I disagree with Rachel tonite on the issue of a ticker parade for Iraq Vets

[pinboy3niner]

80. Hey, brother

I won't pretend that that response didn't occur to me, lol!

You've been there...you know. Our usernames betray how much that fucking war is still with us. Once an 11 Bravo, always an 11 Bravo...and that CIB still means something. My last radio callsign in-country, after they switched from the 'six' system to random number callsigns, was 'pinboy3niner'.

I thought this thread was dead. But it keeps coming back...like jungle leeches. Got some bug juice, bro? Or a match?

Yeah, I tried to be civil here--even though the thread began just when I'd gone through some anniversary dates. The day I got hit, Feb. 7, was never a big one for me (though it was always there). Much tougher was Jan. 29, the day my friend went down with the sucking chest wound and the men in my platoon proposed that suicidal mission to try to save him. Our Bn. 'six' turned us down. Just as well, as Joe didn't have a chance. He died either going up on the jungle penetrator or on the deck of the Medevac Huey, when it finally was able to get in.

The 'useful idiot' slurs, like the old 'baby killer' slurs, don't bother me so much for myself as they bother me for guys like Joe, and all the others we knew, and loved, and lost. And the other guys we were with, who, when push came to shove, were so willing to lay down their lives to try to save a comrade.

I hope you're doing good, bro, and weathering your own anniversary dates.

But be that as it may, those of us who did make it have an obligation to build again. To teach to others what we know. And to try, with what's left of our lives, to find a goodness and a meaning to this life...

From one useful idiot to another...Welcome Home, Brother!

Love & Peace,
pinboy3niner