Apparently my efforts to call upon a fellow veteran on veterans day is a little to "personal" for the mods here...figured the thread would turn into this anyway, but knew that Blue LEDZ has already served....

For those of you that have served this country SOUND OFF

US Army
3 years as a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne
4 years as a Bomb Disposal Tech in EOD
Still happily serving in the Florida National Guard

 

Hey, just in case you didn't already hear it:

Thanks.

I have to respect someone that has the ***** to serve active in Airborne.

 

representin' the louisiana air national guard right here. F-15 crew chief as you can see by my avatar. i've grown up around military my entire life. my dad has been in the marines for the past 27 years.

 

SERVED AND PROUD OF IT.....U.S. Navy..... 6 years. Served onboard the USS Enterprise CVN-65 for 4 1/2 years

 

Sure, it matters in my book Foxy. Lots of people don't realize the sacrifice and dedication of the family of a service member. For people that serve and have a family, it really is a family effort and the families deserve as much thanks as the service member.

Sweet!! EOD was the best friggin job I ever had...we got to blow up tons and tons of stuff all the time , but you don't have to play the silly Army games. Almost wish I would have stayed active duty doing it, but some things just don't work out. I am in the National Guard in Air Defense Artillery....Avengers and Stingers, but I am slated for Officer Candidate School in April.

Thanks!! It was a very cool job as well. Nothing like being loaded down with equipment and parachute to the point you can barely walk, waddling your way to the door and falling out into the darkness.

That's sweet dude....are responsible for the whole aircraft or any particular portion?

Your dad is a lifetime marine huh? Was he celebrating the Marine Corps birthday this weekend?

Sir Nuke.....served on the Enterprise huh?! That's a pretty damn big boat. You say you were in for 6 years, 4.5 on the Enterprise....that wasn't all sea time was it?

 

What about the Canadians on this board who served? Are they any less important than US military members?
I actually think I'm the only one

 

YES, it was. as you know...or may know...I work in NUCLEAR POWER...and did in the Navy as well. I was the supervisor of one of the four propulsion plants and an operator/maintenance guy of the plant as well. the Nuke billet had a 5/2 sea/shore rotation. but the first year and a half I was in I was going to school...so I wasn't even in long enough to rotate to shore duty....I got married while I was in...and had my first child 11 months before I got you...and spent 8 months of her 11 months alive away from home. that was the only part I didn't like about the navy...and I got out so that I could spend my life WITH my family.

AND YOU ARE SOOOOOOOO RIGHT about needing to thank the families too....not only the wives or husbands of service members ....but their kids too....they all make sacrifices. Its not an easy life, and it takes a very special kind of person/family to live it.

:{D

 

Nov. 11th is Rememberance Day here in Soviet Canuckistan.
It's the same idea as Veteran's Day.
We pause on The 11th hour to reflect on all those who went on in defence of freedom to give the ultimate sacrifice so we can live without fear.
It is no longer considered important enough by our government to be entitled to a holiday.It's just a line on that date in their calendar now, nothing worth focusing on apparently.
Can you tell how I feel about that?

 

spent 4 years in the corps, unfortantely i was a desk jocky, POG and proud. but every Marine is a rifle man. so we always stayed up on training and shooting. it was fun. would have stayed in if i didn't get married and have a child. but i still have 2 1/2 years of inactive reserve so i can still get called up if **** goes down.

 

I'm still proudly in the US Navy...I'm a Hospital Corpsman...for those of you in othere branches of the service I'm a medic...I basically spent 3 yrs with a Marine grunt battalion 3rd Battalion 4th Marines 29 Palms California...now I'm stationed in beutiful Oak Harbor Naval Hospital

 

Amen brother, that's why I got out!!

A bit bitter?! LOL!! I would be too. There was once this lady at the movie theater working the concession stand, she over heard me telling my wife (at the time) that they didn't have a military discount, she then remarks to me that I shouldn't be at the movies I should be out defending the country.....I had to be restrained from ripping her across the counter. Some people just don't appreciate their way of life and why its that way, ya know?

freekwonder nothing wrong with that....especially in the Marine Corps. Definately no service member is as proud of their branch as the Marines are. I know Army guys that seem like they don't realize they are even in the Army...LOL.

ZuMP5 bet you are happy to be out of that Marine battalion huh?! Life is a little more laid back for ya at the hospital I hope.

Oh yeah, Blue LEDz....National Guard is the sweet setup here man. I have my active duty GI bill which I get a pay check for every month. But since I am in the Guard, which pays tuition, that money goes in my pocket, its great, my part time evening job is school!! If you ever do go active duty, try with all your might to go EOD, you won't regret it, I promise.

 

that is true. i have met a lot of proud soldiers, sailors, and fly boys but there are a lot more proud Marines running around. luckly I work for the government and still deal with the Corps on a daily basis, and get to hang out with all my Marine buddies. But know I am a GS-11 and out rank all of them Like the saying goes "Once a Marine, always a Marine". I also have a lot of respect for anybody with the ***** to join the service. luckily I havnt ran into anybody that dislikes the militray cause if they were stupid enought to mouth off to me, I dont know what I would do. I do get a lot of thank yous though. my family orginally had a problem with it cause i have an army/air force family. but they got over it when they saw how it changed me for the better. I am only the second Marine in my families history. The other Marine was my Uncle and he was "lucky" (if you can say that) to storm the beachs of Gaudacanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa in WW2.

 

you're totally right about people not realizing the sacrifices military families endure. i've actually enjoyed all the traveling i've done though. here's a quick list: san diego --> puerto rico --> san diego --> georgia --> san diego --> japan --> san diego --> hawaii --> san diego --> louisiana --> texas --> florida --> louisiana --> hopefully back to san diego in another year. i'll be joining to cali air national guard or i might go active duty. either way, i'm shootin' for officer training school.

i'm pretty much responsible for the required inspections and maintenance of the aircraft, although if there's something major that needs to be repaired, the back shop specialists (hydraulics, sheetmetal, avionics, etc....) will be called to do the required work.

yep my dad's a lifer in the marines. he was going to retire, but he'll probably do his 30 years in service, and then retire.

 

This is why I joined EOD!!



We had a blast sinking this thing. Here is the C-4 bundles we used to sink it. 16 bundles each consisting of five 1.25lb blocks.



C4 doesn't cause a fireball like that, that's all Hollywood. There were reporters present and we didn't want to let them down so we spread 15 five gallon fuel cans full of gas across the top. You can see them in the red cans....if you look at the top picture along the water line you can see the small splashes where the C4 was blowing holes in the hull.