Could it ever really feel real?

[Pvt.A.Wells]

Neither were there any awards in so called peacetime, when under fire while "training" other peoples military. nuff said.

 

[Bob Owen]

Don't feel too bad, Not everyone who "Saw The Elephant" got a CIB. Medics, MPs, Engineers, Even chaplains saw serious action in Iraq and Afghanistan and never were awarded a CIB. We have the good old overawarded CAB for that.....

I believe any of our troops who experience combat first hand should be recognized by some combat badge to designate them on their uniform.

 

[Samuel.Sohm]

I believe any of our troops who experience combat first hand should be recognized by some combat badge to designate them on their uniform.

I totally agree with you. I wear my CAB proudly, but I have also heard of some troops who did not necessarily fulfill the requirements of the Badge (IMO) and therefore (IMO) should not have qualified for it. We get a combat patch for going to war (I wear the 173rd ABCT most of the time), it is the persons who go above and beyond the regular "combat" experiences that should (again IMO) qualify for a combat badge. That is just me though, and I am not a policy maker.

 

[Samuel.Sohm]

Neither were there any awards in so called peacetime, when under fire while "training" other peoples military. nuff said.

One of the interesting things about that is that Infantrymen who pass the EIB (Expert Infantrymens Badge) testing process are awarded an EIB regardless of the country being at peace or war. Medics are also awarded the EFMB (Expert Field Medical Badge) in the same way. Cavalrymen/personnel assigned to a Cav unit go on a "Spur Ride" and earn the right to wear Silver Spurs at certain functions for the Cav. Everyone else is pretty much out of luck though. These are all awards that are bestowed in peacetime though.

 

[oldpete63]

Even though I was an Infantry Officer, I wasn't awarded the CIB which is reserved for infantrymen for ground combat. I was awarded two DFC's, Bronze Star, sixteen Airmedals (one with "V" device) for aerial combat. These were awarded for specific events. Now the aviators who fly in combat get the Combat Aviator's Badge. Believe me, I would rather be up in the air than on the ground. Those ground pounders had my total respect and all the aerial weaponry that we could cover their butts with. I actually saw several elephants in the jungles of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

And I heard about the "pink elephants" (the ones that rolled in the red mud)

 

[Bob Owen]

And I heard about the "pink elephants" (the ones that rolled in the red mud)

Saw them also!

 

[Bob Owen]

I totally agree with you. I wear my CAB proudly, but I have also heard of some troops who did not necessarily fulfill the requirements of the Badge (IMO) and therefore (IMO) should not have qualified for it. We get a combat patch for going to war (I wear the 173rd ABCT most of the time), it is the persons who go above and beyond the regular "combat" experiences that should (again IMO) qualify for a combat badge. That is just me though, and I am not a policy maker.

I covered many times the 173rd ACBT in Vietnam and fired many a rocket onto Hill 882 while staging out of Dak To. Was not station there during the major battle of Dak To, but the Hill 882 was always a problem for us.

 

[Samuel.Sohm]

I covered many times the 173rd ACBT in Vietnam and fired many a rocket onto Hill 882 while staging out of Dak To. Was not station there during the major battle of Dak To, but the Hill 882 was always a problem for us.View attachment 4790

Well i am sure the boys appreciated the cover. Those were bad days. I always where my combat patch with pride on Carson, but most people ask me if it's national guard

 

[Bob Owen]

Well i am sure the boys appreciated the cover. Those were bad days. I always where my combat patch with pride on Carson, but most people ask me if it's national guard

Well kiss my butt!! Forgive them for they no not of what they speak!

 

[Samuel.Sohm]

Well kiss my butt!! Forgive them for they no not of what they speak!

LOL these are soldiers now, and the 173rd is a rather obscure unit being stationed in Vicenza and all. But it is one of the most deployed brigades in the Army and outside of Bragg it is not well known....

 

[Bob Owen]

My combat patch.

 

[oldpete63]

My combat patch.View attachment 4793

 

[matthew mckeon]

The recent documentary "Restrapo" was about a unit of the 173rd in Afghanistan.

An old rebel was asked to give the "rebel yell" at a veterans' meeting. He give a high pitched yip yip yip, but then smiled and said, you really can't give a proper rebel yell, with a belly full of grub, a head of white hair and a mouth full of false teeth. It could only be given properly at a dead run straight at the enemy. So I guess you can never really "feel what its like" even if you're very thorough.

I don't reenact, but sometimes I see an object, and for a minute it strikes me vividly. I handled a slavecollar once: a heavy, vicious looking thing with spikes, and when I felt the weight, I experienced a genuine moment of horror and disgust. But I don't think for a second I really understood the life of a slave.

