gizzard

I don't get it, I got the confirmation of "boots on the ground" from my TDY travel vouchers........There is NO requirement to have any special medal, award, etc, just that, I have no idea of why that little puke turned you down. Tell ya what, give me a private message and I'll give ya some more ideas.........

Giz

A young man started out in civil engineering, then decided he wanted to be a pharmacist.... An old family friend comes into the pharmacy one day and says " Hey, remember me?? I was a friend of your family years ago, Haven't seen you in a long time. Thought you were gonna be a civil engineer? Anyway, I came in for a very good laxative, I am really bound up."

"Well', the young man says," I decided there was way too much math in engineering. But I can fix you up with something, okay how long does it take you to get home/"

"Oh about fifteen minutes."

"How far from where you park your car to the front doo of your house?"

I guess forty feet."

"Do you have a bathroom on the first floor of your house, and if so, how far is it from your front door?"

"Well, it is on the first floor, maybe twenty feet from the door, but what does that have to do with a laxaxtive."

"oh just getting some information. Here drink this and go straight home."

About fifteen minutes later the phamacist gets a call from the customer who says" Damn, boy, you shoulda stayed in engineering, you only missed the toilet by about two feet!!!!!!!!!""""""""""

A young pharmacist was on his first day at work, and the senior pharmacist tells him he has to step out of the store for a few minutes. "If any customers come in for prescriptions, have them wait 'til I get back, I want to watch you until I am comfortable with your work."

Shortly after he leaves, a customer comes in and says, " I have this terrible cough, and when I get it, the pharmacist who is usually here makes up a special mixture that works so well."

The young guy says, " Well, he is out for a little bit, can you wait until he comes back?"

" No, I don't have time, can you do something? You ARE a pharmacist, too, right?"

"Okay," says the young one and proceeds to mix some stuff up and gives it to the customer, who immediately takes a dose and leaves.

The old one comes back, hears the story, and jumps on the young one." What did you mix up?"

"Well, some of this purple stuff, some of this pink stuff, some of this clear stuff, and some peppermint for flavor."

"You idiot!!!!!!!!!! Those are some of the most potent laxatives in the world.They are not cough medicines!!!!! Where did the customer go?""

"Well," the young man says, " He is right across the street and he is AFRAID to cough.

Your right Giz. The nation owes your Pap and all those WWII Vets an everlasting debt of gratitude.

The Aleutian Islands were attacked by the Japanese as a way to draw US Navy forces away from Midway and secure a northern outpost to protect Japan from American attack. On June 2, 1942 a Japanese force of two aircraft carriers with 82 planes, two heavy cruisers, three destroyers and an oiler steamed through the foggy North Pacific toward Dutch Harbor. Supporting the task force were Vice Admiral Boshiro Hosogaya's northern force consisting of four cruisers, nine destroyers, and three transports carrying 2,500 Japanese army invasion troops. Submarines screened the fleet. The planes were to strike a paralyzing blow at Dutch Harbor while troops were to land on Adak, Kiska and Attu and occupy these islands.

Early on the morning of June 3, 1942 the planes of the carrier Juyno attacked Dutch Harbor. Attack planes of the carrier Rynjo had lost their bearings in the dense fog and returned to their carrier. The Dutch Harbor attackers were met with heavy antiaircraft fire from the alerted American forces and caused minimal damage. Despite all human courage and mechanical genius, the miserable weather definitely controlled the course of the battle.

I apologize for the long rant, but I could have gone on. Remember, the Japanese probably lost the war at Midway. That battle started on June 4, 1942. Thank your Pap for me Giz

My Dad was up there from March 42 to May of 44. Then he went to Europe for the remainder of his time. he got out in September 45. he went in the Army in september 41and was oversees something 3 years and 4 months. If you are familiar with Engineer Hill up there, you know part of his story. Sad part is I lost Pap Dec 18, 1985, and we never, ever talked to each other about our service. I will regret that 'til the day I die. My fondest memories of him are our rabbit huntin' trips together

Bet my Dad would have liked to have had your accomodations when he was up there!!!!!! Course that was WWII, he was at Attu, Kiska, Cold (or Coal, which ever it was) Bay, and Dutch Harbor. It is a real shame that that part of WWII is not well known........musta been pretty bad!!!!!!!!!! Thanks, Pap!!!!!!Giz

Wow! Sounds like you shook the tree with the african bee nest in it.

Havnt heard any more about my latest attempt but I will definately keep you and Diana on my radar.

Roger that, we'll discuss it at wright-pat, you still goin' right???

