^

Erm... yeah, I was logged in as TM... but I'm sure the sentiments are shared between us!

bump for buddah...

Just because this might be the right place to share: I started my new assignment this month as a Platoon Sergeant at the Wounded Warrior Battalion here. It's keeping me busy as hell, but I'm really beginning to think I made the right choice in seeking out and accepting the billet.

There's a lot of guys who are hurt pretty bad physically, and I think we are all, to varying degrees, a little different mentally - not always for the best. I include myself, though I'm not combat wounded and managed to zig when I should have zigged.

There's also a good number of just plain injured Marines, not combat-related, who are either trying to recover in time to get back to their unit prior to deploying, or get fit enough to stay in and carry on their careers. It's pretty inspirational at times.

I'll admit outright I have no real point to this post, but I do want to say that if anyone has any questions at all about how we're taking care of our Wounded Warriors - whether you're military or not, or just curious about how your tax dollars are spent - you can feel free to PM or email me anytime. It might take me a bit to reply, but I'll likely answer any questions you have and more.

It's just something I'm proud of, because we're doing it RIGHT. I like to share that whenever I can.

bump for the 4th...

interesting story...

back in may, i finally was able to contact my niece's husband who is an air force captain in kabul. asked him what aunt phil or i could do for him or send him to make his life a little more comfortable. he said he really misses his irish whiskey, as the whole asian sub-continent is "dry." the flourescent tube lit up in my head. went to the liquor store and got a big bottle of jameson's. went to the drug store and got a big botltle of listerene, a tube of toothpaste, and a toothbrush. emptied the listerene bottle and flushed it out for a week. poured in the ol' jameson's, tightened the cap, put tape around the cap and neck, put it in a box with the toothpaste and toothbrush, took it to the "pack & mail," labeled the package "oral hygeine supplies," and sent it to afghanistan priority usps mail. only cost about six bucks.

three days later, captain "nameless" received it. made him smile :)

he came back on leave for 30 days on the 4th of july and we managed to get a round of golf in last saturday before i came down here. he golfed for free, and had lunch and "nineteenth-hole libations" covered by the golf course owner. hope to get out with him at least once more before he has to go back.

we can do a lot for our guys if we think about it...

Great post Uncle Phil, thank you for sharing. You are right. There is really a lot more we could be doing for our service men and women, both active and inactive.

I think we should be doing more for our guys too.

Nothing really happened while I was in, only thing near 'shit" I got into was going through Shellback initiation. For you non-sailors or "Wogs' out there that's when a sailor crosses the equator for the first time.

It starts at midnight with a call for all "Wogs" to report to "King Neptune" and his assistant "Davy Jones." At first it's just lot of crawling around getting your ass kicked by Shellbacks. They make paddles out of sections of 1 1/2" fire hose. You spend most of the night crawling around on the deck getting your "slimy Wog" ass whooped by "trustee Shellbacks." Around sun up they start running Wogs through a perverted obstacle course. Crawling through rotting food left over from the mess, getting locked in a "saltwater Coffin" locked in the "stocks" while more Shellbacks kick your ass. Then it's on to the onion toilet where you get to take a big tasty bite out of an onion floating in the bowl. Finally on you're knees you're lead up to "King Neptune" and forced to eat a cherry out of his belly button which is covered on axle grease. From then on you're a Shellback.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/...10902a.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3086/...acdfbd.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3178/...81e0bf.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/...9cafa9.jpg?v=0

shoot, i've been across the equator more than a few times, crossed a few datelines and meantimes in my day, and never had to put up with that, cowboy...

what branch did you say you were in? :)

Crossing the dateline gets you an "Order of the Golden Dragon." No BS involved in that, least not on the ship I was on.

But yeah, for some unknown reason the Navy gets a reputation as being full of whack jobs. I think it's all that time at sea with (supposedly) no alcohol. Part of the fun and games on my ship included shaving your left leg. I still have a bald spot where the hair just never grew back.

Along with the wall hanging you get a card. I've been told to hang onto that card, loose it and you go through the whole mess again. I still have mine.

Here's a list of line crossing associated with sailors:

Line-crossing ceremony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'll have you know that it's a fairly common gig with people back home. Ours was a Costco sized Listerine bottle filled with tequila. Mmmmm...

Also, I came across this little tidbit today... something that I'd jotted on a forum while I was deployed. It was in a letter sent to me by a guy from another forum I participated in while I was deployed.

I have seen those shellback certificates before and forgotten completely about them until seeing this thread. It was no doubt somewhere on the JFK (now decommed, may she rust in peace, oh wait that was already happening during my stay there :eek:)

I am grateful that my med cruises were in my single days with only a car waiting for me getting ocean rot (gotta love living right on the Florida coast) and have much much respect for those that are doing them now - I saw a few people get 'dear john' letters in the mail and would miss my family horribly now doing that 6+ month deployment.

