Jason closes his journal... Thanks!! I love you!!

[Henrietta23]

Thank you, both of you.

 

[dacjohns]

It sounds like Ramos could be the same guy. The Ramos I knew would have been a lieutenant.

Glad you survived. Did you retire or get out before 20?


Henrietta, our pleasure.

 

[murphysranch]

Double thank you, from a military brat. We moved every 2 - 3 years, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

My Dad retired in 1973 from the Air Force after 30 years. He was in the Army Air Corp as a college student, then when done with the Korean War, returned to college. He had two choices - become a Methodist minister or rejoin the AF. He also was in the Vietnam War for 18 months stationed at CCK AFB in Taiwan. He was a squadron commander. He lost more men to drugs than planes being shot down tho.

 

[modern_pioneer]

I had a mae west in 1991 and I broke both legs, hips, and my right wrist. Out of all of those, my wrist was damaged the worst. I have had several operations over the last 10 years. I have 11 pins in and limited range of motion. It was a tp-8 style that failed me, I only jumped with that style 30-40 times. I had my own Hi-glide chute, but the day I got hurt we were putting on a show of standard force for a panel of prime ministers from all over the world. We were required to use standard gear..

Wiki defin...Mae West-A "Mae West" or "Blown Periphery" is a type of round parachute malfunction which contorts the shape of the canopy into the appearance of a brassiere, presumably one suitable for a woman of Mae West's proportions

After I recovered, I was ordered to NORAD/Ft Carson CO. I spent my last 5 months there of rehab and medicaled out 7 months later. If I could have found a decent job there, in the springs, I would have stayed there. I liked the area and the people.... I was an E-6 when I got out.....

I climbed the kissing camels in Garden of the Gods several times, I use to love to climb..... My strength, as it was before, never returned in my legs or arm...

The VA replaced my hip in 1998, and replaced pins in my wrist several times. They have treated me fairly good over the years. Sure wish they would do more for our Gulf guys after they were hit with that bio chemical stuff...

 

[kcsunshine]

It's a shame the way our own country treats the soldiers who were wounded fighting for our freedom. And it seems like were having more and more of our freedoms taken away now from inside our own borders rather than outside. ( Sorry - I went off on another tangent)

Thank you MP and all the other veterans who so gallantly fought for those who could not (or would not) fight.

My father was a disabled vet from WWII, worked every day of his life - not a desk job, he drilled water wells. He drew a small disability check and when it was time for me to go to college, I couldn't get aid from the VA because he made too much money - we barely scraped by. When he passed away, the VA rep. here sent in his paperwork and then told mama she didn't qualify for any other aid because he (the rep.) sent the paperwork in too soon. (Some kind of new rule that went into effect and he missed the meeting.)

I have since found out that there is money available to her to help if she needs someone to stay with her or help with house cleaning. So I'm in the process of getting that in place - she's 87 next Monday and lives alone.

 

[modern_pioneer]

Yesterday, near white out conditions....

Today, -12 degrees outside... Coldest this year.... But the sun is out and it looks pretty outside. The dog went out, and a few minutes later she was ready to come back in.. She often will go out and return hours later.. What is really great, this time of year is that she doesn't come home smelling like poo.. Why do dogs do that anyway? She will go out and roll in another dogs poo.. There has to be a reason for this behavior????

I was in the big box store and came across some seeds for this year... So I picked up some to plant in the cold frame in the next coming months. Swiss chard, spinach and red cabbage...

In a great effort to reduce our fat intake and live a more healthy life style, we have been slowly introducing ground turkey into our diet. We also have taken on the attitude that turkey can be eaten any time of year. I have put on a lot of weight in the last year, for several different reasons, I did not work this past summer and all the junk food during my travels.

Fast food, although Bojangles seems like comfort food from the south, its full of fat.. I would stuff my gob full of that chicken and gravy.. Full of salt, the cajun fries were good... So the pounds started to add up, real quick.. Now I am feeling better about issues at hand, a natural process of healing, still have feelings of sadness. But on a whole my mind is thinking more positive about living the best life I can.

LOL.... I wanna talk about failing... I never minded failing, remember the picture of the loaf of bread? I wrote failed on it.. Failing means your at least doing something. So I am working towards getting back to the life I missed and crave to live. Gardening, fishing, hunting and outdoor/indoor work to improve my life...

I have been sitting on my backside for nearly 8 months now, I have tried to get something done, like the fire place, but no real energy or positive thinking to drive me forward. I am addressing this issue right now and getting back into grief counseling to get some tools to help myself.

I am not as healthy as I should be, not even close, and I am going to do something about it..

 

[savingdogs]

Thank you for your service to our country, Modern Pioneer.

I wish you were feeling better! Sounds like you have had a hard time of it. Take care of yourself!

You write beautifully....I have not read your whole journal but it makes me want to rewrite mine!

 

[Denim Deb]

Failing means your at least doing something.

I love that line. Too many people are so afraid of failing that they don't try-myself included. I think I need to remember this. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[modern_pioneer]

Your welcome....

It has been a pretty hard 8-9 months, I start to heal a little, then the scab gets pulled off and the wound starts to bleed again. Over and over again, I get so tired of the cycle I just wanna scream!!! Although I am not responsible in any way shape or form, I feel some sort of guilt. No doubt a guilt that I shouldn't be feeling, but I am sure its just a natural way of feeling.

I do realize that I need to work to live my life in a better way and control these emotions that are coming and going. When I get worked up I start to cry and ball my eyes out. Then I will get angry, sometimes I try to get my head around it all.

One thing that is for sure, I was never a part nor am I part of the problem here. I did nothing wrong, I made no mistake for this to happen. Even my counselor stated that trained doctors don't know what to do with these type of people....

I don't know a lot, but I do know that they (my parents/Linda) would want me to live a positive active life, raising my kids to best I know how.

My kids are great, we have minor issues from time to time, but we have never had a melt down. They are both well rounded, balanced people. I wish they would have better manners though, we continue to work on that. I have a "we are people" relationship with my kids, I guide them, respect them, and teach them strong positive thnking. They respect each other and tend to squabble at times, again they have never had a melt down between each other.

I don't mind failing, really, the fun part is trying to figure out what to do right. Failing gets frustrating at times, especially when you put so much effort into something without results.

 

[AL]

I am glad you posted your thoughts on failing, MP. I am attempting more and bigger things everyday for this SS lifestyle (well, bigger to me ) and failure is always looming.

I am glad that you are still fighting the negative feelings... you deserve the happy life you desire.