Snubby in Vietnam

Over the past 50 + years when confronted with an ultimatum from an AHole boss or investor and they threaten this or that, I look them in the eyes and say “what are you going to do, cut my beard and hair and send me to Vietnam?” You don’t do such to a Marine Grunt Sergeant more than once!
 
I always thought it was the DD-214

DD-214 is the report of separation from active duty, commonly referred to as a discharge report. Usually lists your periods of active service, MOS qualifications, lost time (due to disciplinary actions, if any), awards and decorations, type of separation (honorable, general, dishonorable, whatever), type of separation (discharge, transfer to active reserve, etc). Basically a summary of your military service record to that point in time.

Important document, especially when applying for veteran benefits (home loans, educational benefits, disability pension, VA health care, or the grave marker for your final resting place).

I always remember the entry on my DD-214 showing my primary MOS (military occupational specialty) as Infantry Operations & Intelligence, Paratrooper. The next block was "Related Civilian Occupations", completed with a single word "NONE".

Fortunately for me, I had a secondary MOS as Military Police Supervisor, awarded by on-the-job training when I was in limbo after a fairly serious wound. They could not send me back to the field as an infantry sergeant, so I was assigned as NCOIC of a MP detachment at Dong Ha, which the 101st Airborne Division inherited from the Marines when they left Vietnam in 1971. The "MP" stuck when I returned to the States and when I left the Army I joined the local police department.

As a civil service employer the city allowed 5 preference points for veterans, and another 5 points for Purple Heart recipients. So I had a 10-point advantage going into the selection and testing process. The DD-214 was the documentation required for that treatment under civil service rules. My 96% test score on the entry exam became 106% on the eligibility list.

Some years later I went from the city PD to a state agency as an investigator. State civil service rules provided veterans with seniority time based upon active duty and reserve service (in addition to hiring preference points). Basically, when I showed up for my first day on the job I had about 6 years seniority in the state civil service system based upon my active duty and reserve service time. In the event of any down-sizing or lay-offs that level of seniority protected me quite a bit. Again, the DD-214 was the documentation required.
 
first, I sincerely appreciate your condolences for the death of our grandson Connor, who was killed skiing just before Covid closed down Vail last spring. Finally having a memorial service for him, I am sure, will help my daughter and all of us continue to find peace and acceptance of this awful accident.

Was a 4000+ mile trip from SC out west and back.

I am going to continue with some pictures and memories of long ago, this one taken in the hanger at Ft Riley, KS, where were our EVAC was processed for deployment to Saudi Arabia for our part in Desert Storm.

Here, I thought this was an interesting place for departing troops to get rid of whatever they couldn't fit into their duffel bags, or rucksack, or in many cases, their BDU cargo pant pockets.

As always, my trusty Asahi Pentax, on Kodachrome 25. The vast majority of our 400 men and women, about half male and half female, had absolutely no field experience other than whatever they had had in their Basic training, and our yearly two week "summer camps". I am pretty sure I was the sole trooper with a war under my belt.

Once, one of our nurses asked me how I could be so calm with all the worry all about them. I told her I had done this once before.

One little story of how inexperienced our troops were. A young officer proudly showed me his plastic bag, with a set of his underwear and T shirt and socks, all tidy and snug. He told me all he had to do when it was time for a change, he just had to pull out one of his little bags, and change out. I asked him how many months of little bags he had packed up in his rucksack.

But they soon learned how to tolerate sweat and dirt and body odors, theirs and others, and carry out a magnificent mission.

But I do think it was a bit harder for our female troopers. Looking feminine in a war zone is not easy, but they tried.

It helped that in the desert the wind blew all the time.

So, all the best, and stay safe.

Oh, bought a NIB Winchester 70 in 270 on the trip, had it mailed back. It is one of the earlier "controlled feed" iron sighted wood stocked ones. Made up some 230 gr Hornady loads over Vhitatouri powder. It is really a great looking and shooting rifle. I may put a scope on it this winter.

I did not tell my wife about the rifle until she went to pay my credit card bill yesterday. It will cost me something, that is for sure.

NAM VET
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Again sorry for the families loss. Informally refer to the rifle as Connors' memorial gift and think good thoughts of him when you are around it. The price you pay will be cheap.
 
Oh, bought a NIB Winchester 70 in 270 on the trip, had it mailed back. It is one of the earlier "controlled feed" iron sighted wood stocked ones. Made up some 230 gr Hornady loads over Vhitatouri powder. It is really a great looking and shooting rifle. I may put a scope on it this winter.

I did not tell my wife about the rifle until she went to pay my credit card bill yesterday. It will cost me something, that is for sure.

NAM VET

230? Or, 130?
 
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There was a small Saudi airfield near our hospital, and for something to do I would walk over and check out the helicopters. Here, an AH Apache, with Maverick laser guided missiles, and I believe 2.75 inch rockets.

