thedrifter
05-16-07, 08:31 AM
Mission not accomplished
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 1:22 AM EDT
To the editor:
This is not the way President Bush stated it. He looked pretty good standing on that ship boasting “job well done.” And we haven't even got started in this war yet! If he hadn't been hiding behind daddy's coattail, he could have been in the war I was in. But he made the comment he was smart enough he didn't have to go to Vietnam.
This is my opinion, if you voted for him you don't have any right to complain. Now he wants to send another $90 billion to Iraq. I can't understand this, the Iraqis don't even want to fight for their own country.
I was drafted in October of 1967 and in Vietnam, July of 1968. It didn't take four or five years to be trained then. There wasn't an open check book to play war.
We were trained to do our job, whatever it might be. A lot of people say we need to be there. Is this why all most 200,000 soldiers and Marines got out of the military since this war started?
They finally realized that two days a month and two weeks in the summer, a good college education, a 20-year retirement and a chest-full of classroom medals wasn't worth their life. They finally realized the cook-out was over.
When called to active duty, there was a good income lost. We went in to serve for $90 a month, it didn't go far. You had a $50 car payment or child support that came out of $90, what did you have left? Go figure. There were no employers that made up the difference. Now out of this $90 billion, Bush wants to be in Iraq until July.
I wonder how much of this will Mr. Chaney receive for his stock in Halliburton? To supply meals for our troops? Our military had its own cooks. When we were in the bush, we ate c- rations or lerp rations and when we got to a base camp, we ate our own military cooking. It just wasn't that bad after being out for sometime.
We didn't have a Burger King or McDonald's to go to and we sure didn't have a swimming pool or air conditioners.
I have two friends J is deceased now. He had five trips to Vietnam and the other one made nine trips in his career. So I don't want to hear too much complaining about being called to active duty. As a Vietnam veteran, I took an oath to never leave another generation of veterans behind.
But there is a big granite wall in D.C. with more than 58,000 names of my brothers on it and 34 of them are from Somerset County. And we fought for our country.
Now you must remember, we were only 18 and 19 years of age at this time. I will now tell you what our government and the president tells us now when we try to receive any compensation for our service to our country.
They just use a few little words, just suck it up and go on with your life that was more than 40 years ago. I remember back in 1969, all the doctors in the VA system were doctors with malpractice lawsuits filed against them and couldn't find a job anywhere else. This is what our government thought of us. If I were Bush, I would be ashamed to even salute a soldier or a Marine when he gets off of Air Force One.
Also, he made the comment when running for President of the United States, that we had the Saudis in our pockets. He was right, every time you fill your gas tank up, they are in our pockets.
As I stated before, if you voted for him you have no right to complain. Now let's get down to the want-to-bes, for all you want-to-be machine gunners, we will clarify this, when you carry ammo around your neck and shoulders, you carry the rounds with the balls facing outward, but please don't be ashamed of what your job was, my M.O.S. was 11.D.20 recon scout LRRP, better known as long range recon patrol.
We also needed cooks too, and some of them were pretty good too, everyone had a special job to do.
And in closing with Memorial Day fast approaching, a suggestion to the guest speakers everywhere. Please remember this day is to be in remembrance of our fallen comrades. It doesn't pertain to electronic voting machines and how many votes you get. If I made anyone mad or upset I'll say to you like the government says to us, suck it up and go on with your life.
Terry L. Menear
A decorated Vietnam veteran
Somerset
Ellie
Wednesday, May 16, 2007 1:22 AM EDT
To the editor:
This is not the way President Bush stated it. He looked pretty good standing on that ship boasting “job well done.” And we haven't even got started in this war yet! If he hadn't been hiding behind daddy's coattail, he could have been in the war I was in. But he made the comment he was smart enough he didn't have to go to Vietnam.
This is my opinion, if you voted for him you don't have any right to complain. Now he wants to send another $90 billion to Iraq. I can't understand this, the Iraqis don't even want to fight for their own country.
I was drafted in October of 1967 and in Vietnam, July of 1968. It didn't take four or five years to be trained then. There wasn't an open check book to play war.
We were trained to do our job, whatever it might be. A lot of people say we need to be there. Is this why all most 200,000 soldiers and Marines got out of the military since this war started?
They finally realized that two days a month and two weeks in the summer, a good college education, a 20-year retirement and a chest-full of classroom medals wasn't worth their life. They finally realized the cook-out was over.
When called to active duty, there was a good income lost. We went in to serve for $90 a month, it didn't go far. You had a $50 car payment or child support that came out of $90, what did you have left? Go figure. There were no employers that made up the difference. Now out of this $90 billion, Bush wants to be in Iraq until July.
I wonder how much of this will Mr. Chaney receive for his stock in Halliburton? To supply meals for our troops? Our military had its own cooks. When we were in the bush, we ate c- rations or lerp rations and when we got to a base camp, we ate our own military cooking. It just wasn't that bad after being out for sometime.
We didn't have a Burger King or McDonald's to go to and we sure didn't have a swimming pool or air conditioners.
I have two friends J is deceased now. He had five trips to Vietnam and the other one made nine trips in his career. So I don't want to hear too much complaining about being called to active duty. As a Vietnam veteran, I took an oath to never leave another generation of veterans behind.
But there is a big granite wall in D.C. with more than 58,000 names of my brothers on it and 34 of them are from Somerset County. And we fought for our country.
Now you must remember, we were only 18 and 19 years of age at this time. I will now tell you what our government and the president tells us now when we try to receive any compensation for our service to our country.
They just use a few little words, just suck it up and go on with your life that was more than 40 years ago. I remember back in 1969, all the doctors in the VA system were doctors with malpractice lawsuits filed against them and couldn't find a job anywhere else. This is what our government thought of us. If I were Bush, I would be ashamed to even salute a soldier or a Marine when he gets off of Air Force One.
Also, he made the comment when running for President of the United States, that we had the Saudis in our pockets. He was right, every time you fill your gas tank up, they are in our pockets.
As I stated before, if you voted for him you have no right to complain. Now let's get down to the want-to-bes, for all you want-to-be machine gunners, we will clarify this, when you carry ammo around your neck and shoulders, you carry the rounds with the balls facing outward, but please don't be ashamed of what your job was, my M.O.S. was 11.D.20 recon scout LRRP, better known as long range recon patrol.
We also needed cooks too, and some of them were pretty good too, everyone had a special job to do.
And in closing with Memorial Day fast approaching, a suggestion to the guest speakers everywhere. Please remember this day is to be in remembrance of our fallen comrades. It doesn't pertain to electronic voting machines and how many votes you get. If I made anyone mad or upset I'll say to you like the government says to us, suck it up and go on with your life.
Terry L. Menear
A decorated Vietnam veteran
Somerset
Ellie