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Vietnam Veterans Day


pipedreams
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1 minute ago, tous said:

We don't let just anyone sail upon our seas.

Some are better at sitting in a big hole.

:biggrin:

 

In high school it was obvious that I was going into service because of the draft.  My quandary was which branch I would choose.  It never occurred to me to avoid it.

I thought that in the Air Force I wouldn't get to fly, and the support people all were on the ground and in many respects like the Army.  No where else to go.

The Army was a ground force, and the best they could do would be to fight from holes in the ground.  If your in a hole in the ground and also threatened, you had no where else to go.

Ahhh.  But the Navy!  The Navy served on ships at sea and when the ships were threatened you could jump into the ocean.  I could swim pretty good, so I thought this was my best choice.  It meant that I had one other place to go if things go too bad.  It's good to have options.

I feel it worked out pretty good for me.  Hell, we couldn't even march, the ship was under 20 foot beam and 180 feet long with no real open areas.  It actually was kind'a fun. 

And because it was a Mine Sweeper, nobody in the Navy could make you serve more than 2 years, it was defined as "arduous sea duty".  So my "whole two years in the Navy" were served on that little ship.  To me it was like two years on a fishing boat with all my radio equipment.  Yes, I confess, I did some "hamming" from that ship.  I had a real good time.

All I had to do was eat, sleep, do my job (which was the same thing I had done as a hobby for a number of years already) and sleep.  One Radioman per ship was a pretty good deal for that one Radioman.

By international law, the ship couldn't go to sea without me.  So I had a pretty good deal going.  The worst the Captain could punish me with, was to have me "go to my room".

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