Happy Veteran's Day, Brothers and Sisters...

Hans. I had a gal waiting on me at that ANG base in Mass. I just didn't know it. There was some PDA. Yes, it was nice to be back in the good ole US.

I missed this one!  I hope that everyone enjoyed Veteran's Day.  Lonestar played here and I really have to give those guys a pat on the back.  After the show, they stayed and took pictures and signed autographs until the last Joe.  They spent more time there than their 90 min show. 

The forums are one of my favorite places during the patriotic holidays.  There is no place like it when it comes to pride in our country.  To my brothers-in-arms, I am proud to stand by you.  To everyone else, thank you for the year round support that you all demonstrate throughout the year.

Yeah, there was a big crowd of family members waiting for us too.. I didn't have anyone at that time, so I kinda just wandered by everyone, headed for the hangar to drop m' gear for the truck to take back to the barracks... I kinda looked like "Gunny Highway" did in "Heartbreak Ridge", I guess... 'Cept the ex-wife wasn't there.. (Whew!.. Dodged one last bullet there)

It was ok...  I didn't care that no one was waiting for me at the airfield...  I had an on-again-off-again girlfriend at the time, and we we were "off" at that time, but got "on" again (for a few weeks) after I got back to the bar I hung out in a couple days later, lol....  Heh.. Damn woman taped the whole war... Didn't know it, but she'd been recording CNN for the 5 months I was gone, lol... It was like, "Oh, ok.. That's what we were doing and where we were doing it."  ...

Thanks Hans.

I was in the fist Gulf War and it felt good upon return to be appreciated. I remember we stopped off in Massachusetts after it was all over. There was a hanger full of people there cheering and greeting us, giving us sodas, food, even baseball caps. I'll never forget that. Nor will I forget coming face to face with a Vietnam grunt in his old uniform, ribbons, etc. and he told me "welcome back, thanks for your service" I remember I told him how much I appreciated it and that he deserved a welcome back and that this was for him too, for paving the way. It was pretty powerful. I go to a veterans day ceremony in my home town every year in my old uniform and will always be proud to be an American and proud to have served.

To all of you who served, and are serving: Salute!

Many thanks for your service.

I noticed that a number of Americans have taken up the poppy for Veteran's Day, Remembrance Day in Canada:

I thought I would pass this on:

"In Flanders Fields"

By John MCrae, -Ypres, May 13, 1915

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That marks our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below

We are the Dead.  Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up the quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

agentg

Shellback:

 What ever the reason i am glad for our troops that they get the reconition they deserve .................but hippies still disgust me .

 

Hare Krishnas in San Diego, LA, and St Louis.

Yuk

G

Airplane... Robert Stack wades thru them like a hot knife thru butter...

For those who want to partake in the Vets GB, here is the link to the feeler...

/forums/t/142619.aspx

It's here in the General Modeling Discussion

Shellback

stikpusher:

OK, I have posted a feeler thread for a new Veterans GB...

 

Ok, i'll go take a look Stik .................

Stik , i did'nt see it in G.B.'s ...........................?

stikpusher

OK, I have posted a feeler thread for a new Veterans GB...

Ok, i'll go take a look Stik .................

About the Viet Nam vets................It wasnt that i was expecting much as far as a welcome back from the people of this country when i came back after being gone for 2 1/2 yrs , especially since we came back to Hunters Point which is just outside of San Farncico , what with S.F. being the center of the hippy movement and them being in the same circle as the anti war group from across the bay at Berkely . I heard a few comments when i went to the airport in my uniform to fly home , enough to convince me that i would not wear my uniform amongst the public while off base . I put my resentment of the anti war hippy bunch away in the back of my mind and found a good job that gave me credit for time served . But it seems that now when i look back at the general feeling of the u.s. public towards the Vietnam  Vets in the 60s' and 70's and how a lot of those ex hippies are parents now and go all out to "DISPLAY" their so called support for the present day troops it makes me wounder just how deep is their support ...or is the 'support' merely a public display for the benefit of their peers and making themselves feel all warm and wonderful inside ?  What ever the reason i am glad for our troops that they get the reconition they deserve .................but hippies still disgust me .

OK, I have posted a feeler thread for a new Veterans GB...

Stik ..............................i told myself i wasnt going to get into another G.B. .............................well i said that after i joined the "Panzer Jaeger GB " of Erics and then i went ahead and joined "Pz. III" and "Blitz France" ...............so what the heck , i'll join in on the one also .......Sounds good .

