gizzard

please give your son a 'Welcome home" for me, and for the one leavin' a "good luck, come home safe." You gotta be proud of both of them, and you have every right to be Giz

Aw, come on Sparks, there ain't nothin' as satisfyin' as watchin' a door splinter after a couple well placed applications of a halliigan bar, well, maybe a LAPES drop or a night time heavy equipment dop with sparks flyin' off the anchor lines and the rails and rollers....... Ken, I think I am goin' down that road, too. Keep in mind that Ischemic heart means there is some dead cardiac muscle, don't necessarily have that with CAD, but it can be a precursor. I'd rather be clean, too.........here's hopin'. The pisser of some of this stuff is that, by virtue of bein' married to a nurse who has worked in all kinds of areas, and havin' worked, in my younger days, as a paramedic( THAT I do not admit to readily), you know more about some of this stuff than you really want to. Right now, I am still dealin' with my regular docs.....I suspect, and some of you guys who have already been down that road can help me out here, I will have to modify my claim status if anything bad comes up. Plus, I will probably end up in a workers' comp battle with the state because,just like AO, my firefighting career is considered presumptive toheart disease, too, even if i am retired.........BUT I would still MUCH rather have a healthy ticker.. Giz

great pictures, but somehow, I still think the old girl looks best ,either in tan, green and white or green and black, without all the knobs, bumps, pylons and stuff hangin' off her. And i just can't get my head around props that look like the thing int he bottom of my wife's food processor. BUT that is one of the bennies of bein' an old curmudgeon...... Some of them look like they are painted up like some of the ladies of evening that I HEARD of in different places

Now ya gotta remember, I am a retired truckie. For those who don't know, we just bust OPEN the doors so the ladies with the hoselines can get in, AFTER we break out the windows and tear up the roof......... Giz

Thanks, Keith...Just one more bump in the road. I reckon somethin' is gonna get me sooner or later.........Since I don't smoke, exercise SOMEWHAT regularly and all that, I can do well with this. Definitely proves my rant about gettin' checked regularly, don't it??? Heck, I may still get down there to raid your 'fridge................ Giz

heed Sparks' words, mark. as you can probably tell from some of the posts here, weng old guys can tellyou there is no such thing as an unimportant piece of paper, especially when you need documentation. I sure hope the guys today from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc keep their stuff...........they, too, will be old one day. Hard copy all the way, copied if possible, stored somewhere, like a safe deposit box, or registered in your localcounty court house, if they do such a thing............... I have been retired for two years now,and recommend it highly, provided you stay active and busy, which probably is not hard to do. my wife will retire next April, then I may reconsider my position

Things can come home to roost. First though, the VSM does not necessarily mean "boots on the ground." Bomber crews that never put a wheel or a foot in the place qualify for example. Now for the kick in the ass, I got a phone call today from my primary care doc about a high res CAT scan I had last month, that was supposed to find out about a cough I got. anyway, it shows Coronary Artery Disease..never had that show up on anything before. NOW I got a whole new thing to deal with. Luckily I don't have any symptoms, YET, but sounds like another shoe has hit the floor. Now, for sure, EVERYBODY has some degree of CAD, so i guess I gotta l look into how much it is ............Like Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say " If it's not one thing, its another." But I still think I am so much more fortunate than many others, I ain't gotta bitch . Reckon if I knew I was gonna live this long, I woulda taken better care of myself. The saga continues giz Giz

Two points of contention, sparks, you say you ain't a hero, well that, plain and simple, is bullshit. A hero is someone who steps forward when everyone else is steppin' back. That you did, in a long and honorable manner. THAT in my book makes you a hero. Two. "Nobody owes you anything?""" Yeah, owe ain't the word, you earned it, you didn't get it handed out!!!!!!!! I hate the word 'entitlement" because how can some damn cigarette and drug usckin' tattoo laden bastard factory, who never turned a hand in their life be entitled to anything???? And get it without almost any effort???? No, Sparks, you are like the majority of us on this board, we did the job, as good as any, and in many cases better than most. Because of us, and people like us, our nation for a long time was safe, secure and prosperous. Now, it is run by people who, far as i am concerned, ain't qualified to stand in our shadow, and the safety, security, and prosperity is in real jeopardy. But ya know what, I STILL think there are people out there, many of them still very young, who are gonna say "Look what them old guys did ( meanin' us), we can do it again." You can bet that Col. Allison will very unlikely get much notice, not with the Karadashian cow stuff, Conrad Murray, and Lindsey Lohan, SOOOOO important. But we know and appreciate him, no matter what. So there, my friend, is my rant of the day. DO not ever again post you are not a hero or not owed anything. If you do, i will personally seek you out, and bore you to death with my war stories, while eatin' everything in your refrigerator.... Well done, brother, ood luck Giz

