The Vietnam War: Forgotten Soldiers

I served in the United States Army from 1966 to 1971 and I was trained to be a combat medic. Although I was never sent to Vietnam, I served in various military hospitals in the United States. I was attached to a Army Hospital unit and remained with the same unit until I was discharged.

I saw and treated many Vietnam casualties during that war which saw over 58,000 soldiers killed and over 300,000 soldiers wounded. The war was the first to see wide spread use of guerrilla tactics and also was the first war to never really have a stationary front.

An unpopular war, many soldiers, upon returning to duty in the United States, were the subject of many anti-war protests and disdain. This major lack of respect began to be righted upon the building of the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. and all soldiers and veterans began to finally receive the accolades and respect they deserved.

My generation served during the Vietnam War era. We were asked to serve and serve we did, unquestioning and honorably. If you happen to see any older man or woman the next time you are in public, chances are that they served the United States of America during the Vietnam era or are related or know someone who did. Take the time to remember all of our military forces past and present the next time you take a breath of free, fresh air.

The News As I See It: Grandparents complain that their families don’t call them. But in their family's defense, a lot of the time that people call, grandparents answer the blender.

The preacher in Florida who wanted to burn the Koran has called it off. Instead, he’s just going to rip up a couple copies of "The Watchtower."

In Iran, a woman can be stoned for committing adultery. In the United States, women commit adultery while stoned.

The Chinese government is apparently changing their "one child per family" rule. Now you can have a second kid to work the night shift.

A Playboy centerfold was tackled last week when she tried to open the emergency door on an airplane flight. She must have put up quite a fight because it took all 156 men on board to subdue her.

This Date In History: 1943; Chiang Kai-Shek became president of China. 1948; Republican Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first woman to have served in both houses of Congress.

1971; The four-day revolt at the maximum security prison in Attica, New York, ended when state police and National Guardsmen stormed the facility. Forty-two people died. 1993; Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat shook hands after signing an historic peace agreement.

Picture Of The Day: The Vietnam Era was obviously on my mind today and it stemmed from recently seeing former high school classmates who, along with myself, served during that time.

Printable Things I Never Told You: 1) A CNN reporter, while interviewing a Marine sniper asked, "What do you feel when you shoot a terrorist?" The Marine shrugged and replied, "Recoil." 2) There's a new disease you can get from sexual partners who own birds. It's called Chirpes. It's a canareal disease, but it's tweetable. 3) If the dove is the bird of peace, then the bird of true love is surely the swallow. 4) A Yankee is the same as a quickie, but it can be done alone. 5) The governor's mansion burned down in Arkansas and damned near took out the whole trailer park.....and that's five !

Birthdays: Annie Oakley, sharpshooter 1860, Alfred Hitchcock, filmmaker 1899, Ben Hogan, golfer 1912, Fidel Castro, Cuban revolutionary, premier of Cuba 1926, Don Ho, entertainer 1930, Midori Ito, figure skater 1969.

The AREA 51 Retirement Home Bar and Grill: A doctor from Israel says, "In Israel the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles. we put them into another man and in 6 weeks he is looking for work." The German doctor comments, "Big deal! In Germany we take part of the brain out of a person, we put it into another person's head and in 4 weeks he is looking for work."

A Russian doctor says, "That's nothing either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person, we put it into another person's chest, and in 2 weeks he is looking for work." The U.S. doctor answers immediately. "My colleagues, you are way behind us. In the America. We grabbed a person with no brains, no heart, and no balls, made him our president and now the whole country is looking for work!"

The Hits Just Keep On Coming: My thanks to my pal Cajun for her contribution to today's stories.

The general was confined to the military hospital for treatment of a minor malady. For almost a week he made a complete nuisance of himself, irritating both staff and the other patients, demanding attention and expecting his every order to be followed immediately. He was in a six-man ward rather than a private room, his meals were too cold or not served to suit his taste and the nighttime activities interfered with his rest.

One afternoon an orderly entered the room and said, "Time to take your temperature, General." After growling at the orderly, the general opened his mouth to accept the thermometer. The orderly said, "Sorry, General, but for this test we need your temperature from the other end." A whole new barrage of verbal abuse followed, but the orderly was insistent that a rectal temperature was what the test called for...and on and on.

The general at last rolled over, bared his rear, and allowed the orderly to proceed. The orderly then told the general, "Stay exactly like that and don't move. I'll be back in five minutes to check up on you" and withdrew. An hour later, the head nurse entered the room, saw the general with his bare ass in the air and gasped.

The nurse said, "What's going on here?" The general barked, "Haven't you ever seen someone having their temperature taken?" The nurse replied, "Yes I have, General, but never with a daffodil."

A young man joined the Army and signed up with the paratroopers. He went through the standard training, completed the practice jumps from higher and higher structures, and finally went to take his first jump from an airplane. The next day, he called home to his father to tell him the news. His father asked, "So, did you jump?" The son said, "Well, we got up in the plane, and the sergeant opened up the door and asked for volunteers. About a dozen men got up and just jumped out of the plane!" The father asked, "Is that when you jumped?" The son answered, "Well no, not yet."

The son continued, "Then, the sergeant started to grab other men and throw them out the door. Every one else had jumped, and I was the last man left on the plane. I told the sergeant that I was too scared to jump. He told me to get off the plane or he'd kick my ass." The son said, "So, did you jump?" The son answered, "Not then."

The said said, "He tried to push me out of the plane, but I refused to go. Finally he called over the Jump Master. The Jump Master is this great big guy, about six-foot five, and 250 pounds. He said to me, 'Boy, are you gonna jump or not?' I said, 'No, sir. I'm too scared.' So the Jump Master pulled down his zipper and took his penis out."

The son went on, "He said, 'Boy, either you jump out that door, or I'm sticking this baby up where the sun doesn't shine.'" The father said, "So, did you jump?" The son said, "Well, a little, at first."

A soldier serving overseas, far from home was annoyed and upset when his girl wrote breaking off their engagement and asking for her photograph back. He went out and collected from his friends all the unwanted photographs of women that he could find, bundled them all together and sent them back with a note saying, "Regret I cannot remember which one is you. Please keep your photo and return the others."

That's it for today my little butterflies. Remember, all the world is merely a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed. More on Wednesday.

Stay Tuned !