Well gents, it seems like we have a bit of interest among the crowd of geezers who would hang out at the bar and swap stories of herioc and not so heroic deeds in uniform. So I will ramrod a Vets GB here for the folks at the "bar". Say a 6 month build kicking off ASAP and ending on Memorial Day in May 2012 (the last Monday in May for those who use "U" in words like colours and honour) I only am running the Korean War GB right now and that place is self sustaining at this point with our repeat offenders keeping up a staggering amount of work in my view. I do want to run another one about the time I have projected for this one to end so it would fit perfectly.

Who volunteers to join this "merry little band"?

Hans, thats pretty much how things had been here until 2003. Of course, we hadn't had the negative feelings i think you guys suffered from after Vietnam. It was more an impression of not giving a damn. Even though of course it wasn't a real peace for us, Ulster, Bonia etc, those weren't the sort of wars that get people fired up and really supporting our troops. the poppy apeal had been in decline. ewhat they don't realise of course is that its not just during or straight after a war that troops need support.

I was going to enter the last Vets GB but wasn't able to for one reason or another. And i think is another GB i am going to have to try my best to stay out of as i just ain't able to enter any new ones for a while. But certainbly keep my fingures crossed for it, if it does get off the ground.

Stik, you say that it wasn't until the first Gulf War that it became cool to support the troops. Did that support stay in the years between than and 9/11.

I won't speak for Stik, but my experience after I returned from ODS was that, once the hoopla died down, it was more or less a "neutral" thing... I mean, there was certainly more support for the Armed Forces, and it was definately better in communities that surrounded military posts, at least the ones I lived in... (I lived off-post with my family at this time, rather than in post housing) 

But the "fervor" that existed immediately after ODS wasn't there, even though troops were still being deployed to the region, plus the problems in Eastern Europe were requiring a pretty massive US Military presence, albeit nowhere near the levels of ODS. 

The US was drawing-down militarily,  the focus shifted to training to fight two low-intensity wars, and troop levels were being cut... Add to that, funding dried up for service schools, training ammo and fuel (I was actually afraid that were going to see a return to the Carter Years where we yelled "BANG!" in the motor park instead having having howitzer ammo to go to the field with), but on the flip-side, the Army placed a greater reliance on the Army Reserve and especially the Army National Guard (The Guard has Combat Arms units, the USAR was mostly Combat Support and Combat Service Support).  Guard units were rotating into Bosnia and into Kuwait, and the Do More With Less" mentality was DoD-wide (Except for the USAF "Fighter Mafia".)...

But, we weren't bleeding much in Eastern Europe, Scott O'Grady's shoot-down and rescue was the only "real thing" that happened, so there was no "war" as far as the American Public knew, and the support for military families died away until after that September Tuesday in 2001....

Overall, things were pretty "normal", and it was still "cool" to be a Servicemember, except in a few places where them old hippies (now with tenure) fired up their 13th-graders in the Che t-shirts enough to get five or six of them outside the gate to chant "No Blood for Oil!" when we were dressed in DCUs and they thought we were going to the Middle East instead of the NTC at Ft. Irwin, CA...

 As for a "Veteran's GB", I'm in, even though I joined the last one and never even got started.. I just had too much on the plate then..  I'd certainly like another shot...

It'd give me an excuse to build a diorama about a Veteran I'm certainly interested in...

Me...

Hoo-ah!  I would!

kbuzz01

Is 77 old enough!? 

Ken

55th (+1) anniversary of your 21st B-day

Bish, very much agreed about your last line...

So do I take it we have folks here interested in doing a new Veterans Group Build?

Stik, you say that it wasn't until the first Gulf War that it became cool to support the troops. Did that support stay in the years between than and 9/11. I think we are still playing catch up in the way we support the troops. I went on excersise to calf a few years back. On the way we had an over night stop, i don't recall where. I was standing outside the hotel in my uniform when an elderly lady walked past, tapped me on the shoulder, and thanked me for my service. I was stunned. She must of known i wasn't a US service man, and it just touched me that she would do that. Then on top of that, when we went to sea World san diego, we got in for free and during the killer whale show, that got all service men, US and Foreign, to stand up and they appaluded us. We ain't even close to that.

And i will be interested to see what happens after Afghan, and see how long the support lasts. At the end of the day, i really don't care what the rest think, there will always be some out there who supprot us no matter what, and we know who they are. The rest can go to hell.