Sure does, don't it?

here's a picture my journalist buddy sent me that tends to authenticate part of the picture but, like so many of the rest of you, I see things that i just don't remember as bein' so. C'est La Vie

It's great, been around for a while, and yep, men can cry, too.

sparks, I put in a form SF180, I think it is, requestin' travel vouchers from specific dates and i got them in about three weeks. My DD214 only shows total overseas time, not where i was, hell if it did it would three feet long, and the VSM. I know some people try to get the records just by writing, calling, whatever, but unless you file that SF180, it may not happen at all. I even filed one on behalf of my brother-in-law who died about six years ago to get a copy of his 214 for his widow. I just got another letter from the Maryland Veterans Admin, tellin' they are still working on my claim, but they have SOOOOOOO much work to accomplish. The State sure as hell ain't got delay in handin' out money to welfare sucks, accomodatin' illegals, and pissin' money into the Chesapeake Bay. But by damn, I am gonna outlive them, no matter what. AND any compensation you finally get is retro-active to your filing date. So they already owe me for about six months.............. One of my brothers in the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 172, had his fumbled around with for nearly a year and he got a real nice check for nearly six grand......... Don't give up, brother, you earned this, even though, you had no idea what was goin' on at the time. Good luck Giz

I'm thinkin' many of us would have had that look at one time or other. I do genuinely hope this is a real photo from way back when, and I am more and more inclined to believe it may be. I hope, if it is,that MR. RC got home safe, and has had a good life. He certainly earned it!!!!!

yep saw that, found some other stuff that MAY be similar, but, while I remain a bit skeptical, there has been enough stuff come to my attention from different sources to at least have say, as they do on "Mythbusters", 'Plausible." Giz

After some rooting around, I have found some evidence that this pic may be real, as far as the tag, etc goes. A couple of places I have found shows, possibly, such an arrangement, . Dan had convinced me that definition is not necessarily related to time of the photo. I'd still be interested in hearing other thoughts, but I do admit I may have been over-skeptical. Giz

yep, that is what my buddy at the local paper tells me about it, too. Maybe i have developed a lot of doubt and cynicism against the History channel, but it still just don't look right... Giz

the formula is 20 x number of boxes of cartridges x times coefficient of accuracy.......... Of course there are 535 or so zombies in Congress, but to kill a zombie, you have to blow their brains out, and that ain't likely there Giz

yup, that's what i thought.

My thoughts, too. Actually hadn't thought foreign, but maybe a military academy cadet or the like, Giz

Finally got it Giz

hey , guys, the local paper is gonna run this in their Saturday TV guide section supposedly from that bastion of historical information, accuracy, and research History Channel. They claim it to be of a young marine just off the boat at DaNang in 65. Some things about it puzzle me, I may be off on this stuff, so let me know. First, his name tag, has both first initials and last name, and is on the left side of his blouse. My recollection is that they were on the right, last name only. Number two, his helmet cover has writing on it which probably didn't happen on your first day on the beach. His hair looks way too long, and he has no rank insignia visible. And, tinwhistle can really jump on this,the picture just looks too high def to have come from 1965. I ain't no expert on this stuff, to be sure, but I just wonder if this is just a made up picture for their "VietNam HD" series comin' up. I just CAN'T wait to see that. brought to you by the same people who do Swamp People and Ice Road Truckers. Where's the history in those????? Giz

Shoot first..................... Giz

How can that noise be annoying?????????? That, without soundin' too soap boxy, is the sound of freedom. Would she be more pleased with the sound of a Foxbat, Hind, or perhaps a surface to surface missile???????????????? Giz

Oh, it's real alright......223, 7.62x39, .308............ ballistic tip is green instead the red their other cartridges have........Damn, I wish they came in .280, .30/30, and 8x56. guess i willnot be prepared. Giz

any chance of signed copies when they become available????? Giz