Posted on 06/15/2013 2:32:42 AM PDT by NKP_Vet
Heh, heh, I should point out I’m a retired CW4 & was commissioned before that (aviation).
The joke is being called “sir” in my civvies & wondering “How did they know I was an officer?” The neat part is showing my retired ID at the gate & hearing “Have a great day, Chief!”.
My Dad was assigned to the Pentagon twice - both following field command; first as a battalion, then as a brigade commander.
In 1972 Army Magazine published an article called “Dear Army”, in the form of a letter to the Army as if it was a person, written by a new colonel just returning from Vietnam. You thought you were rewarding us by sending us to the Pentagon, it began. Then a litany of gripes including the obvious: how a former brigade commander feels when he’s suddenly one colonel in a sea of colonels at OSD. Then the high cost of living in northern VA, officers moonlighting to make ends meet, long commutes.
But what floored me (I had just returned from Vietnam as well; Huey driver) was the description of one officer being assigned the additional duty of every morning going down the hall of his division with Windex & paper towels, and cleaning the spit off the chain of command photos!
Dad always spoke well of his service in DCSPER because he was helping both soldiers and the implementation of the Vietnam era G.I. bill (I went to grad school on it). His superiors had the distasteful task of going to testify before Congressional committees, including the loathsome Sen. Kennedy.
After Dad passed away, Mom & I were cataloguing his business suits for donation. Business suits!!? Yes, son, whenever your father accompanied his boss (LTG, USAF) to the White House to brief President Lyndon Johnson, the officers were ordered to report in civilian clothes.
This White House practice has been imposed by subsequent Democratic administrations. Something about general officers with their stars & decorations being `intimidating’ toward sensitive liberal WH staffers, or else the latter hate the military so much they persuaded POTUS to impose the civvies-only rule. The same WH that hands canape trays to majors in dress blues & then orders them to feed the distinguished guests.
Sorry to run on. Your insights appreciated, and thank you for your service.
Keep the faith, brother. We served to protect our friends, our family, and our brothers and sisters in arms. We also pledged to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. The fact that many of our fellow citizens don’t venerate the Constitution doesn’t make our service any less valuable. I do have the same feelings you do at times, but then I snap out of it and go about my business because that is what I have to do. That is all any of us can do.
Your excellent writing is one of the best reasons for this forum.
Thanks for the compliment. I am flattered to be thought of that way by any Freeper, given some of the talent around here.
The point I was trying to make is, I am just an ordinary, run of the mill guy. I don’t think my experiences in the service were that far off what hundreds of thousands of peacetime servicemen like myself have seen over the years.
It is a real opportunity, to serve. And it is open to all who want to serve.
I am saddened by what I see with the emphasis on political correctness on all fronts from open homosexual advocacy to the attempts to shoehorn women into combat roles they are not suitable for, even it it IS what they want. (note I am not comparing the two, as I feel that women should be encouraged to serve in many roles, just not combat, and open homosexuals shouldn’t be allowed to serve at all)
I don’t believe in the draft unless we are in all-out, nationally mobilized warfare, and we must do it out of necessity. I know that the vast majority of men who were drafted served well, and many served with very high distinction, but in peacetime, I don’t want draftees in there.
When someone was griping when I was in, the admonition “Hey, you asked for this” was enough to shut nearly everyone up!
That, sir, is one of the best posts I’ve ever seen around here.
Thank you for securing liberty.
Coming from you, EV, that is high praise indeed. Thank YOU.
First, from being in the Navy, I specifically miss flight operations and being on the open sea.
Secondly, I miss wanting to be home so badly I could taste it.
I know that second one sounds kind of odd, but I remember reading an account from a Vietnam veteran who said (and I paraphrase): "I hated that God-forsaken place. But sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I could be back there again, just to feel once more how much I wanted to come home again."
I never served in combat, but that really hit home for me, and I could understand it completely. Home meant something special, and you wanted it with a deep, physical want, almost like wanting food.
I do miss that.
It is something those of us who have never done it can fully understand in some respects, but from veterans, sometimes that is all you hear.
God bless you guys.
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