Is 77 old enough!? 

Ken

Got one someplace ................havent seen it in a few . G.B. idea sounds good though Stik .

There was one going on here a couple years back but it sort of fizzled. My HMMWV is at about 98.5% done. Just needs bumper codes and weathering. We can always start a new one though... 

Old enough is for anyone with a DD-214 or their foreign equivelant... (and those who still have their hides on the line)

Stik , an "old veterans GB" sounds interesting ..................................how old would be old enough ?

As soon as I read the beginning of your last post Bish, I thought of that poem. Mr Kipling got it exactly right. I do love his work. When I first enlisted nearly 30 years ago, it was in a crossover point. In some areas of the country I could be in uniform and respected for serving. In others, while there was no open jeering, the looks said enough. The post Vietnam feelings still ran deep. It was not until the 1st Gulf War that it nationally became "cool" again to openly support the troops. There are plenty 'fair weather' patriots here too though. We are indeed two peoples seperated by a common language Bish.

Hans, I did much thinking on our post last night about " 'Happy' Veterans Day" and will have to approach it with a new outlook next year. Although I must admit to having a wonderful V Day with my family, the only time the day itself crossed my mind was when I was helping my neighbor put up his flag and he mentioned my veterans status.

How about that old Veterans GB here eh?

agentg

Bish:

Thanks stik. I knew you had another day earlier in the year. We now also have armed forces day which is in June. But that a very recent thing mainly to remember those currently serving.

 

I find the "new" attitude toward  the armed forces quite refreshing. As a VN vet, albeit very late in the conflict, I saw first hand the negativity of that era.

We all (countries, people, etc.) seem to be rediscovering the fact that there's a reason we are free.

G

Persoanlly,  when it comes to the UK at least,i find it rather cynical. When theres no war in the headlines, we are ignored and forgotten. Then, all of a sudden, we are heroes. The public just like to jump on our backs and use us as a way to show how patriotic they are and to base the goverment. Prior to 2003, most people in the piblic couldn't give a monkeys. The exceptions being those with family in the forces, and those interested in all things military. 6 months to a year after pulling out of Afghan, it will be back to the good old days.

I often think of Kiplings Poem, Tommy Aitkins.

http://faxmentis.org/html/kipling.html

I feel its as relevant now as it was in 1889.

An' this Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet this Tommy sees!

Donald Raleigh Nichols. June 26, 1920 - February 14, 2011.

Enlisted 12/8/41, honorably discharged September 24, 1945.

Graduated USAAF Technical School Command, served as Crew Chief for three aircraft in the 414 Squadron, Night Fighters, 12th Air Force.

Two bronze stars and a Presidential Citation for the Squadron.

He was a valiant warrior and will be missed. A Full Military Honors service was given at his eventual inurnment site, with the ashes of his wife of 48 years, on November 4th.

His loving daughter Ms. Bondo.

When he ever is finally inurned in the niche is a question that only his son, my brother-in-law, can answer as he has the cremains in his hall in a briefcase.

Bish

Thanks stik. I knew you had another day earlier in the year. We now also have armed forces day which is in June. But that a very recent thing mainly to remember those currently serving.

We too have Armed Forces Day, Bush...  Saturday, May 19th, 2012 is the next one.. It's always observed on the third Saturday in May, so as not to interfere with a duty day and allow as many GIs as possible to enjoy the day and actually get out and visit other units, learn what they do, etc... 

U.S. Military Posts also "open the gates" to the public (well, MOST of them), and we put on demonstrations of various mission-types, from an Infantry squad attacking and silencing a machinegun, to vertical insertions, with fast-roping and rappeling from helos, dust-offs, tanks and IFVs tearing hell outta the grass on the parade field while attack helos flyoverhead at 50 feet with all kinds of booms and bangs going on, and put aircraft and vehicles on display, a sort of "Open House" with a battle and small airshow thrown in for free... Plenty of pyro involved too, lol..

My favorite was always an NBC Recon demonstration, since I got to build and set off a nuke simulator (55 gallons of napalm, a WP grenade or trip-flare for ignition, and add a four pounds of C-4  under the drum for a "plunger" effect on the bottom of the drum and to ensure maximum expansion and height of a black mushroom-cloud)... 

It's Richard-Hardening...

Thank you, Hans, and all my fellow vets!!    Proud to hang the flag today.

Ken

Well said Hans....lest we forget

Thanks Hans and all my fellow Vets a big thanks as well!