"I can't tell you about that"

I hope I haven't given anyone false ideas of my service by keeping low-key and not saying much. It's true I was in Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield, but just didn't think anyone wanted to hear about carpentry, masonry, locksmithing, and welding.
 
Cluster F said:
i find that everyone i meet since i have been out of the Marines that are Marines as well were all either Recon or Sniper. Hmmmmmmmmm! The majority is all sniper. Odd one of the smallest MOS and they all happen to be from MA.
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Yeah, they hang out with all the Rangers and SF guys I meet!

I had a neighbor in Southie who was in his 30's and very overweight. He told me at a cookout he was in Recon an graduated Ranger School. Then he took me to see his "I Love Me" wall and damn if he didn't have a genuine Ranger School diploma! And pics etc to back up everything he said. Could have knocked me over with a feather!
 
The closest I got to Recon was driving them to the Central training area (cta) in a deuce 1/2 .Nice guys but not right in the head.Would I want them around when shtf ? Absolutely. Would I want them living next door to my house ? Hell no !
 
MadRussian said:
I just don't think people really understand unless they've been there themselves.

So when ever I hear someone telling stories about this and that to someone who isn't prior service - that's a big red flag for me.
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+1

Not only that, but talking with non-prior service usually elicits the very uncomfortable "thank you for your service" response and, on occasion, the retarded "Did you kill anyone?" question. Usually the first is made with sincerity and the second in ignorance, but I think for many vets, they'd rather avoid the whole situation and simply not say anything at all.
 
Tim L said:
The closest I got to Recon was driving them to the Central training area (cta) in a deuce 1/2 .Nice guys but not right in the head.Would I want them around when shtf ? Absolutely. Would I want them living next door to my house ? Hell no !
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You're no fun.[rofl] try having their barracks right next to yours.[laugh]
 
bfm said:
Getting to drive a real HMMWV, not the civilian Hummer version
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FIFY :)

For what it's worth, I'd take a Hummer over a HMMWV any day! Try driving a HMMWV at 65 MPH. You can do it for about 15 minutes before the gear box starts smoking. Plus, those 2" thick canvas seats do a number on your ass after awhile.
 
In between rip roaring drunks and bar fights, I directed traffic and wrote parking tickets. About once every few months, I got to play real cop.
Usually several times a month, other MPs got play real cop with me.
 
Lip said:
I dunno, my grand pa wouldn't talk about his service at all. Found out he was a tail gunner on a B-17 during WW2. Shot down 3 times. The quiet cool. He was my hero.
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This was my Great-Uncle Dick:

UD.jpg


He was a real quiet dude and usually wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful. Very friendly, just quiet.

Anyway, he and I were chatting at a family wedding about ten years ago and I asked what he did during the war.

Turned out he was an engineer/gunner on B17. Since he was a smaller sized guy they stuck him in a turret.

I asked him if he was on many bombing runs over Germany and he said "Oh yeah, more than I care to think about."

One baddass dude.

He passed away a few years ago.

RIP.
 
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Mr Weebles said:
This was my Great-Uncle Dick:

7


He was a real quiet dude and usually wouldn't say shit if he had a mouthful. Very friendly, just quiet.

Anyway, he and I were chatting at a family wedding about ten years ago and I asked what he did during the war.

Turned out he was an engineer/gunner on B17. Since he was a smaller sized guy they stuck him in a turret.

I asked him if he was on many bombing runs over Germany and he said "Oh yeah, more than I care to think about."

One baddass dude.

He passed away a few years ago.

RIP.
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Lost mine in 84, they don't make them like that anymore.
 
All service in which one received an honorable discharge should be regarded with respect. I really get sick of the "professional veteran" who may not have even made it out of basic training, or had some kind of combat service support job, yet pretends to be some kind of exotic operator. The real people who do that sort of thing, don't talk about it.

