Boy does this remind me of being at Ft. Chaffee one afternoon completing a land nav. course. Only thing missing from this picture is the CSM shooting his .45 at a couple of cottenmouths checking him out. What a day!!
(P.S. He wasn't even close to them -- he was running out of the water too fast to get a good sight picture!!) 🤣😂
Hooah
The list of 23 things is prefaced with a short lead-in paragraph that says in most Veteran's closets one is likely to find an old uniform or two (guilty), some dirty caps (guilty), a stack of medical, training, and discharge records (guilty - they always told us to never lose any of these), and some old ribbons and/or medals (guilty). It seems she got me on all of these and I know several of my Vet friends who would also fit this bill (right Dave and Dave!).
So, what about the list of 23? Well, I am certainly guilty of the following on the list:
#2 (bad knees) (Way worse now in 2025)
#3 (the misguided idea that ibuprofen and fresh socks will cure anything) (I would add that rubbing a little dirt on it will fix it). (Thinking about buying stock in Advil)
#4 (Tinnitis) (On my second set of hearing aids, have a VA disability rating for this, the tinnitis is now coming in in high-def-stereo!)
#5 (The ability to sleep anywhere) (I would add - at any time). (These two still very accurate)
#7 (Old combat boots) (Still have two pairs up in the attic ... you never know )
#9 (Issues with authority figures) (Not so much now though).
#10 (back pain) (Yep - still have this...some might even say I'm trending toward a pain in the back- side)
#12 (a woobie that has seen better days)
#20 (sleep apnea) (Maybe)
#23 (a deeply stained coffee mug that I tell everyone is just now "seasoned").
Any Vets checking this post out will undoubtedly agree with these and have a few of their own to add to the list. Some of my additions would be:
- a strong urge to eat at all times of the day (not much, but more like "grazing") (this goes with #5 above because in the service you never knew when you would get time to do this again). (This might be getting a bit worse with getting older).
- a lot of Vets I know have a strange habit of blowing their nose in the shower (I don't know why, we just do it). (yep)
- becoming irate upon seeing cigarette butts on the ground. (Not so much now. Fewer smokers 😌)
- the breakfast of champions is really a Snickers bar and a diet Coke. (Great lunch on the golf course)
- orange Gatorade is best !
- telling and retelling stories from service days (never around non-service people, but always with service buds or "those who were there.") (Yep - still do some of this, but not too much)
- and finally, a deep sense of pride for our service (a pride that lots of people will never understand). (Always feel a sense of pride for having served and served with such GREAT patriots!!)
So, thanks Sarah for this article. It brought back some good, old memories. It also sent me back to the closet to check on those old uniforms!!
Real heroes don't wear capes, they wear dog tags.
Hooah
My old CSM, (CSM Dave B. Ret.), sent me a whole shoe box of old pictures from our Army days together. I spent an afternoon going thru them, and stopped when I came across this one. This is one of those pictures that unlocked my memory bank and flooded me with story after story.
Below is a picture of the MP battalion I had the privilege of commanding for 4 years (1994-1998). Due to the perspective of the picture, you don't see the whole battalion, but if my memory serves me well, there could have been about 425-450 troops in this formation (The battalion consisted of the Headquarters Company and 3 subordinate companies.). During my command time, we were required to go maintain our "present for duty" strength at 125% of authorized strength. That's a lot of military word salad meaning we had a whole lot of people in our units. Most other units in the MP Corps were hanging tough at 100-125 Soldiers.
Maintaining those strength levels was quite a challenge. The command staff did a terrific job of supervising all of the "stuff" needed to field a unit of this size. We also had some of the best NCOs whose job it was to train the Soldiers, maintain acceptable logistical levels, feed and pay them. Training was always my number 1 job and I often got in trouble with my superiors who thought there were other priorities that needed more attention. It all worked out. Our subordinate companies were also top notch. I'm sure others may take exception to this, but I don't know if there was a better collection of officers and NCOs, civilian techs and full-time AGRs in the USAR.
During those 4 years, there were some unbelievable stories generated and we had some "unique" characters in the battalion. We had great fun at our Dinings-Out and family days, and our Muta-5s and Muta-6s in the field were outstanding (even the ones in blinding snow storms).
Well, so much for that. I think there will be some other stories in that old shoe box and I can hardly wait to see what the CSM sent me.
Hooah
February 23, 1945.
Does that date ring a bell? I think it does for a lot of Marines -- it was the day that the US Flag was raised on Iwo Jima in World War II.
Three divisions of Marines (about 10,000 troops per division) landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945 and gradually fought their way inland.They faced heavy resistance, but captured the island on February 23 and succeeded in raising the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. True, this was only the capture of the southern tip of the island and the Marines continued the fight, often foot at a time, until the island was finally secured. Approximately 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in this fight, and the Marines suffered 6,000 killed and approximately 25,000 wounded.
So what did I mean by this being ironic? Well, guess who owns the island today -- of course -- Japan. It was returned to the Japanese in 1968 by Lyndon Johnson as a gesture of good will.
It is pretty much a closed island today and Americans can only visit the island as part of a scheduled tour. Japan is looking to return it to its ancient fishing village heritage.
"There’s something ironic about war. You’re willing to give your life to fight for something you cannot own and may not even understand."
Hooah
No one can make you feel small unless you agree to it first.
Hooah
P.S. Hey Dave, see me. I'm in the picture, there on Earth. I'm waving to you.
I had a medical condition a few years back that had an unexpected side effect -- weight gain. As a result of the medication and the treatment used to kill off the condition, I put on 30-some pounds in just a couple of months. Ughhhh!
So, once I got off the medical regimen, and once I got my strength back, I really looked like a fat old man. I thought it would just come off. Yeah, right. I was playing golf, and we were going through the moving process from Ohio to here, so I figured that should be enough exercise. Then along came some other setbacks, so the weight kinda found a home for a while. I figured the weight was better than the illness, which could have killed me (!) so I would address it later.
Well, eventually all of that had an impact on my back and knees and I went through a series of doctor visits, X-rays, and MRIs. Long story short, the last doctor I went to was a big-time hip replacement guy and he said everything was fine. He said I just had to lose some weight (he went to Yale to give me that diagnosis!) and then he came up with an aquatic therapy recommendation. OK. Why not. I started that in May of this year and worked at it for about 6 months. Really good therapists. Got to where I could RUN a mile on the in-the-water tread mill. It was pretty good stuff. When they dismissed me (at the end of October) I just kinda would hang out for a while and then decided to join a gym. Now going 2-3 times per week.
Anyhow, the bottom line is that I had set a goal back in May of getting down under 220 pounds (from 250 pounds!). I set a date of Thanksgiving to be there. Well, two days before Thanksgiving, I hit 220, and tried on my old Army uniforms to see if they would fit.
I saw this quote the other day - don't know the author, but it kinda fits this situation.
One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else's survival guide.