I heard the Mavericks were really expensive, and supposedly to be used for hard targets, like bunkers and armor. The Rockets for "soft" targets. The Apache's also had a 30mm Chain Gun in a front turret, shooting depleted uranium or tungsten bullets, again, as I seem to remember. Others forum members will be along with more accurate recollections than mine, I am sure.

The Army had moved to the AH 64 Apaches, the Marines were using Super Cobra's, as far as I can recall.

All the best... NAM VET
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working on a tan

When our incoming and inpatient load began to decrease, we had plenty of time for just relaxing, sitting around with comrades, and it was a perfect time and place to get a really nice tan. It was far too hot to be in our tents; by mid day, it could be as hot as 140 degrees under that dark canvas. Even with the deserts's low humidity, hot is hot. We drank prodigious amounts of water out of our 1.5 liter bottles, carried in our cargo pockets. Hot water too, but we all soon realized the need to stay ahead of any symptoms of thirst.

We all made plenty of "furniture", as these troops are using. It must be about noon, given the vertical shadows.

I don't recall any malcontentment in our troops, I think like in all military units, the personnel bond between one another is surely vitally important. I also think with so many of our complement being female, it did tend to keep things from being too macho. After all, we were there to heal not to hurt. With one exception, personal relationships which developed were respected with discretion and privacy. When our EVAC returned Stateside, a number of our females had small tasteful tattoos done, usually the Saudi symbol of a palm tree. Me, I have never had any tattoo. I have enough scars for me, mostly from misadventures with sharp tools, one from an ax, and one from when I was attacked by a rooster, almost losing an eye.

When I look back at these pictures, it is hard to realize they are from now 30+ years ago. I think, at least for me, the sense of the passage of time speeds up as one grows older.

I have ordered a nice scope for my Winchester 70, as my old eyes just can't focus adequately on the front sight, nor the rear or the target, plus with my shooting eye's astigmatism, I see two front posts.

So all the best, NAM VET
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I believe just about anyone who has been part of any deadly conflict feels sorrow and regrets when the innocent become victims. In this war, explosive devices were littered everywhere, and as I have mentioned in a prior post, a MD picked up a Cluster bomblet, and when he dropped it in his tent, he and several others were killed.

American soldiers are notorious for seeking all sorts of souvenirs, some of which are dangerous.

I remember when I was riding in the top hatch of a M113 in a Major Training Area in Germany, probably Widlflecken, when I was a young 2nd Lt in '70, We were cautioned about all the unexploded ordinance about from decades of training dating back to the early part of the 20th Century. And sure enough, when my track was climbing up a narrow wash, between two rising dirt embankments, one of our troops picked up a small UXB artillery shell, and tossed it up as a souvenir for later, onto the top of my M113. This rusty, corroded shell just kept rolling around on the top of my track, banging into this and that, just out of my reach, until it finally rolled off onto the ground.

Our EVAC took care of all comers, and quite often they were non-combatants, some were children who were shot or bayoneted by retreating Republican Guards. Other were injured from a variety of causes, and some from explosive devices. We also had severely ill children, some with obvious diseases, and others with profound dehydration.

When we lost a child, it was hard on our troops, whose mission was to save and heal. Here, I have blurred out the legs of a child, as our team prepares to complete her surgery. I sometimes wonder how this now 35 old woman gets by with a prosthesis.

Sometimes people cannot be made whole.

All the best... SF VET
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I believe just about anyone who has been part of any deadly conflict feels sorrow and regrets when the innocent become victims. In this war, explosive devices were littered everywhere, and as I have mentioned in a prior post, a MD picked up a Cluster bomblet, and when he dropped it in his tent, he and several others were killed.

American soldiers are notorious for seeking all sorts of souvenirs, some of which are dangerous.

I remember when I was riding in the top hatch of a M113 in a Major Training Area in Germany, probably Widlflecken, when I was a young 2nd Lt in '70, We were cautioned about all the unexploded ordinance about from decades of training dating back to the early part of the 20th Century. And sure enough, when my track was climbing up a narrow wash, between two rising dirt embankments, one of our troops picked up a small UXB artillery shell, and tossed it up as a souvenir for later, onto the top of my M113. This rusty, corroded shell just kept rolling around on the top of my track, banging into this and that, just out of my reach, until it finally rolled off onto the ground.

Our EVAC took care of all comers, and quite often they were non-combatants, some were children who were shot or bayoneted by retreating Republican Guards. Other were injured from a variety of causes, and some from explosive devices. We also had severely ill children, some with obvious diseases, and others with profound dehydration.

When we lost a child, it was hard on our troops, whose mission was to save and heal. Here, I have blurred out the legs of a child, as our team prepares to complete her surgery. I sometimes wonder how this now 35 old woman gets by with a prosthesis.

Sometimes people cannot be made whole.

All the best... SF VET
00220-s-15amhu4y6v0220.jpg

She is just fortunate your team was there. I have to assume the alternative to a life with prosthesis was certainly worse. I don't know how the medical communities does what they do. You are an amazing group of people.
 
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