Boy, oh, boy, guys, I think I stirred up a shit storm, by contactin' my congressman, he is in his first term, but I think he may be one of the good ones. I have gotten two phone calls from his staff members and two emails from them already requesting additional info and having me sign a release of information form. THEN, this morning, I got a phone call from an F5 tornado of a lady, who in no uncertain terms, told me it was bullshit what I had put up with and what they were still screwin up. She had worked for our prior congressman and deals exclusively with veteran's issues and does not take no for an answer. She told me that Baltimore was a total train wreck and needed fixing. Anyway, she is already chewin' on somebody's ass on my behalf, and told me this......any of you guys out there who are havin' issues, contact your congressman, give them the details of your situation, and give them a reasonable amount of time to respond. If nothing happens in your favor, she says for you to contact me, I guess it would best through private message on the site here, and I am to give you her number, and, her words. " By damn, I'll get seomething for them." After talkin' to her, I do believe she will, so if you find yourself in that situation, let me and I'll help ya get gunship Diana workin' for ya, and I'll be damn proud to help ya. BTW, she says no matter what state, she will get something goin' once your congressman etc, have not came through..

Load clear, ramp and door comin' closed

GIZ

Looked through the health benefits pamphlet that I got from the VA a couple months ago. It explained the benefits that I was getting at the time. I was in the Priority 8 category. best I can tell now is that I should move up to the Priority 3 category. But who knows. I'll be calling the VA number in my disability notification and make sure that the VA records are updated.[/quote

George, if you have the same success I had with callin' the VA, ya might as well call ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I like how all their information is worded so you can't be sure about anything........Sure is a sorry way to treat people who stepped forward while the majority of our peers either stood still or stepped BACK!!!!!!!!!!! Would I do it all over again????? YOU G#@ D*#^ right I would.............. Keep gnawin' at them George...........

Good for you SEFEGeorge! If you think you have basis for an appeal, go for it. Don't let them get away without a fight!

My wife and I (just this evening) ran into a guy who was a year behind me in H.S. and I just recently found out that he is a Nam Vet, in our conversation he mentioned behavior patterns that reek of PTSD. I urged him to file. He said he felt really odd in doing that, almost ashamed. Darn it all, that's juist what the SOB's at VA want us to think!!!!!! I believe that I convinced him to get started on a claim. I'll follow up with him and just for the fun of it I'll keep us all in the loop. I wonder how long his process will take?

Ya want an example of brother from another mother??? This is it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well done, TW. Keep him goin'. I am submitting a proposal that the name of the VA be changed to the Veterans Adversaries.......They must get points for denied and delayed claims, plus bonus points for the poor SOB who dies before he can get his claim settled. Just like way back when, we have to watch each others back..... Proud of ya, TW,

GIZ

Just got my first benefit check deposit today. It must include back benefit pay to when I first filed my claim. So a win for the team.

They should send you a statement of the back pay, provided the sobs can get it right that shows the pay for the rating you got for each year that your claim drug on.......... mine had THREE,and the bastards still don't have it right. So today, I threw the Congressman card, wonder where that will take me????????

I wish someone would this for an old 130, what some of you young pups call 'Heritage birds". I guess all the E's i flew from 70 to 74 are pretty much not available for such an undertakin' though...............

What got the VA to recognize my "boots on the ground" was the citation that accompanied my DFC -- it said something about "while on the ground at Khe Sanh, RVN ..." That did it for me.. So, Graywolf88 should check the citations with his medals; what he needs could be there...

Exactly, anything that specifically says you were on the ground..........Many times, though, I was the only member of my crew to actually get off the plane. Now suppose the only time the rest of the crew got off the plane was out of country. Would that still count for them? Now nothing says I actually set foot on the ground, so do you see how ridiculous this "boots on the ground" bullshit can be???? By the VA standards, then, I guess the BUFF crews out of Guam, for instance, do not qualify for AO registry, unless they were shot down, or landed near the perimeter of a Thai base that had AO sprayed around............So by all means, try to find ANYTHING that proves you were on the ground . I wonder if a photograph that has you standing near some identifiable landmark would count??

Ok Giz, Now I got tears runnin down my face....from laughing so hard. Somehow, you seem to put everything into perspective. Thanks

Wait 'til Dayton, my friend............

Don, I think the FE's rode backward like in the B-29's

Rode backward? I flew with a couple who rode HORIZONTAL!!!! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!

"Thanks for your service" does ring hollow. But hope springs eternal. I sent in a DD149 for correction of military records a few weeks back. Received an official letter a couple of days ago sayin my request (and supporting documents/arguments for boots on the ground) had been scanned into their system and have been assigned a docket number. They are saying it will take up to 90 days for a decision. I figure all they can say is no and I've heard that before. We will see.........

Keep at 'em, Sparks..............sooner or later they will get tired of you goin' after them, and actually help you. I am still waitin' to get my payment corrected, damn lame asses said they needed my wife's SSN, which I had sent them a year ago, and when the payments were to start, theysaid they couldn't send it because they needed a financial institution routing number to send it, WHICH I also had given them..........Ya know, if I had done my job that poorly, or the rest of any crew I flew with, or the maintainers who worked on the birds, I wouldn't be here to collect anything, anyway....But by damn, squirt out a trio or so of bastards whose birth certificates should read 'We the People", not Mr and Missus, and ya damn near get run over by a Brinks truck bringin' your "entitlements."

