Are you or have you ever been in the Armed Forces?

evangilder · 04-19-2005, 12:24 AM

I hear you Les about the hero deal. I think if I was to put a label on you, I would call you a patriot. Fixing **** under fire is the worst, at least you got recognized for it.

Nice rack!

trackend · 04-19-2005, 12:58 AM

Thats an impressive haul you have there Les. You too Adler.
Well the best example I know Skim of reluctance to dish out the gongs by UK forces is my old man he recieved his far east campaign medal in 2000 at the age of eighty only 50 odd years late. My service record is some what lower key by comparison to you fellas.

evangilder · 04-19-2005, 01:09 AM

I don't know if I would call it lower key. I commend you serving your country as I would anyone else. Sometimes it's luck of the draw whether or not you get in a situation to get decorated. I know there are places I went, where things got AFU, some guys did some incredibly brave things, yet there were no awards or decorations. Other times, guys got them just for being in the right place at the right time.

But anyone who has worn a uniform for the country should be thanked, and saluted.

We all had a job to do, and did it. The heroes are the guys who didn't make it back.

trackend · 04-19-2005, 02:15 AM

Very true Evan the cannon fodder fellas always have been my heroes and some people may forget them but I for one and I'm sure lots of blokes on here will be grateful to there sacrifice (I would have said pray for them but that would me being a hypocrite as I'm a devout atheist) the only thing I will say is that my service was as a professional soldier so when I took the queens shilling I was fully aware of my actions and what consequences could follow. I admire the hostilities only service personnel whom got the call up and had no joice yet after very limited training proved themselves equal to and in many cases better than the time serving soldiers,sailors,or airmen having said that a week of the real deal is worth 2 years of maneuvers you learn or you pay the price not just a bollocking from the Sergent.

evangilder · 04-19-2005, 07:10 AM

They do give invaluable training that will certainly help to keep you alive. But when the lead starts singing is when you see the real character of your buddies. I have seen very brave men of all sizes, and cowards of all sizes. I wondered if I would ever get into a situation like that and if so, how I would hold up. I managed. I wasn't Audie Murphy, but I didn;t cower in a fetal position either. Alot of times, it's just a job that you have to do. You don;t like it, and you aren't supposed to, but if you don't do it, someone else will have to. You don't want to let your buddies down.

That is one thing that I am still fascinated with. They get you to work like a well-oiled machine and make you close enough to perform tasks to save your buddy that you were just bickering with the week before over something stupid. Some of these tasks you wouldn't normally do. But then, when the fit hits the shan, you don't necessarily have any choice.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 04-19-2005, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evangilder

I hear you Les about the hero deal. I think if I was to put a label on you, I would call you a patriot. Fixing s**t under fire is the worst, at least you got recognized for it.

Nice rack!

That I agree with. I would rather be alive then have a silver star, bronze star or medal of honor. Hell Les already has one that I hope I never get and that is the Purple Heart.

FLYBOYJ · 04-19-2005, 09:29 AM

My brother is a 2 tour Viet Nam vet, Silver Star, etc., did some heroic stuff during Tet, 1968, held some bridge by himself overnight, killed something like 40 NVA regs, never got the exact full details. I found out about this from a magazine article and eventually read his citation. He never talks about this, but when I asked him about it he said, "I no hero, I'm a survivor."

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 04-19-2005, 09:40 AM

Thats what most of the ones I have met say.

evangilder · 04-19-2005, 11:18 AM

Me too. There are guys that I have talked to that have performed heroic tasks in extraordinary circumstances, but they don't consider themselves heroes. I wouldn't want to be called one either. The problem with the label is that people expect great things out of you for everything once you have that label. To me, a hero is an ordinary man who did extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances.

FLYBOYJ · 04-19-2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evangilder

Me too. There are guys that I have talked to that have performed heroic tasks in extraordinary circumstances, but they don't consider themselves heroes. I wouldn't want to be called one either. The problem with the label is that people expect great things out of you for everything once you have that label. To me, a hero is an ordinary man who did extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances.

Well said! When my brother got back from Viet Nam we was a mess and I think hanging the "hero" image on him would of really pushed him over the edge. It took a good 12 or 13 years for my brother to put his "demons" behind him.

evangilder · 04-19-2005, 11:24 AM

Some stuff never leaves, it just softens over time. It took me quite some time to be able to watch fireworks without flinching. I still do, but not as much. The really loud ones get to me still. The piccolo petes are the worst for me though.

trackend · 04-19-2005, 12:23 PM

I'm fortunate that I,ve not had anything remotely like that guys but I remember my old man used wake up shouting out as he kept having night mares that he was in the rafters of a room and the Japs where trying to bayonet him from below and it wasn't until the early 60's that they eventually went. It was strange because although he saw service in Malaya,Sumatra and the Malacca straights he saw a lot more combat in the European theater especially with 3 & 4 Commando he told me that he believed it was just that he went to the far East after Europe so it ended up being the trigger. All I remember is it use to scare the crap out of me as a 9 year old to hear him at 2 in the morning.

Nonskimmer · 04-19-2005, 04:27 PM

I've been forunate that way too, trackend. To date, I've managed to avoid the fifth floor of the base hospital (the mental distress ward). I pray that it stays that way. There are still a couple of guys from that sub fire we had a few months back who can't quite cope. I don't think they'll ever set foot on a submarine again. I hope for their sake they can manage to eventually put the bulk of it behind them.

trackend · 04-20-2005, 01:49 AM

I tend suffer from clostraphobia so I couldn't work in a sub or below decks to save my life. In an emergency I would be as usefull as a tooth ache.

evangilder · 04-20-2005, 07:18 AM

I applaud anyone who can do sub duty. I'm not claustrophobic, but I couldn't imagine being in an air filled can surrounded by water for that long. I like the sunshine too much!