[pct-l] We Were Just Kids....(an old Marine's reflections)

[Randy Forsland]

The subject of old enough to die, but not old enough to drink hits home with me. I was carded at my own promotion party to SSgt. I had been in the service for 3.5 years and had served three tours in Southeast Asia. One in Viet Nam and two in Thailand. I was on leave at the time and had taken a hop to Hawaii with a couple of buddies from my squadron, including a grizzled old Master Sergeant that proceeded to dress down the Bartender for carding me..but to no avail..rules were rules..We just moved the party to a beach after stopping at a liquor store..

It was weird...being treated like a kid after what we went through...Never forgot it...

Redwood

16th SOS, USAF


Reinhold Metzger wrote:
> Some may say this is of topic, but since it is Memorial Day and many of 
> our list members are veterans I think this is appropriate.
> Besides, I think no list or forum should deny honoring our fallen heroes 
> on this day.
>
> Reinhold Metzger wrote:
>   
>> We were "just kids", in the summer of 1965, when we landed in Vietnam.
>> "Just kids", most of us 18-19-20 years old just barely out of High 
>> School, not yet old enough to drink but old enough to die for our 
>> country.
>> We never could quit understand that....if you are old enough to die 
>> for your country you should be old enough to drink.
>> With one year of advanced infantry training including jungle, desert, 
>> cold weather, hand to hand combat and raider training we were gung ho 
>> Marines, tough enough to chew nails.....I mean we were Captain 
>> Tolleson's  Echo 2/7, the cream of the crop of  the Marine Corp's 
>> Raider Battalion and ready to kick ass.
>> We were "just kids" eager to be Marines, eager to serve during a time 
>> of war, eager to be heroes.
>> That naive fantasy thinking can change mighty quick when the landing 
>> crafts hit the beach and bullets start flying.
>> There is no glory in war, only misery....it is your worst nightmare.
>> Our first casualty was by friendly fire....the tragic part was that 
>> the bullet that caused our first casualty was fired by the casualties 
>> best friend.
>> In combat reflex decisions have to be made in a split second and 
>> sometimes does decisions turn out not to be the right ones.
>> In my mind there is no greater honor than serving your country during 
>> a time of war and no greater sacrifice than a soldier paying the 
>> ultimate price while serving his country during a time of war.
>> Take Pat Tillman for instance....Pat was a professional foot player 
>> who had fortune and fame yet walked away from a 3.6 million dollar 
>> contract to serve his country and paid the ultimate 
>> price....ironically also by friendly fire.
>> But it does not matter, friendly fire, enemy fire, the results are 
>> always the same and Memorial Day is to honor all of our fallen heroes, 
>> for they served their country and paid the ultimate price.
>> If it were not for men like that, Obama might be our Prime Minister or 
>> our national language might be German and Memorial Day is to remind us 
>> of that and pay our respect to these fallen heroes who sacrificed 
>> their lives so that we can enjoy what we
>> have today.
>>
>> We did not consider ourself to be "just kids", but now that I am older 
>> and wiser I realize we  WERE   "just kids".
>> Nothing has really changed and many of our troops serving in Iran and 
>> Afghanistan are still "just kids"......not old enough to  drink but 
>> old enough to die for their country.
>> Think about that for a moment on Memorial Day and what that day stands 
>> for.
>>
>> Reinhold Metzger
>> Sgt. USMC 1964-68
>> Gunner, Echo Co., 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines
>>
>>
>>
>>     
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-l mailing list
> Pct-l at backcountry.net
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com 
> Version: 8.5.339 / Virus Database: 270.12.39/2133 - Release Date: 05/25/09 08:16:00
>
>   

_______________________________________________
Pct-l mailing list
Pct-l at backcountry.net
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l