I have piles of old paperwork that says I was in-country. I also have a VSM, DFC, and 7 AMs on my DD214. The VA will not accept any of it because of something not marked on the DD-214. They won't even look at the other evidence. They just give me some print outs that say a VSM is not proof of boot on the ground which is a term I never even heard of until recently. I am waiting now for a DD215 from St. Louis. Went through the county Veteran's Service Officer to get the DD215. He said it could take from a month to 6 months. Been over a month already.

Where ever you young guys go keep all your paperwork! The VA does not listen to common sense and is full of bureaucratic crap heads.

As I have said before, unless you have definitive proof of actually standin' on VN soil, you cannot expect to get your claim realized. Travel orders, medals, none of that shows you were actually in Nam. For example, Navy guys qualified for the VSM, but operated off the coast....We Air Force types have a problem usin' our DD214 to prove in-country because, unlike the Army or marine corps, ours usually do not show specific countries and locations of service, just total overseas time and that sort of thing.AND, to take the cake, it seems that there is NO consistancy with what the VA will or will not accept, what records do or do not exist, and such bullshit........... Sorta makes the " Thanks for your service" ring a little hollow sometimes, don't it????

We had 63 models at Langley '71-'74 but I sure couldn't tell if she was there.

Yep, Sparks, we had some there in that number range. I know we had an 814, so maybe this was there, too..........

She must have had a recent engine change when the picture was taken, because it looks like #1 has a camoflaged nacelle on it.............. Maybe she was just riping up, sorta like an apple.............

Giz

Tin Whistle Dan Wilson was a great guy, and his kindness knew no bounds he really helped my daughter who had a special request and presto it was done.

Sad in our family to see him go perhaps if you could send me some details PM if you feel more comfortable.

It will be good when we are all on the ramp together, where the airplanes never need cleaning, never have any right ups and we always have tailwinds.

When I see the pain and hardships that some folk go through it makes we glad that we are going to something better.

Gizard how is that lovely nurse of yours going.

All the best

Col down under

Hey, Col, good to hear from you..............your post is right on heading and altitude........ My wife has retired, well sorta, and now she works maybe four or five days a mont. Just can't give up the nursing, especially the cancer clinic, she loves those patients and says she has gotten more satisfaction workin' in that area than any other she did in 41 years. And the other nurse in my life, my daughter, is now nearly through her Master's in nursing and will be a certified nurse mid-wife, essentially a nurse practioner who delivers babys............right cool I think...........

Giz

While I was TDY to SEA I was given one (1) set of orders when I went TDY and had to turn them in with my travel voucher with every place we landed at listed to get paid for missed meals or an overnite stay.

Back then even $2.00 was a lot of money to a GI. At least it was to me.

Yep, That is my story, too. Sometimes, only get a few bucks, but like you say, that was pretty good foubd money back then.....It was strange, too, some times we would go to POB just for a day of drops and come back, no TDY orders, etc, no pay... go do the same thing except RON, and you could collect, I don't remember, but maybe $25 or so???? Of course if yiu stayed at such garden spots as the Bonny Prince Charley, then you got that back, provided they hadn't set up contract rooms...............

My wife uses a tremendous amount of fabric and sewing materials in our business, and she got a coupn the other day for 20% military discount at Jo Ann Fabrics.... this is a one day thing, but it appears any evidence of current ore prior military service. I am no fan of handouts, but I wonder why more places don't do this........And to bring up an old story for us Nam vets, remember when hardly anyone even wanted to acknowledge our service, much less offer any discounts, etc?? Ken, ya better start rememberin' your discounts, you can buy more stuff that way...................

Giz, Its like you said before; we vets can submit the same paperwork requests and get totally different answers. For example: After you posted the success you had getting travel vouchers, I submitted the same using the SF180. I got a letter back saying copies of travel vouchers were not kept for longer than 6 (or so) months. I then got a personal call from a fellow at the finance section at Randolf essentially telling me the same thing. (WTF ????) :mad:

Yep, there does not seem to be any consitancy, does it??? I was just wonderin' about the guys who have TDY orders, but nothing else. Just because you have orders, you don't necessarily go... one of my housemates from langley was a base firefighter, and he got PCS orders to Korea, something like six days before he was to leave, they told him never mind, you are too short. BUT he stil had the orders...............I wish back in the green and brown era, somebody would have emphasized save every damn piece of paper that has your name on it, like the guys on this site do now....What I still have I have no idea why I kept them..................To soon old, too late smart...............

Got a question or comment, whatever, But anyway, I read a bunch of you guys mentioning TDY's to here and there, with in-country destinations, etc. I wonder why you did not have to submit travel vouchers for them. I know as a loady, I must have submitted dozens of them, not jsut for SEA, but everywhere. I would have thought you would have, if for nothingelse than the travel pay. It was my travel vouchers that secured my AO claim for diabtetes II.

Giz

A little Mountain Dew ( the real stuff), hoisted to a setting sun, and a fellow airman cleared to climb and maintain...........

RIP, Dan, thanks for all you did

Giz

Bumped to remind everyone to join us in raising a drink to Dan at 7 PM EST today.

Roger that...........got a very special fluid for the occasion, one I am sure Dan would approve of, POSSIBLY related to a TV show, but then again......