Phil Rosenthal posting as “Bucko” on the John Wayne – The Alamo forum:
Re: And the beat goes on!
Postby Bucko on Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:34 pm
Davy: You are WAY too hard on yourself! First of all (watch out – here I go on another rant!), if I had it to do all over again, I probably would not have. I was totally against the Vietnam War because I hated the government , i.e. Johnson and Nixon, and what they were doing to our generation. My home town in NJ, per capita, suffered more men killed in ‘Nam than any other town in the U.S. and they were all my friends, not just friends, but GOOD friends. One day in college, while we were closing down the Administration building because of something or other we were protesting related to the war (strange that exams were supposed to be held that week, too!), somebody held up a VC flag. I saw that and immediately questioned what I was doing there, know I certainly wasn’t supporting the friggin’ Communicsts to kill my friends. So, after 8 semesters in college, on the Dean’s List, and with only one semester to go, I quit college and enlisted in the Army. I had to see what was going on over there, while I was living the good life at home, participating in the anti-War movement half on principle and half because it was SO easy to get girls that way (the moratoriums in D.C. was like being at the Playboy Mansion!). How I didn’t catch a STD is beyond me. Anyway, I somehow did well in basic training, finished Armor AIT at Ft. Knox, and then was recommended for jump school, Ranger School, and for the Special Forces Qualification “Q” Course. Somehow, I made it through and after being pulled out of the Defense Languages School in Monterey, they pulled me out, got my butt on a plane out of Travis AFB and shipped me to Okinawa for three weeks and then to the ‘Nam, with the 5th Special forces Group, and then to my ODA (“A” Team) out of Ban Me Thuot, hard by the Annamese Cordillera, or better know through its popular name, the Central Highlands. In those next 18 months, I participated in 222 combat events, was wounded four times, lost 7 of my 12 ODA team and almost 400 other allied personnel, including my beloved Rhade and Jarai Montagnard tribesmen. And when I got home, limping and depressed, with a bunch of medals that I had no idea what they were for, and with a reception at home and back in school for my last semester that would’ve frozen Jack Frost. It was all for nothing. True story: I was on leave coming home; in those days you had to still wear your dress uniform when traveling. Anyway, there I was with my medals and my green beret and a little black kid sees me and says, “Mister, you look like a clown.” It was the last time I ever wore that dress uniform. I also got called back later that year to the middle East for the Israeli-Arab Yom Kippur War and then again in the early 1980s to Grenada against the Cubans. And nobody cared. I saw a bunch of dead Israelis in the Golan Heights and a bunch of US Army Rangers on the beach in Grenada and I got home and nobody cared, even though I almost bought it again there. Davy, the best thing that ever happened to you was that you didn’t go in. I had to learn to forget and not be disturbed that nobody cared. And you know what? In the end, people only care about getting through each day themselves and it’s unfair for a soldier to expect people to care, unless they have loved ones over there. They were unaffected by Vietnam, Grenada and all the other wars, again, unless they had loved ones there. Am I proud I served? You betcha! Am I proud of the medals? I couldn’t care less. What I am ever so more proud of is how well I was able to do in civilian life and more than anything, how well my three sons turned out. Now, that’s something to be proud of! So, give yourself a break. War is not what it is cracked up to be. Anybody who says it is is either a psycho or a lier, and I’ve know plenty of both. I miss those guys from my hometown who died, and my brothers who served with me but didn’t come back. They were all good guys who deserved to have what I have had. And there was no good reason why they didn’t. I definitely believe in protecting the weak and those that can’t help themselves and to a point, that’s what we were doing in Vietnam. But the other part, supporting a vicious bunch of politicans and Michelin Corp. just doens’t make it in my opinion.
It does my heart so much good when I travel and see our soldiers applauded in the airports. Like in any way, the soldiers are great. It’s just the politicians that suck. Again, give yourself a break. I know I have no less respect for you and through your blogs, you apparently a very caring and darn good guy! That’s what matters. Rant over!