Once in Orlando, Florida of all places, I was attending a workshop on the resources the United States Holocaust Museum could offer educators. This is a depressing subject, and with a hotel ballroom full of people you could hear a pin drop. The presenter said she would pass around some photographs, and I thought, no, no, no I'm not doing any atrocity surfing today. But they weren't of bodies, but objects: a primitive computer, a boxcar, a milkcan used to cache ghetto records. One was a big bucket of washers, you know, like for nuts and bolts. What was this? And then it hit me, really hard. Not washers. It was a bucket of wedding rings.

A wedding ring is an item you only see one at a time. To see them heaped up was so disturbing I'll never forgotten it. But I don't think I have any special insight about surviving the Holocaust.

 

[Bob Owen]

View attachment 4794

I can vouch for An Khe and Pleiku!

 

[Dave Hull]

Well i am sure the boys appreciated the cover. Those were bad days. I always where my combat patch with pride on Carson, but most people ask me if it's national guard

The Baby Brigade as a guard unit, that is rich. My youngest son relieved the 173rd in Nuristan, where fighting as infantrymen for 15 months, he and his Cav buddies earned the CAB. Really should have been a CIB, since they had no vehicles. For the non Army sorts, this one counts as well. My Gyrine son has this with three palms

 

[Glorybound]

The Baby Brigade as a guard unit, that is rich. My youngest son relieved the 173rd in Nuristan, where fighting as infantrymen for 15 months, he and his Cav buddies earned the CAB. Really should have been a CIB, since they had no vehicles. For the non Army sorts, this one counts as well. My Gyrine son has this with three palms

Dave, what is the significance of the three palms?

 

[Dave Hull]

The recent documentary "Restrapo" was about a unit of the 173rd in Afghanistan.

An old rebel was asked to give the "rebel yell" at a veterans' meeting. He give a high pitched yip yip yip, but then smiled and said, you really can't give a proper rebel yell, with a belly full of grub, a head of white hair and a mouth full of false teeth. It could only be given properly at a dead run straight at the enemy. So I guess you can never really "feel what its like" even if you're very thorough.

I don't reenact, but sometimes I see an object, and for a minute it strikes me vividly. I handled a slavecollar once: a heavy, vicious looking thing with spikes, and when I felt the weight, I experienced a genuine moment of horror and disgust. But I don't think for a second I really understood the life of a slave.

Once in Orlando, Florida of all places, I was attending a workshop on the resources the United States Holocaust Museum could offer educators. This is a depressing subject, and with a hotel ballroom full of people you could hear a pin drop. The presenter said she would pass around some photographs, and I thought, no, no, no I'm not doing any atrocity surfing today. But they weren't of bodies, but objects: a primitive computer, a boxcar, a milkcan used to cache ghetto records. One was a big bucket of washers, you know, like for nuts and bolts. What was this? And then it hit me, really hard. Not washers. It was a bucket of wedding rings.

A wedding ring is an item you only see one at a time. To see them heaped up was so disturbing I'll never forgotten it. But I don't think I have any special insight about surviving the Holocaust.

My oldest son had a similar experience, but first hand. When they went into Nasariyah, they hit the Police station and found, what they thought was tons of money, stacked in three stacks of 4'x4'x4'. They all started whooping it up, until they actually got a look at what was in the big stacks; ID cards. At the time in Iraq, anyone caught on the street without their ID could be shot on sight. After going through the small cells, with meat hooks in the ceilings, metal spring beds with car batteries and jumper cables attached and a host of grisly implements of the torture trade stacked in heaps, they new what was what. They never did find the people or the bodies. The locals claimed the site had be in use for years and folks who went in were never seen again.

I had an uncle who was part of the liberation of Dachau. He always told the same story, until his death in 1996; They walked through the gate, the last man kicked the gate shut and killed every German they could get their hands on. Here is a Colonel's report on the actions. http://www.45thinfantrydivision.com/index14.htm

 

[Dave Hull]

Dave, what is the significance of the three palms?

Second, third and fourth award

 

[Dave Hull]

Talking about the CIB, most folks do not know that since Vietnam, Infantrymen who have fought in multiple combat tours anywhere can only be awarded the CIB and not the CIB with four stars for say, Grenada, Somalia, Panama, Gulf War 1 &2 and Afghanistan.

 

[Samuel.Sohm]

Talking about the CIB, most folks do not know that since Vietnam, Infantrymen who have fought in multiple combat tours anywhere can only be awarded the CIB and not the CIB with four stars for say, Grenada, Somalia, Panama, Gulf War 1 &2 and Afghanistan.

Thats a good point. I called out a guy in Hinesville georgia who was wearing a CIB with 2 stars on it. The Infantry mueseum has a pretty comprehensive list of the reciepients of the CIB (3rd Award) and there aren't too many.