Thanks Guys and Thanks Uncle Sam...

And thank you Thom for an excellant post!

You and some of the others that go back to that era kind of
remind me of the old phrase... "back when men where made
of steel and ships were made of wood"... if you get my drift.

Such as "jlr" I paid my dues much later on... but damn lucky...
went in after Korea and out before Nam. Benefited from the GI
Bill as well... which I appreciated.

Respectfully

Bill

(U.S. Marines '56 to '59... Mike Company... the now infamous(?)
3rd Bat 1st Mar Reg 1st Mar Div)

wrote in message
oups.com...

Thanks Guys and Thanks Uncle Sam...

And thank you Thom for an excellant post!

You and some of the others that go back to that era kind of
remind me of the old phrase... "back when men where made
of steel and ships were made of wood"... if you get my drift.

Such as "jlr" I paid my dues much later on... but damn lucky...
went in after Korea and out before Nam. Benefited from the GI
Bill as well... which I appreciated.

Respectfully

Bill

(U.S. Marines '56 to '59... Mike Company... the now infamous(?)
3rd Bat 1st Mar Reg 1st Mar Div)


My dad was 1st Mar Div in Korea ~'50-'52.

My dad was 1st Mar Div in Korea ~'50-'52.

Bob... Some of the guys in my rifle platoon and company
(Mike) did their time in Korea as well... like your Dad.

Those that would talk about it... had some interesting
"sea stories" to relate. One incident that was spoken of
I have never forgotten to this day.

Apparently rear echelon wanted to interrogate Mongolian
captives. This guy went on to state that their outfit
had a couple of wounded/stretcher case type Mongolian
POW's.

They weren't about to lug these big captives all the way
back to headquarters for interrogation... so as soon as
they got out of sight of the company CP and around a bend
in the road... they slit their throats and dumped them in
the brush.

Needless to say... I was dumbfounded after hearing that
tale.

On the lighter side of things... retreat was never a word
that the Corps like to use. I believe (and I could be wrong
as far as the particular campaign) the Chosin Reservoir inci-
dent inspired the creation of the term "retrogade movement" aka
advance to the rear. heh heh

I bet your Dad has some interesting stories concerning Lt. Gen.
Chesty Puller.

Best regards

Bill

Well you got it good Thom, so did my older brother. He got in on the
old GI bill and it paid for him to get an MBA from Florida state.

I joined in 78 and missed the GI bill by 1 or 2 years. No loans, no
free school, no VA medical care...ect..ect...ect.
I joined after Vietnam when many citizens of the USA would rather spit
of a Sailor then to say thanks.

But thats OK, I'd do it over again.

Joe

Joe wrote:

Well you got it good Thom, so did my older brother. He got in on the
old GI bill and it paid for him to get an MBA from Florida state.

I joined in 78 and missed the GI bill by 1 or 2 years. No loans, no
free school, no VA medical care...ect..ect...ect.
I joined after Vietnam when many citizens of the USA would rather spit
of a Sailor then to say thanks.

But thats OK, I'd do it over again.


You must have been a jailbird or a dropout. I joined up in
'79 and got guaranteed technical training (A and C schools),
rate advancement, plus generous educational benefits (which
were later renegged on). The stuff they gave me was more
generous than the "New GI Bill" they were touting in the
1980s. Problem is trying to collect.

I bought a house through the VA and got the most horrendous
bureaucratic runaround you could imagine. Uncle Sam is very
generous to veterans... in theory... and it is one thing the
Bush Administration has actually delivered on (increased
spending for veterans benefits)... but in most cases the
benefits are such a PITA to collect that unless you are
absolutely at the rock-bottom rung on the socio-economic
ladder, you are better off going elsewhere.

We have a number of friends who are docs at a couple of VA
hospitals, they hate the system too.

DSK

http://community.webtv.net/tassail/ThomPage