That would be cool! Maybe we could get Lt Gen Hal Moore to show up.Originally Posted by avinuts
That would be cool! Maybe we could get Lt Gen Hal Moore to show up.
Last edited by RV8505; 07-15-2013 at 10:54 AM.
You can learn something everyday. I was living in Colorado, by 1973, but still in the military, but only as a reserve, with weekend a month meeting.
I don't recall hearing much of that Orlando song, certainly not that it was any type of anthem to the military.
I looked it up on Google, and it is not even about soldiers, or Vietnam. I don't think it is in the various movies about Nam, two of which are BUBBA GUMP, and the one where Robin Williams is the very popular but non standard disk jockey. According to the two writers, who are not Tony Orlando, the song is about a convict who writes his girl before getting out of prison after serving 3 years, One line is "I'm still in prison". None of the lyrics in the song mention, war or soldiers or Vietnam, but I guess they may have thought it applied to them.
If this singer and this song is the best for those guys , then that is what they should have, or whatever even if it is the Palwakee Polka Band.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 07-15-2013 at 06:56 PM.
Wrong post! Anyway, I guess your family was connected, If I remember correctly, it took alot of political pull to get into the air national guard in the day.
RV8505, as for as "your family was connected" and " alot of political pull", don't know about you or others but that wasn't my case.
First of all,while I was still in in'73, I didn't join in '73, I joined at the end of '68, after I graduated from college. I am not sure of the exact date, I know I went to basic training at Lackland AFB in the spring of '69.
My family was not in politics at all, and if they were it would not have had any pull with a Dem Pres (LBJ) as they were Republicans and except me still are. As for "connections" my Dad was not in the military, my Brother had been in years before but we had no connections.I talked to my Brother about which branch would be best to join, don't recall even discussing it with my Dad.
I and a college friend simply went to the unit in Austin which was full, and then to the one near my home town in Houston which wanted both of us. We both had degrees, though not in any military subject. I do recall taking some type of written aptitude test and scoring in the 90% on the mechanical section, so I went to mechanic tech school. I also did pretty well on another section, but search my memory as far as I can, I am not sure what that section was, maybe something to do with finance. I am glad I was not stuck in some dry paperwork section as I would not be very good at it. I had a friend that was interested in those new things called computers and the army sent him for 6 months to an IBM school in El Paso at no cost to him and he got some good training useful not only in the military but also later in business.
I don't know what your experience was or if you were in the service or when and where if at all, but your version is not what I had. So maybe you don't "remember correctly", or what was true for you was not for me. Some people talk about "draft numbers", but as for as I know I never had one, maybe they came later or earlier.
I do know that at some point, I think it was after basic training or after tech school they called me in and offered me to go to officers school. I think it was just because I had a degree. Anyway, I turned it down, wasn't enamored of jets. Wonder if my answer would have been any different if they still had Mustangs, or if they had guaranteed pilot training. It has been a long time and these aren't memories I tried to hold.
By the way, Geo W Bush was a couple of years behind me at the same High School in Houston, not the same college, and he ended up at a base, Ellington AFB just 8 miles from where I was. I didn't know him personally, but had freinds that flew with him at EFD. Years later I did some airshows with the CAF at Ellington.
Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 07-15-2013 at 07:01 PM.
I remember in 1968 it was the year of the monkey ( Tet Offensive ) and some of the worst fighting during the Vietnam War. There was still a stigma from WWII vets about going to Canada or going 4F. So, almost every young male was volunteering for Air-Force, Navy and Air Guard. Unfortunatly, many of the Air Guard Units were full. As far as I knew you had to know someone to get in and it was hard! One in, it was some pretty good duty from what I saw. Pretty much one weekend a month, two weeks a year. You never received a draft number because you were in the Air Guard. If a young male couldn't associate with a military unit, he would be eligible for the draft. If drafted you had about a 100% chance of ending up in the Army or Marines as a grunt. Then you had about a 90 percent chance going to Vietnam.
If you like the idea, the only way that it will happen is through support. Please talk it up at EAA Oshkosh 2013. It won't take money or necessarilly big names, but it will take large numbers of people talking about it. Thanks !!
awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75ABndMCo1A
Keep the fire burning!!
http://www.wbay.com/story/23035271/2...etnam-veterans
Welcome Home !!
Maybe we could get Bob Seger. I have a buddy that got his aviation start in Nam and he has been a aviation gypsy ever since. I ask him if he get's tired of the gypsy life and he would say "wouldn't change a thing brother cause it's all been good!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVtpP4ck8Ws
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote