Tom made me remember sumthin

[DanG]

Thanks, Hay, but I wouldn't have traded places with you guys for nuthin! You guys took every risk along with us, but we got to leave! ;D

[Norm]

It's always amazed me how someone can fly a helicoptor. Now an airplane is easy (except for the landing part) you can take your hands off the controls and the darn thing will for the most part just fly along. I'll bet you can't do that in a huey. The National Guard does touch and gos at the local airport here. You can always tell on the radio it's them cause their voice sounds so chopped up from the vibration. Always a pleasure to sit in the runup area and watch.

I never would have thought that being up to your armpits in a canal would be the safe spot but I'll bet being bit is better than being shot.

[karl]

Hats off to to you gentlemen!
I turned 18 in ' 70- #362 in the lottery. knew then that Somebody was looking out for me. Had not a clue as to how much at the time!
Worked with a number of homecoming Vets over the years-Many are my personal heros-learned a lot about what is really important and how much a soul can stand from them. Kinda makes my problems look petty.
Several have passed on now- most as a result of having served in the "conflict", some from physical, some from emotional trama.
I could get pretty wound up and go on for hours/pages, but the real reason I am posting at all is to say thanks to all Vets from the bottom of my heart.

[Gus]

couldn't have said it better myself Karl. What I have is  a direct result of what many gave up. I am forever greatful. It's a good thread.
Gus

[Buzz-sawyer]

This is an exerpt of a post made to another vet on this forum...I hope its content isnt offensive but I post it as a tribute to Jerry and many others like him.....

About comming home...My buddy Jerry was over ther and (just to let you know) saw some tough times there ...like when he was drivin along with his pal in a truck and a 7.62 hit his buddy in the neck real hard ...... he said he remembered so much blood in the cab that he poured it out of his own boots..
Latter on .when he came home from Nam,  he visited our local watering hole, ..... a bunch of hippies started calling him a babby killer and a pig....Jerry said he had a bayonet in his boot razor sharp (probably since he was still in kill or be killed mode ...right outta da bush)
Any way, he said he was pretty sure he coulda killed em (he could of !! ) but he just let em beat him ,one had a bat....He said he didnt have it in him to even fight back ...now Jerry is and was no kinda wimp what so ever....I asked him why and he said since he had seen to much killin already....He didnt have it in him any more to kill
 
this story has affected my life more than I can say
Don

[Haytrader]

One story leads to another... ;)

I hesitate to continue this thread as it doesn't have much to do with sawing or trees and I wonder how many are really interested.  
Buzz, your story reminded me of when I came home. I was sitting in the airport in LA in the wee hours of the mornin. I had a couple hours to wait and there weren't many people around. I had the rifle I acquired in Cambodia wrapped in a canvas scabbard laying on the airlines counter as was required. I was sitting with my back against the outside wall (this is somthing I still do) when some 5 or 6 young hippies came in the terminal. They were just out havin fun and one grabbed a wheel chair and another got in it and here they came. Although they didn't call me names, they made some gestures, pointed at me, and snickered. The hair on my neck was standing up but remember, I had been gone for a year and didn't really know what to expect. I was gonna let it slide till one of them noticed my rifle laying on the counter. Like I said, they were just out havin fun. Well, I waited till the last minute as they got closer to the counter where my souvenir lay. I had gone through to much to get that rifle, even the offer of $600 from the MP that had to sign papers for me to get it out of country (guess he wanted to be able to tell war stories.........grrrrr). I didn't have a bayonet strapped to my leg which is probably a good thing. I will say this, a couple of them was kinda needin a wheel chair when security got there. The security guys apologized for what happened and asked if I needed anything.
I appreciated that.

[Wes]

 When a  friend of mine got off the plane in LA he got his bags and went outside for a cab,once outside he met up with some members of a certain well known motorcycle club,they welcomed the marine home and offered him a ride anywhere he wanted to go. He declined and got a cab, to this day it makes him smile thinking about the warm welcome he recieved by them.

[Fla._Deadheader]

One of those very same club members was one of my best friends during training. We talked a lot and they were not as bad as made out to be. Of course, there are exceptions.

