So, no Romney men have ever served in the military? That is disgusting.

[pinboy3niner]

41. What it was like...

AK fire blew away half my teeth and jaw and put a hole in my shoulder, and I was peppered with shrapnel.

When I finally was winched out of the jungle in a basket and Medevac'd back to the evac hospital the ORs were full of the casualties I'd already sent back, so my gurney was rolled off to the side. I would have died then, but for a nurse who came back to check on me and noticed that I'd stopped breathing, so they did an emergency tracheostomy on the spot.

I'd been hit very early in the morning and when they pulled my brother off bunker guard and drove him to the hospital that evening I was still unconscious. But I did get to see him when he came back the next day before they shipped me to another evac hosp. Even though I couldn't talk to him because of the trache.

Ten months later I was doing great in an Army hospital in SF, and I was looking forward to my brother coming home. But he was delayed, and didn't arrive until just after I had another big operation. So when the poor guy saw me, my head was swathed in bandages again and I looked just the way he'd seen me in-country--as if nothing had changed in those 10 months. I really felt bad for my brother then.

After 18 months, I left the hospital with a partial disability retirement from the Army.

But I was one of the lucky ones. I survived the war, and so far I've managed to survive through PTSD. I knew more than 60 guys who didn't make it back, so I have no complaints.

All in all though, I think my comrades and I would rather have been in France...