Veterans Day 2010~The Distrespect Continues

The extension of Indian Summer just keeps getting pushed farther out...now it looks like it will last into the weekend here in Western Ohio...71 is the forecast high for both today and tomorrow, and Saturday says 68...I believe today and tomorrow are going to be near record highs.  Must be that damn Global Warming Al Gore has been warning us about{Insert Sarcasm}....?  There is no freaking Global Warming, and if there was...GOOD!

Today is Veterans Day 2010____

Probably the most disrespected holiday, next to Columbus Day, that we see these days...you can blame Political Correctness, the media, the schools and universities,  or blame the Government, starting with the Jimmy Carter Presidency.  Carter let the Draft Dodgers get a free pass, then we had the Draft Dodger in Chief Bill Clinton, whose Marxist wife "Loathed" the Military.  And now another troop hating "Progressive" is in office, and the press, the Vietnam War protesting/troop hating scum is ingrained in our national government and revisionist history.   Make no mistake, The Obama Administration, and even the leaders of the Defense Department, like Chief Robert Gates, hate Veterans, and the Military...make no mistake indeed...Hell, Islamics infest even our own Pentagon.  And we know which side of the coin their allegiance is on.

My Military Service____

When I joined the Air Force in the Summer of 1968, I joined to stay the Hell out of combat and Vietnam...no hero was I, 4 years in a warm bed, seemed a much better option than a year or 13 months sleeping in the mud and rain, getting shot at.  My brother Mike's best friend, David "Kim" Deeter had been Killed In Action in April, he had been drafted, and died 5 months into his tour with the 1st Air Calvary.  While I was in Basic Training at Amarillo, Texas, my cousin, Jackie Ray Poling, was killed in July of 1968...he was with the 101st Airborne, The Screaming Eagles.  I had a special relationship with Jack...we grew up near each other in Venice, Florida....both of our families had moved to South Florida in the early 1950s.  One day, while Jack, my brother Mike, and I were swimming in a deep Gulf of Mexico channel,  near Englewood, I panicked and started to go under...Jack was the only person who came to my aid...risking his own life, Jack did a choke hold around my neck and with me still in distress, got me to shore, safe and sound...I never forgot that, for without his help, I doubt if I would be here today.                                

Both of our families moved back to Ohio in the early 1960s after a decade in Florida...we saw each other on occasion, and mom and Jack's mom, Marty, remained travel companions and friends until Marty's death in 1998.  They traveled the world together.  Marty was my dad's first cousin...her son, saved my life, and lost his in Vietnam.  Jack, Kim, and nearly 60,000 others gave all...only to be dismissed and disrespected by the majority of those living safe and sound at home.

So I joined the Air Force....became an Air Force Cop(Security Police,  Air Police before that)...today those men and women are called Security Forces...my salute to those brave souls...no draft today, so these folks are all volunteers, making their service even more special.

After Basic and Cop School, I headed off to Dover AFB, Delaware...I hated stateside duty, so I asked to be sent to Southeast Asia, something I joined the Air Force to avoid.  I was awarded for volunteering by getting orders to Nha Trang Air Base on the South China Sea, in Vietnam...I left for duty on June 30, 1969, I loved the duty, no chicken shit, great location, and great daytime Law Enforcement Duty...6 months later, 2 days after Christmas, I was shipped out to Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon....there I worked "Charlie" Flight, overnights in the towers, bunkers, and driving the Jeeps on occasion with the Security Division.  War or no war, I enjoyed my year in Vietnam...I probably would have, and in retrospect, should have, stayed my remaining 2 years there.  But, not wanting to worry the family, especially mom,  I returned home for 20 months of CS Duty(that would be CS as in Chicken Shit) with SAC(Strategic Air Command) at Griffiss AFB, in Rome, New York.  I hated it, and I hated the Air Force for it....yes I hated the military life, I never was, and never have been good at taking orders.  However,  I did not hate the men I served with...sure some of us disliked each other, we came from different background, religions, races, creeds, politics, and view of the world...dislike however does not equal hate.  Despite our differences, most of us respected each other, especially those of us in the Security Police...we still do today, and despite those differences that still exist, we Sky Cop Veterans of the Vietnam War continue to work together for the good of all of our brothers of that war:

http://www.vspa.com/

That, in short is my view of the military and it's current and previous Veterans....we were, and they are, a cross section of America...some good, some not so, and  some frankly evil, but the vast majority love this country, and I and many others are appalled at the disrespect we get from both in and out of government, especially by the so-called 5th Estate...The Media, the Current President, and those like Clinton and Carter, that despised us during their terms...not so much by their words, but by their actions.

So I say, "Thank You" to all Veterans, both those serving in crapholes like Iraq and Afghanistan, for suspect "allies"  and those keeping the peace at home...Keep your powder dry, the enemies are all around us.

back later>>>>

Photos-At the Top, 2 pictures of me, while at Nha Trang in 1969....Jack Poling's Obit, and a Air/Security Police Shield, we wore both stateside and while at war...guess it was a target right over our hearts, for the enemy to zero in on.  Below...The Defender Fortis Statue of the Security Police at the Air Force Museum on Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton..our VSPA Mini Reunion at Dayton in March 2010, and The 28th Annual Kokomo/Howard County Indiana Vietnam Veterans Reunion in September 2010, which drew tens of thousands again this year.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY!