Veterans only thread.

[Doc]

Air Force 4 years Active 2 Reserve
Nat.Guard 2 years
2 1/2 tours in Viet Nam
AC-130 Gunship

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[Ronbo]

8 years. Two branches. USAF and US Army. SP/MP. Retired civilian LEO (Sgt) 32 years.

 

[ROBERTECOX]

34 years active duty Army. May have stayed too long but every assignment was better than the last one and they kept putting interesting stuff in front of me.

 

[mustang marty]

Air Force 4 years
Nat.Guard 2 years
2 1/2 tours in Viet Nam
AC-130 Gunship

Heard about the gunships from a staff sarge who got missile t raining with me . Oh yeah destruction .

 

[FoD]

Vietnam Vet, USN 4 active, 2 reserve.

 

[FoD]

Air Force 4 years
Nat.Guard 2 years
2 1/2 tours in Viet Nam
AC-130 Gunship

Doc, don't remember if I told you this before but, Welcome Home!?

 

[mark_anderson_us]

6 years (British) Army - does that count?
Falkand Islands, Germany, Central America (+classified locations)

 

[Doc]

Heard about the gunships from a staff sarge who got missile t raining with me . Oh yeah destruction .

Here‘s a 57 mm hit ...Mothers Day 1971
Regards

 

[Radioman]

My father was in the Army Air Corp and then the Air Force, I spent most of my younger years growing up on Air Force bases so... I joined the Navy. I was a Radarman aboard an ocean-going wooden minesweeper. I spent most of 1965 in the Market Time Operation off of Vietnam.

 

[GregM]

U.S. NAVY SEABEES 78 to 82 active 2 reserve
Tours Diego Garcia (The Rock)/ Guam/ Sigonella Sicily
Deployments were 8 months Homeport was 6 months
Would not change a thing. Met some of the finest humans on earth. Had a blast to say the least
NMCB 5 Homeport Port Hueneme CA
Big shout out to all that served being Military,Law Enforcement,Civilian

 

[Bomlodr]

6 years MEARNG as a 51B, (CBT)(HVY), 2 years active duty as a RATT operator in a Patriot Missle unit, then 14 more years in the same NG unit until I retired 6 months before the unit was activated to go to the 2nd Iraq war. Didn't do anything too crazy, deployed to Panama and Guatemala for AT, a couple trips to Camp Edwards on the cape and Gagetown Canada. A few civic projects during the years. building ball fields and press boxes. Quite a bit of time spent putting in minefields, barbed wire entanglements, building bridges and blowing up obstacles, and sometimes, the bridges we just built. Its all good training.

I enjoy telling my coworkers that their tax dollars were spent training me to be a potential terrorist. The FBI has my fingerprints. The training is there, the inclination, not so much.

In a year and half, I can start collecting my pension.

A little back story:

My father was in the Air Force, served in Thailand during the Vietnam war. The Air Force sent him to Madigan General hospital with a cough. Suspected he had TB, but the tests all came back negative. The Air Force lost his pay records during that time, he wasn't being paid so he went home and got a job to support his family and waited for his discharge to be filed. My brother and I went to the county fair and we used to visit the recruiting trailers to get posters and bumper stickers and the like. We would talk to the recruiters and gave them my father's info. My father really hated the Air Force, for some reason, and ended up joining the Army National Guard. He eventually got a technician job with the MeARNG, and then went AGR as a recruiter and retired at 55. His cough he caught in Thailand finally killed him at 73. Pulmonary Fibrosis it was called.

My father was my recruiter. He recruited me, my younger brother, his friend, and my sister. My younger brother got out after 10 years during the first gulf war. He just got married, his wife didn't want him going away. His enlistment was up, he was done. My sister married someone she worked with in the Guards. She had two kids and when her enlistment was up, she got out. Her husband did a tour of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He went AGR and he/they are now retired, playing with their grandchildren. My youngest brother joined after my father retired. He was a typical idiot kid, went in for two years, got out on a general discharge and after a period of time, went back in. He's now doing very well, a couple years from retirement himself.

My younger brother's friend? He was kind of a dub, my father thought he was dumb as a rock, but according the ASVAB test, he was very bright. But, he was short, could barely walk straight, kinda shuffled along. My father was afraid he wouldn't pass the physical, but he did. My father thought he wouldn't make it through basic training, but he did, although he did call up crying and threatening to kill my father for making him go through this (He begged my father to let him join the Guards). We laughed. We'd already been though it. He made it through basic and AIT and went Active Guard and Reserve, was a training NCO, did a tour in Iraq after I had retired. He put my name in as someone who might want to come out of retirement to fill out unit rolls, without asking me, by the way. But the request was denied, thank you. Three people from our unit were killed during that year. There were images on the news with Eric carrying bodies out of the mess tent in Mosul that was blown up by terrorists. When he came back from Iraq, he wasn't quite the same person. He finally retired, something he talked about for almost 30 years, getting the free government money. He died at 55 of a massive heart attack, just about a year ago after being retired for 18 months. I still miss him.

I guess being a veteran is kind of ingrained in my family. Besides my father, I had another uncle in the Air Force and an Uncle in the Marines.

Excellent story!
My favorite quote that has been making its way around the interwebs for years is "What doesn't kill you gives you a dark sense of humor and unhealthy coping mechanisms". The unfortunate truth is that many of us can relate to that quote. Service to country is engrained in my family as well. I served in the Air Force, my brother, both of my sons, and my daughter in law served and are currently serving in the Navy. I had an uncle that was a Marine (he's passed) and my future father in law is retired Army.
Glad this thread was started. Somehow, vets always find each other. It's like "gay-dar" but for veterans. Seriously, to all my brothers and sisters, thank you for your service. IGY6

 

[SOHK_Alumni]

6 years (British) Army - does that count?
Falkand Islands, Germany, Central America (+classified locations)

Darn tootin it does! Was stationed in Suffolk when the Falkens erupted.

Had some grand times with the RAF and a real hoot with the British Army contingent violating General Order #1 (no alcohol in the AOR) back in the day.

The British forces may not have the biggest budget, but they're pros.

 

[Prophet136]

Nice call on the thread. Thank you all for your service. Army veteran, 8.5 years 1997-2006. Started as an 11M mech infantry before they made us all 11B infantry then reclassed to 98J electronic intelligence interceptor analyst. Wish I could have done a full 20 or more. Had some good times and some not so good times but I wouldn’t change it.

 

[ldr01rl]

27yrs, retired USMC (10yrs), Army (17yrs). Not much I didn't do....

 

[ch47dmechanic]

U.S. Army for 16 years, 1998-2014. Started as a turret mechanic on Paladins and switched to being a mechanic on CH-47 helicopters. Served basically all over the world during my time.

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