone]

I have never severed but my father did 7th Armored cav was in Germany for a bit (1959-1960) i believe was his term of service.

great uncle was on a liberty Ship in WW2

2nd great uncle served in WW1

I had relatives in American Rev. war of 1812, mexican war, WBTS, Spanish American war.

I salute you all and thank you for your service

Hope no one minds my contribution. Like Steven, I have not served. I was considered 4 F when I tried to enlist. Looking back now I realize I’d have made an awfully bad soldier. I am too resistant to being told what to do. Also the fact I come from a military family has in recent years led me to believe we’d done our share. Even those who did not join. And as all my siblings can tell you, whether we served or not we did pay a certain price. We had to live with the loss of loved ones, as well as live with those who made it back. No easy chore. My father shot two holes through the ceiling one night when I was 6 or 7. Blew a TV to smithereens. (Ok I’m with him on that one, except I was watching it at the time) Had a habit of throwing his bayonet etc I can attest I do not think the man slept an entire night in all the time I knew him. Adventures sometimes never end.

My hat is off to him, my family and to all those who serve or served. Especially draftees.



This is by no means everyone. Just by Tennessee standards, the immediate family.

Grandfather, Union Corporal, 28th KY Vet Vol.

Uncle, MIA during Battle of Loos in WWI.

Uncle, 4 years, WWI, spent many nights crawling the mud of Loo’s no man’s land turning over corpses looking for his brother.

Uncle, 12 years, Spanish-American war, Philippines, Mexico

Cousin, ID: 34328718, Killed in Italy during WWII

Cousin, KIA in Viet Nam

Father, 23 years retied, 3 wars. WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, 2 Bronze Stars, Purple Heart,

Presidential Unit Citation. Distinguished Unit Badge, 4 Campaign Clusters, Etc, Etc, Etc

Brother, 16 years, Navy, Naval Reserve, National Guard

Brother, 4 years, Navy

Brother 4 years, Marine, wounded in Viet Nam, addicted to morphine.

Brother 4 years, Army, Viet Nam

A nod to my ma. Who served in her way as a child trying to survive during the blitz. Who, for 40 years, had blocked out the memory of a German fighter strafing her. Not remembering it until 3 days after my father died, when her sister said the absolutely hilarious and memorable statement "Of course Dad hit you, you silly git! He was knocking you off the path, they were shooting at you!"

One just has to laugh.....so many chances for me to have never have existed.

[rivrrat]

5x Great Grandfather Sgt. 9th Penn. Line Revolutionary War, Valley Forge Wounded 2x.
GG Uncle 5th Sgt. Co. B, 35th Ill. Vol. Inf. Pea Ridge, Corunth, Iuka, KIA Chickmaugha.
G Grandfather Corp. 3rd. Mo. Vol. Cav. (US) Spent the war chasing partisan rangers in SE Mo. and NE Ar.
Father Colonel Med. Corps US Army. Commanded a hospital with the 5th AAF Pacific Theater WWII. Later Division Surgeon 102d Inf. (Ozark Division) USAR.
Brother, FTC USNR USS Whitfield County LST 1169 Mobile Riverine Force Mekong Delta 1968-9
Self, FTG3 USNR, USS Whitfiled County LST 1169 Mobile Riverine Force Mekong Delta 1969, USS Iwo Jima LPH3 1970 Apolo 13 Recovery.
Brother Captian USAR Jag Corps 82 Airborne Div. 1976-80.
Sister Captian USA Signal Corps, Adujant Lance Missle Batalion Fort Sill Ok. 1978-82.
Nephew DC2 United States Navy.

[hoosier]

I am officially a veteran, though my military service was not exactly heroic.

I was willing to serve, but I had a medical problem that wouldn't let me. I joined the US Army in June 1970. Went on sick call the first day of basic training. The docs looked at my problem, realized that I should never have been inducted in the first place, and put me on the list for a medical discharge.

Army efficiency being what it has always been, I didn't actually get discharged until late August. In the meantime, I served as an assistant to the company clerk of what would have been my basic training company.

I never fired a weapon in anger, but if I do say so myself, I did one heck of a job fixing the drill sergeants' typewriters when they broke down.

Hooser,

It is well known the most valuable piece of equipment in the military is the typewriter.

YMOS
tommy

[ole]

Nothing here either. My family were farmers. GGfather was 50 and farming frontier Minnesota when the CW broke out. Grandfather had a new wife and babies when the Spanish American War burped across history. Dad was too young for WWI and had 5 kids and a farm when WWII started. Lost a cousin in Korea. Had another drafted into the marines. Oldest brother did his 3 years after that. Older brother spent 10 years in the reserves. Skipped me (student deferment on the first call, wife and children on the second). Younger brother spent about 35 years, including 2 turns in Nam. Retired recently and is now doing consulting work for the outfit that retired him. A niece and her husband returning this summer from a rotation in Korea. Not very warlike.

Like Tommy, they would have shot me before basic was over. The navy wanted to make my son a nuclear physicist, but he is worse with orders than I am so steered clear.

[larry_cockerham]

I'm a descendant of William the Conqueror and an eighth cousin of George Washington. I had about 15 folks who gave me genes that fought in the revolution and six in the civil war including one that spent two years with the ANV before joining Stoneman's 3rd North Carolina in Tennessee. My Dad spent three years in North Africa and Italy working on bombers. As a couple of you have stated, I would have never made it through Ft. Jackson's conditioning process. The sergeant I spoke to after the physical at the corner of Cabarrus and Hargett in 1966 said I was a little pudgy, but that they could correct that in about three weeks. I very respectfully declined his offer, went back to class and got my academic act more or less together. Vietnam at the time was not a very popular fight. Too much manipulation by the administration just as in the civil war. Our freedom today is none the less valuable however than it has ever been. I salute those of you in uniform and bid you the best of luck.