Phil Rosenthal posting as “Bucko” on the John Wayne – The Alamo forum:
Re: And the beat goes on!
Postby Bucko on Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:34 pm
Davy: You are WAY too hard on yourself! First of all (watch out – here I go on another rant!), if I had it to do all over again, I probably would not have. I was totally against the Vietnam War because I hated the government , i.e. Johnson and Nixon, and what they were doing to our generation. My home town in NJ, per capita, suffered more men killed in ‘Nam than any other town in the U.S. and they were all my friends, not just friends, but GOOD friends. One day in college, while we were closing down the Administration building because of something or other we were protesting related to the war (strange that exams were supposed to be held that week, too!), somebody held up a VC flag. I saw that and immediately questioned what I was doing there, know I certainly wasn’t supporting the friggin’ Communicsts to kill my friends. So, after 8 semesters in college, on the Dean’s List, and with only one semester to go, I quit college and enlisted in the Army. I had to see what was going on over there, while I was living the good life at home, participating in the anti-War movement half on principle and half because it was SO easy to get girls that way (the moratoriums in D.C. was like being at the Playboy Mansion!). How I didn’t catch a STD is beyond me. Anyway, I somehow did well in basic training, finished Armor AIT at Ft. Knox, and then was recommended for jump school, Ranger School, and for the Special Forces Qualification “Q” Course. Somehow, I made it through and after being pulled out of the Defense Languages School in Monterey, they pulled me out, got my butt on a plane out of Travis AFB and shipped me to Okinawa for three weeks and then to the ‘Nam, with the 5th Special forces Group, and then to my ODA (“A” Team) out of Ban Me Thuot, hard by the Annamese Cordillera, or better know through its popular name, the Central Highlands. In those next 18 months, I participated in 222 combat events, was wounded four times, lost 7 of my 12 ODA team and almost 400 other allied personnel, including my beloved Rhade and Jarai Montagnard tribesmen. And when I got home, limping and depressed, with a bunch of medals that I had no idea what they were for, and with a reception at home and back in school for my last semester that would’ve frozen Jack Frost. It was all for nothing. True story: I was on leave coming home; in those days you had to still wear your dress uniform when traveling. Anyway, there I was with my medals and my green beret and a little black kid sees me and says, “Mister, you look like a clown.” It was the last time I ever wore that dress uniform. I also got called back later that year to the middle East for the Israeli-Arab Yom Kippur War and then again in the early 1980s to Grenada against the Cubans. And nobody cared. I saw a bunch of dead Israelis in the Golan Heights and a bunch of US Army Rangers on the beach in Grenada and I got home and nobody cared, even though I almost bought it again there. Davy, the best thing that ever happened to you was that you didn’t go in. I had to learn to forget and not be disturbed that nobody cared. And you know what? In the end, people only care about getting through each day themselves and it’s unfair for a soldier to expect people to care, unless they have loved ones over there. They were unaffected by Vietnam, Grenada and all the other wars, again, unless they had loved ones there. Am I proud I served? You betcha! Am I proud of the medals? I couldn’t care less. What I am ever so more proud of is how well I was able to do in civilian life and more than anything, how well my three sons turned out. Now, that’s something to be proud of! So, give yourself a break. War is not what it is cracked up to be. Anybody who says it is is either a psycho or a lier, and I’ve know plenty of both. I miss those guys from my hometown who died, and my brothers who served with me but didn’t come back. They were all good guys who deserved to have what I have had. And there was no good reason why they didn’t. I definitely believe in protecting the weak and those that can’t help themselves and to a point, that’s what we were doing in Vietnam. But the other part, supporting a vicious bunch of politicans and Michelin Corp. just doens’t make it in my opinion.
It does my heart so much good when I travel and see our soldiers applauded in the airports. Like in any way, the soldiers are great. It’s just the politicians that suck. Again, give yourself a break. I know I have no less respect for you and through your blogs, you apparently a very caring and darn good guy! That’s what matters. Rant over!