Along those lines, I get tired of how we now view anyone who served in WWII as a hero. There were many heroes in that conflict, but to quote George C. Scott in the movie "Patton" there were a lot of folks who "shoveled s**t in Louisiana." They rendered honorable service, helped their country achieve victory and contributed to the defeat of enemies bent on our destruction whether they were clerk-typists at a repo depot at Ft Dix, or a cook at Ft Lewis, that should be enough and they should be respected and remembered, but they are not heroes.

Back in 1997 when I was stationed at Ft Gordon, GA I saw a scraggly looking chap collecting funds for a Viet Nam Veterans' of America fundraiser. He was in front of the PX and permission to be there. I was in BDUs, and I think I slipped a dollar in his can. I asked him when he was in, he replied "1968" I said that I was in back in '68 but that I didn't go to Viet Nam that they sent me to Alaska instead. He glared back with "you're a REMF then"...somewhat taken aback by his hostile attitude I asked "what did you do?"...He replied "I was in the Air Force and I worked in the motor pool at Ton Son Nut (not sure of spelling now) Air Base"....yeah, he was a real front line soldier. Him calling me a REMF was like the pot calling the kettle black. (yeah I know they took some mortar and rocket attacks on the Air Bases...but still). A legend in this own mind, I suppose.

Since I spent most of my career in MI and still do some work related to intelligence, I can fairly quickly tell who the phonies are.

Mark L.
 
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mark056 said:
Back in 1997 when I was stationed at Ft Gordon, GA I saw a scraggly looking chap collecting funds for a Viet Nam Veterans' of America fundraiser. He was in front of the PX and permission to be there. I was in BDUs, and I think I slipped a dollar in his can. I asked him when he was in, he replied "1968" I said that I was in back in '68 but that I didn't go to Viet Nam that they sent me to Alaska instead. He glared back with "you're a REMF then"...somewhat taken aback by his hostile attitude I asked "what did you do?"...He replied "I was in the Air Force and I worked in the motor pool at Ton Son Nut (not sure of spelling now) Air Base"....yeah, he was a real front line soldier. Him calling me a REMF was like the pot calling the kettle black. (yeah I know they took some mortar and rocket attacks on the Air Bases...but still). A legend in this own mind, I suppose.

Since I spent most of my career in MI and still do some work related to intelligence, I can fairly quickly tell who the phonies are.Mark L.
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Some interesting stats. Not sure of the accuracy but nonetheless it wouldn't surprise me if it's true. It's so damn cool to be a Vietnam Vet I guess. Didn't used to be that way in the 60's and 70's and even into the 80's.

Interesting Census Stats and "Been There" Wanabees:

1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures).

During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country was: 9,492,958.
As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between '95 and '00. That's 390 per day. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT.
 
My Grandfather and one uncle were in the Navy. Grandpa is a Korean war vet. He never talked about it till i was in my 20's. My uncle in the Navy never talks about anything related to it. Another Uncle was drafted during Vietnam ( i never knew till i was in my mid 20's and only found out cuz my dad told me) and my little cousin also served. Both were in the Army. As far as i know i have one other cousin who was in the Navy. He's MSP now. Hadn't seen him in 25 years till he pulled me over one night!
My cousin in the Army talked a little about his service..... mostly about his rifle training because of my interest in guns.
My Grandpa told a few wild stories about the Korean war....talked about the men he served with..and that was about it. Scary as hell.
No one really talks about their service too much. At least the people i've known. The few that do really have to be in the mood.
Thank you all.
 
I personally know at least two of these tools.. One will tell you everything, especially if you want to know how awesome he is. People that ask for pats on the back irritate the hell out of me.. My grandfather was a Hero, and his own children didn't even know the extent of his experiences until fairly recently, because he never spoke about it. I do now that I know, because I am proud of the man he was, even if he did die when I was too young to know..
 
garandman said:
Why is it that whenever someone says "I can't talk about that" they always turn out to be a pogue? If something classified is going down there is always a cover story and the cover story is always true.