And the water in the Persian Gulf is quite hot, the seawater injection temp was 97 degrees, and the mainspaces were hitting 130-140 easily. Much cooler to go the north anlantic. :thumbsup:
something pertinent here:
my only major post in my 'recollections' category on my blog about steaming into the heart of a hurricane

bump for veterans day 2008...

bump, prompted by the VA thread in MP...

I'm excited about the Post-9/11 GI Bill that we've been promised. It'll essentially double my check every month.

Which is good... since paying for big boy college is almost as bad as getting your leg blown off by an IED.

been there...done that...

i went through the same shit you're doing, cromp, 40 years ago...

Does it get easier?

nope...

you know that...

stay with school, do what you have to do your way, and take the ups and downs as they come...

we've all been there, but some of us are better prepared...

know what i mean?

Instructions: Remain calm.

Gotcha.

I actually had a dream the other night where I was going back into active duty service as a cook - no doubt caused by my current occupation of a cook. It was a bit odd as I was in engineering/smelled like diesel fuel most of my four years.

I sometimes have dreams where I'm back getting mortared and shot at in the desert. No volume, just blue light and moondust everywhere.

on occasion I have had dreams where I was walking around the ship again.

I don't know what to tell you Cromp. When I first redeployed I thought PTSD was a complete and total myth as all my guys seemed (to me) very well adjusted in comparison to the things they had seen/done. Nobody has turned into an emotional wreck, but over time most of us have been a little off. I still wake up at the slightest noise, my startle response is through the roof and I have some dreams. Not real nightmares, just slightly uncomfortable ones where I will be trying to shoot a bad guy and my weapon won't fire. Other guys had other problems but have slowly worked through them, though none were the classic basket cases depicted in books.

I personally think people who are not truly prepared for what they saw/did are more prone to issues.

Slims: When I said get easier... I was referring to civilian life and relationships.

The things I can't put into a "task condition standard / purpose direction motivation" template.

I still miss the mark 19's making a thunk noise everytime you shot them. I am glad to be out, but Now I work for a civilian company but they have a store on POST and here I am again. hehe.

I always want to talk people in getting out though, since my experience was a good one, but I just didnt like how the military molds you a certain way. it goes against my ways of always growning and learning new things type of thing. I guess all the military aspect of it, I did not want to learn. not all of it that is. But since they dont know i was prior service, they would be like, "who the heck does he think he is" type of deal. So I just keep to myself and my mouth shut. haa

First time I noticed this thread. I am actually deployed currently but am only a few days away from demob...

It has been a interesting 13 months, but suprisingly time flew by. So after putting my life on hold for over a year, I can't wait to get back and move on.

How about the where / what, bro? We all like to hear the buzz from the sandbox.

i was in al anbar for most of my deployment....anbar is pretty damn safe now...i think in the months i was there my area only had like 12 sig acts...

now i am in mosul, we have on the average more than 12 sig acts a day....

we were doing the PiTT mission working with IP's and ISF in general.....

Hah, I was in Mosul in '03. The bad old days.

Ha, knew there had to be a thread for veterans somewhere in TFP, so I'm a-bumpin' it.http://i362.photobucket.com/albums/o...Funny/bump.jpg

got this one too, fug...

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/general...-were-you.html

Update: Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) is taking applications starting in May, payments begin in August.

Huge difference in $$$ if I've read it correctly. Nice to know I'll go from making $1400 to roughly $2500 a month.

Yeehaw.

Thanx, UP :thumbsup:

hehe...

i started at 135.00/mo, ended up at 225.00/mo...

worked 20-40 hrs. a week but didn't owe nobody nothin' on graduation day...

'course, i had to pay rent, food and tuition...

and beer...

Illinois Veteran's Grant covered my tuition, which was sweeeeet

Yeah, Chapter 33 covers 100% tuition, $1000 a year for books, and monthly rent at the zip code of the school.

Rockin' time to be gettin' outta the army these days. Only noticeable good thing the Bush II era did for us, IMRO.

Did you get GI Bill on top of that? Wow, I bet you were "ridin' dirty" for a while.

Yep, but twenty years ago the benefits of the ACF and GI Bill weren't nearly as lucrative. Still, if I remember correctly, it was about 500 dollars a month, which went a long way towards rent, etc.

bump for the weekend...

...i'm here to say a big "THANK YOU" to ALL you veterans for serving our country to protect our citizens and our freedoms. Words cannot describe my gratitude. You all rock!
:icare:

This is a place for everyone, thanks!

---------- Post added at 12:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 AM ----------

Saw this on CNN this morning. Found it interesting-

Map the Fallen

Thanks for that, Tully.

If for some reason I don't get around to posting tomorrow--have a good Memorial Day, veterans and civilians alike.