[Wes]

 Ive met alot of good people like that also, no BS

[Gus]

Ours was not a military family but very patriotic. We were raised to have nothing but respect for our military men and women. Was now different during Nam. I remember watching the news and Dad would be just livid when he would see anti war demonstrations. In his eyes it showed no respect for the names that would be seen at the end of the newscast; those of the region that perished in Nam that day.
I was 17 when they quit the draft. I never did have to sign up. I was always kinds nervous watching the news back then. Always anticipating my turn. It never materialized.

[pigman]

When I was on taxpayer payed vacation in south east Asia in 1969, I was a pick and shovel  with the 101st. On one occasion I was told to cut a 50in tree with an 18in chainsaw. I told the sargent I didn't think I could  :(, but I could blow it down with some C4  .I placed 60lb against the tree and set it off with an electric blasting cap and a very long wire.After the limbs stopped falling and the dust settled I could see the tree was still standing  >:(. In training we were taught to use these complicated formulas on how much c4 to use to blow things up; C4= P where P means plenty. Being a stupid hillbilly  ;D, I must have messed up on the math. Put another 60lb in the hole made by the first blast and set it off. Tree came down and the chunks of wood went in all directions  8) 8). I don't recomend c4 for splitting large logs,it is so high velocity that it would make spinters instead of splitting the log.
Bob the ex pig farmer

[DanG]

Playing with BIG firecrackers, and other socially unacceptable pastimes, made the whole trip worthwhile. ;D I signed up for the adventure, and was not disappointed in the least.

Hey Bob!  What do you feed those ex-pigs, anyway?  ???

[ADfields]

Well boys I was under age for all that fun in Asia by a couple of years.   When I was 18 I wanted to join the the corp and be like my Dad was in WW2.   When I told this to my Dad he was madder at me then I ever saw the man before and told me I was NOT to join up as he had paid enough for us both when he was on Okinawa.   I stayed out for him but to this day I wish I had went in any way.   It was not the draft or nothing but I feel like I shirked a duty in my life by not joining nun the less. :(   I have the greatest respect for all y'all that served and thank you with all my hart!!!
Andy

[pigman]

DanG, I feed the ex pigs ex feed of course ;D. Since you were a chopper pilot in RVN ,I want to know why you pilots wanted the L Z,s to be so large. We would clear a spot in the woods at least 20ft by 20ft and the pilots always said they were not big enough to land in .  We figured the big saw on top could just cut a path to land. ;D  That sound of whomp whomp of the rotors off in the distance sure sounded good after several days out hiking in the woods.  8) 8)
Bob the sawyer

[DanG]

Do ya buy yer ex-feed at a ex-store? ??? :D :D

We didn't p'tickly care for them 20x20 PZ's, 'cause the rotor span of a Huey is 48'. Most of the ships we had, except for the brand new ones, had grooves in the ends of the blades from cutting limbs. It makes a helluva weedwhacker, with a 48' disc and a 1300hp turbine engine, but it don't come with inserted teeth. :-/

It's always better to be appreciated when you're coming in, than when you're going out.

[pigman]

DanG. Come to think of it, I think they wanted the LZs at least 50ft wide and 60ft long to allow for the tail rotor. That would give you 2ft to spare. 8)
Adfields,  I did not do any joining up. The President of the United States sent me a personal invitation to serve in his Army  I was 23 and still in school. Some people were calling me a draft dodger, but I was just a little slow in getting my edumacation. ;) The draft board said I had all the edumacation I needed to serve in the army. >:( But after 19 months and 1day in the  army,14mo and 2 days in  RVN, they decided I was right and let me out.  8) 8) 8)   Would not have missed all the fun for any thing, but I don't want to do it over. ;D
Bob the builder of fine furniture

[etat]

I've got a cousin who's birthday is only a couple of months from mine.  We went to sign up for the draft on the same day.  They turned us away and said the draft had been stopped. Kind of scared us because we didn't know for sure that they were on the up and up or not.  So we checked around and yep, they'd just quit makin folks sign up.  I wanted to join  and dad had a fit.  So I too changed my mind and still get a feeling of regret for not serving sometimes.  I had been telling my parents for a long time I would NOT join the National Guard to keep from going, and there was a fight every time but I did mean what I said about that.I have the utmost respect for those who are and have served.

[Norm]

The same year they stopped the draft I turned 18, my oldest brother enlisted in the Navy and another one joined the NG. My dad served during WWII so I always felt like I didn't do my part.