Met a guy who weighed about 300 lbs and had told co-workers he did a lot of "Sneak and peak" operations that "he couldn't talk about" in the Air Force. Looked the guy up on military.com and he was a E3 aircraft refueling technician!

All service is honorable and lord knows you do what you are told. My last job in the Army was a non-TO&E "Assistant S4" and my primary accomplishment was the acquisition of a bunch of used cargo trucks. Not exactly heroic, but necessary to keep the Big Green Machine on track.

Why do these guys pick something so obviously untrue? Fewer than 1% of Army veterans are Ranger qualified but it seems like every 10th vet I meet was a Ranger. Every 3rd Marine was Recon. And the number of SEAL "veterans" is extraordinary given the size of that group.
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Had one friend who never talked openly about his service, but whenever someone asked what he did he would just say "I can't talk about it." So hard to say if the guy is BSing or not. He NEVER said he was Spec Ops or such, never inferred, just tried to be normal, but when he shot, you could tell he spent a lot of time practicing like his life depended on it. *shrugs*.
 
Ink said:
My Grandfather and one uncle were in the Navy. Grandpa is a Korean war vet. He never talked about it till i was in my 20's. My uncle in the Navy never talks about anything related to it. Another Uncle was drafted during Vietnam ( i never knew till i was in my mid 20's and only found out cuz my dad told me) and my little cousin also served. Both were in the Army. As far as i know i have one other cousin who was in the Navy. He's MSP now. Hadn't seen him in 25 years till he pulled me over one night!
My cousin in the Army talked a little about his service..... mostly about his rifle training because of my interest in guns.
My Grandpa told a few wild stories about the Korean war....talked about the men he served with..and that was about it. Scary as hell.
No one really talks about their service too much. At least the people i've known. The few that do really have to be in the mood.
Thank you all.
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The only things I was able to get out of my dad for his Air Force career was he was a Crew Chief on a common cargo plane (forget the model), he was stationed in Okinawa and him and his crew HATED it when the SR-71 would land/take off from there. Oh yeah, he played a TON of cut throat (cribbage for money). I only learned on a trip to D.C that he lost a couple of friends who were pilots when we went to The Wall.
 
Skald said:
Had one friend who never talked openly about his service, but whenever someone asked what he did he would just say "I can't talk about it." So hard to say if the guy is BSing or not. He NEVER said he was Spec Ops or such, never inferred, just tried to be normal, but when he shot, you could tell he spent a lot of time practicing like his life depended on it. *shrugs*.
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If he was a BSer or pogue, he would have spent lots of time talking about his service, just to set up the situation where he could say "I can't talke about that."

He was probably a straight shooter (in more ways than one).
 
I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I worked for this jerk. He was outed by CyberSeal.com years ago. This is a direct quote from his obituary:

Ed proudly served his country as a member of the 101st Airborne, serving two tours in Vietnam as a UDT specialist with SEAL Team 2.
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I hate losers like this with a passion!
 
My father in law was 101st airborne,but in Nam he was attached to the 199th light infantry brigade. I could be wrong but I think it was because there was minimal airborne activity then.
 
I'd like to punch the next poser in the throat and tell him that one's for my Dad. We lose 390 every day, his day was November 11th, 2009.
I pity the next MF'er that spouts any poser BS in the same room as me.
 
Tim L said:
My father in law was 101st airborne,but in Nam he was attached to the 199th light infantry brigade. I could be wrong but I think it was because there was minimal airborne activity then.
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BTW..... Airborne is spelled with a capital A.....and Light Infantry Brigade is also supposed to be all caps!

Either way, they were both Outstanding units in Vietnam!

And there was a lot of Airborne activity in Vietnam.[smile]
 
He was in 21 1/2 years so maybe he wasn't in the 101st until later. He doesn't talk about it and is now a Pentecostal (sp) minister.
 

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