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Take care of yourself Steve H
i remember being told a story about a vc high commander wheter or not it was true i don’t know. heck i don’t even know where it should be retold????????? it has something to do with flying lesson’s
Lt. and everyone, Sorry I’ve been missing in action but it’s been a lousy year so far. My mother-in-law has terminal brain cancer, and we took her in to live with us. She needs care 24/7, so my wife (a nurse) took a leave of absence from work to care for her mother. I am now working a total of six different jobs, and don’t hardly have a free moment to myself. I’m working two different Police Jobs, teaching for Temple University (Constables and the Police Academy), teaching Lethal Weapons to Security Guards, and I just started teaching for Lackawanna College in Scranton (Constables, to start, who knows what else). I’m bouncing around between all three shifts, and I’ve been going days with only an hour and a half to two hours sleep. Frankly, my ass is dragging. And I don’t see any end to it any time soon. I’ll try and keep a closer watch on the board in the future. I hope everyone is doing well. HOMOKI.
GOD BLESS you steve
Russ: I haven’t seen the movie, but I’ve thought about the matter some over the years.
Memories of some LZ’s still can pucker me’
I think crediting the VC/NVA with targeting officers may be going too far. I wish we had had that ability, but just seeing them was pretty rare.
I do know that platoon leaders simply had to move around during firefights to be effective, perhaps raising their visibility and vulnerability.
Early on, 2/1 had a quick and seemingly excessive number of platoon leaders killed.
Of Charlie Company’s about 70 KIA, 5 were LT’s (compared to 3 in A and 4 in B); I don’t know if that is out of balance.
I think the “16 minutes” is just an easliy passed-on myth going back to WWII and Korea.
My Infantry OCS Class graduated 144 in August, 1965, about the perfect time to ensure Vietnam service at the company level. There are five of us on the Wall, a number that has alway seemed both low and lucky to me.
In my whole time in the field of 52 1/2 weeks never landed or took off from a hot LZ. Must not have been as common as we might think. Anyone ever land or take off from one????
Russ,
I don’t know that I ever flew into what was actually known as a hot LZ so I guess I can’t play with this statistic but I think it is unrealistic unless the same stat applied to all soldiers going into a hot LZ. I believe that it would be difficult to pick out officers in this scenario but If you looked at the daily routine firefights and ambushes I bet the attrition rate of LTs probably jumped as they were obviously targeted. There aren’t any such statistics kept so I believe this is pure fiction. On the wall are over 58,000 names roughly 6600 of which are officers so I believe that would have to be a disproportionate amount of the population. I must admit I had some darn good incountry NCO trainers that helped keep me alive. Guys like Larry, Chuck and Al Firman. One of the stats I came acroos that really knocked my socks off was that 74% of those who fought in Vietnam said they would do it again even knowing the outcome.
Any of you seen the movie Rules of Engagement, with Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson..? They posed an interesting question…….what was the life expectancy of a ButterBar in Vietnam…? Turns out to be the life expectancy of a 2nd Lt. going into a hot LZ in Nam. LT & Ty, you probably know the answer……….16 minutes. I don’t think this is movie fiction…..do you..?
wb thnx will check it out in a bit
Hey Steve,
Where the heck have you been?? I tried to get you to respond earlier to a message! Hope all is well!
Thanks Steve!
Guys, I got an email that has a link which takes you to a site where someone took the trouble to copy just about every song that was released during the Vietnam War Era. I hope you enjoy it: http://www.micom.net/songs
HOMOKI
i find that i really miss all those fly-overs the schnoocks[sp] there has been some huey action ////of course i’m talking about here at the house.
Happy birthday Ed [[belated ]] but a wish is still a wish. n-joy larry
Thanks LT and Harp. Marie and I played some golf and then went out for some ribs.
I’m already looking forward to our reunion in September.
Happy birthday Fast Eddie!
It seems like yesterday was Fast Eddie Davis’s birthday. Happy birthday, Ed.
I am getting ready to hook up with Chuck Missar and Ben Buehler in San Antinio this week. Ben said we are scheduled to do some wild boar hunting.
good news had the heart balloned and stinted————-bp back to normal/ breathing isn’t quite as labored larry
Jim,
I see by the roster info that you live downstate from me in Decataur, IL. What platoon and what year did you serve with C/2/1? Have you given any thought to attending the Americal reunion in Lombard in October?
I sure will LT, I do quite often and relay your thoughts. I’ve been to seee them come in several times and I have to admit that I always tear up. It is always such an awesome crowd and loud music, party crowd……………………………..something we missed out on. They deserve the whole thing so much it just brings a big lump to my throat and tears to my eyes. Never try to hide it either and I think most people look at me and understand now. On a lighter note, although I was airborne trained, we are going skydiving, the three of us Saturday. Tandem of course, but will be a great experience to share with them. 13000 ft, we only jumped from 1500 ft and it was over 40 years ago.
Jim,
Thank you for the birthday wishes! PLEASE TELL YOUR SONS THANK YOU FOR SERVING!!!
Happy birthday LT! I’m out in San Diego visiting. Got twins sons out here. One a Gunny in the Marines and the other a Chief in the Navy that just got in on the USS Carl Vinson yesterday.
hope this special day brings you wishes of wealth and happiness and plenty of ‘remember when moments’ HAPPY BIRTHDAY brother. ps hope your daugher is getting plenty of signatures.
Happy Birthday LT. Remember, I am not far behind you.
Bill,
I guess by all standards I am now officially a senior citizen at 65!! Went out this morning to get a couple of benefits old folks get, free metra pass and a senior reducition in my property taxes. If you bump those up against some of the disadvantages of getting old(more aches and pains) I don’t know if it is worth it. I had flashbacks this morning to the huge drunk I went on when I turned 21. If I tried that now it would surely kill me.
Love Yah Brother!
Happy Birthday , LT….. You are getting to be a real old-timer….. May you enjoy this birthday and have many more.
I read over the weekend that 46% of families do not pay income taxes for a number of reasons! Found that amazing. Understood the reasons would never have guessed the percentage to be so high.
Someon asked what rank Glen is. I think he is E-8.
I think a happy birthday is in order for LT Ruesh.
I just have 4 darn days until income tax seas is over and I can get these chains off me keeping me at my desk!
Brothers!
I need your help as you can see in my posting below! It is an easy way to maybe make a better life for some deserving kids! Please take a moment of your computer time daily for the next few weeks and give us a hand. We need to be in the top ten vote getters to win and now are 38th.
Thank you very much for helping!!!
http://refresheverything.com/boardsforwestoak
On it LT
I’m sure Glen would have made a much better commander than what we have been used to in the past and the present.