[pct-l] Fwd: JUST KIDS....Taking Chance

[Mike Cunningham]

Thanks, Reinhold from an REMF.

Michael G Cunningham,
1 LT 1968-70
Rocket & Missile Branch
Army Materiel Command
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 6/3/16, Reinhold Metzger <reinholdmetzger at cox.net> wrote:

 Subject: [pct-l] Fwd: JUST KIDS....Taking Chance
 To: "PCT" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
 Date: Friday, June 3, 2016, 6:14 AM
 
 To my  hiking buddies who served
 and those who know the pain.
 
 For some reason this one did not get posted on the PCT-L
 list on 
 "Veterans Day".
 
 Well,....here we go again...better late than never.
 
 ...........................................................................
 
 -------- Forwarded Message --------
 Subject:     JUST KIDS....Taking Chance
 Date:     Mon, 30 May 2016 12:57:41 -0700
 From:     Reinhold Metzger <reinholdmetzger at cox.net>
 To:     PCT <pct-l at backcountry.net>,
 Hiker97 at aol.com
 <Hiker97 at aol.com>,
 Deems <losthiker at sisqtel.net>,
 Monte Dodge <madmonte53 at gmail.com>,
 Yoshihiro Murakami <completewalker at gmail.com>
 
 
 
 To my hiking buddies,....those who served and those who know
 the "PAIN".
 
 Like always, on Memorial Day, I was watching the movie
 "Taking Chance"
 and it took me back to a time very long ago.
 If  "Memorial Day"  means anything to you, you owe
 it to yourself to watch
 the movie "Taking Chance".
 It will rip your heart out, make you feel all mushy inside
 and make you
 appreciate and respect the honor bestowed upon our fallen
 heroes on
 Memorial Day.
 It is by far the movie that best reflects what Memorial Day
 stands for.
 I don't know what it is about Memorial Day that makes me
 feel this way
 and makes me say the things I am about to say.......
 /
 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 quite 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 Corps'
 //Raider Battalion and
 ready to kick a$$. //
 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, sometimes reflex decisions have to be made in a
 split second
 and //sometimes those 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
 football 
 //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 ourselves 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 Iraq and 
 //Afghanistan
 are still "just kids"....not yet 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
 
 /
 
 /http://imgur.com/aJGLZTh/
 
 
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