Who among you has defended the United States in Uniform?

Icu4dzs

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Hyperbaric medicine treatments will help with this but we are all sorry your uncle has become so ill.
What was his MOS occupation in the ARmy?
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the funny farm6

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All I know about his time in Vietnam was at one point he shot guns from a huey helocopter. He was also in panama and was in saudi arabia during desert storm. And during that time he was a staff sergeant. I still have the letters he wrote me when he was in saudi arabia. He never said much about his service, even in his letters. It was more about family, weather, what kind of animals he saw there, ect. I was @14 when he was there.
 

FarmerChick

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yea it is hard to talk to someone about their service. Dad tells me so much and stops. It is something of a very personal nature I believe.
 

Beekissed

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When I worked for the Red Cross I met an older gentleman who came to donate that had a tattoo of numbers on his arm. Of course, one of the questions is about tattoos and, finding he had one, I asked about it. He just bowed his head a little and said he was a POW in WWII and that was the number he got there. He started to tear up and I was so mortified that I had caused him this distress.

He just patted my arm and said not to worry, that he just had a hard time talking about it. I started to cry right along with him and we just sat still for a little until we could both proceed.

It was the very first time I had met a POW. I can't imagine just how deeply those emotional scars of war must run~ to still be that fresh all these years later.

Thank you all for taking those scars for me and my freedom.
 

Living the Simple Life

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We are a proud military family stretching back to the revolutionary war.

More recently:
Father - US Navy, Korea
Uncle - WWII Bataan Death March survivor
Three uncles served in Vietnam (two Army, one Airforce)
DH - US Navy (injured in basic and discharged)
Currently - stepdaughter US Navy (just finished basic, currently at A School)
Future - my son is planning to be a chaplain in the Air Force

My brother had enlisted as a pilot, but he grew over 2" between enlisting and shipping out and was too tall to be a pilot so they wouldn't take him! I regret not pursuing the ROTC program during high school.
 

Marianne

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Beekissed said:
When I worked for the Red Cross I met an older gentleman who came to donate that had a tattoo of numbers on his arm. Of course, one of the questions is about tattoos and, finding he had one, I asked about it. He just bowed his head a little and said he was a POW in WWII and that was the number he got there. He started to tear up and I was so mortified that I had caused him this distress.

He just patted my arm and said not to worry, that he just had a hard time talking about it. I started to cry right along with him and we just sat still for a little until we could both proceed.

It was the very first time I had met a POW. I can't imagine just how deeply those emotional scars of war must run~ to still be that fresh all these years later.
Thank you all for taking those scars for me and my freedom.
Ya, really. My dad was a POW in WWII, also. I have his diary, things he kept during the war...my mother kept a scrapbook with every bit of correspondence regarding his military time. A few years ago I researched the stalag he had been in. I had to register to post his name - got several very nice emails from men that had been there during the same time as my dad. I was invited to a reunion that year in FL, but was unable to attend. :(

My dad died years ago, but I still remember those tears when he was trying to tell me some of what happened, what they all endured. I was only 24 at the time, not able to wrap my mind around the whole thing.
 

dacjohns

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1972 to 1981. US Army. Field Artillery Surveyor. SSG.
1981 to 1984. Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Engineering Technician. SSG.
1984 to 1985. US Army Reserve. NCO Academy Instructor. SGT.
1986 to 1994. US Army. Field Artillery Officer. CPT.
1994 to 1999. US Army. Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Officer. MAJ.
 

~gd

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I don't claim to have defended the US by my naval service '60-'63 I qualified for the American Legion due to a short overlap between my hitch and Vietnam but my ship was in dry-dock in NYC at that time. We ducked a few shells but they were fired by our own 3rd Fleet! I was waiting for Top -Crypto clearances at the time so I was given temp duty on YV-3 that provided targets for gunnery practice out of San Diego. Finally got to crypto school when I was ordered to the Naval Academy Prep. School. Washed out there and was sent to be a deck ape on a fleet oil tanker out of Norfolk. My one claim of distinction was that I spent a fairly high percentage of my career mess cooking. No idea of what a MOS is, but I was an E-5 Radarman [operates ship board Radars], the rating no longer exists.
 

Icu4dzs

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~gd said:
I don't claim to have defended the US by my naval service '60-'63 I qualified for the American Legion due to a short overlap between my hitch and Vietnam but my ship was in dry-dock in NYC at that time. We ducked a few shells but they were fired by our own 3rd Fleet! I was waiting for Top -Crypto clearances at the time so I was given temp duty on YV-3 that provided targets for gunnery practice out of San Diego. Finally got to crypto school when I was ordered to the Naval Academy Prep. School. Washed out there and was sent to be a deck ape on a fleet oil tanker out of Norfolk. My one claim of distinction was that I spent a fairly high percentage of my career mess cooking. No idea of what a MOS is, but I was an E-5 Radarman [operates ship board Radars], the rating no longer exists.
RM2 right?
Well, in our opinion, if you served your country in its uniform, you contributed to its defense and we appreciate the fact that you served.
Apparently, we have quite a number of prior service folks on this forum. I am happy to know that. It confirms my suspicions about why folks have become so interested in SS.
Again, Thanks ~gd.
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