Tight Lines
Senior Member
Thank you for your service and for posting...
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30 years ago this week...We Were Soldiers Once
- Thread starter Dutch
- Start date
HD28
Senior Member
That was great. Thanks for sharing. Sorry for the loss of your brothers and thank you so much for your service and sacrifice! You Sir, are The Man! God Bless you and your family!
oldfella1962
Senior Member
I get pretty mad when people say the sandbox was all about "killing brown people & taking their oil" and that if I had a conscious I would have refused to go. And of course saying that our military hasn't defended America's freedom since WWII. So basically implying that every military action since is just about money, that we don't really need a standing military these days. 
Ignorance I guess, but I still try to explain that:
1) once you join you don't have the option of choosing your missions. It's like being a carpenter really. If you don't like the way the architect designed the house, you still have to build it because that's your job.
2) even if a Hitler wanna-be isn't literally invading America at any time, they might decide to, and you have to be highly trained and equipped right-that-second. It takes many months (often years) just to get a civilian trained enough to function at the most basic level of military functionality. So I have to explain that part of readiness is like being a fire fighter. Does the fire chief just send everybody home because the neighborhood hasn't had a fire in a while? Just being there and being prepared and equipped is the most important and most expensive part of the job!
Ignorance I guess, but I still try to explain that:1) once you join you don't have the option of choosing your missions. It's like being a carpenter really. If you don't like the way the architect designed the house, you still have to build it because that's your job.
2) even if a Hitler wanna-be isn't literally invading America at any time, they might decide to, and you have to be highly trained and equipped right-that-second. It takes many months (often years) just to get a civilian trained enough to function at the most basic level of military functionality. So I have to explain that part of readiness is like being a fire fighter. Does the fire chief just send everybody home because the neighborhood hasn't had a fire in a while? Just being there and being prepared and equipped is the most important and most expensive part of the job!
Dutch
AMERICAN WARRIOR
Some more pics
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Division Commander Gen. McCaffery
.Division Commander Gen. McCaffery
Dutch
AMERICAN WARRIOR
Letter from the General
24th ID (M) Division Patch
3rd Bat. 15th Inf. Unit Crest "Can Do"
Article ritten by Joe Galloway (We was Soilders) about the 24th ID during Desert Storm. He was imbeded with us during the ground war. I got to met and shake his hand at the 25th reunion
“We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young.” -Joe Galloway
24th ID (M) Division Patch
3rd Bat. 15th Inf. Unit Crest "Can Do"
Article ritten by Joe Galloway (We was Soilders) about the 24th ID during Desert Storm. He was imbeded with us during the ground war. I got to met and shake his hand at the 25th reunion
“We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young.” -Joe Galloway
oldfella1962
Senior Member
Dutch is that picture of Saddam in front of the tank? That brings back some memories. Yeah, my unit collected some of those (the ones that weren't destroyed already of course) in 2003. His picture was EVERYWHERE to the point where it was Kim Jong Un North Korea level. Almost every room in every building we took over for our use had murals or posters or paintings. One of the guys in my unit found a big high definition black & white "glamor shot" amazingly professional picture of Saddam looking all debonair and sophisticated smoking a cigar.
That brings back some memories. Yeah, my unit collected some of those (the ones that weren't destroyed already of course) in 2003. His picture was EVERYWHERE to the point where it was Kim Jong Un North Korea level. Almost every room in every building we took over for our use had murals or posters or paintings. One of the guys in my unit found a big high definition black & white "glamor shot" amazingly professional picture of Saddam looking all debonair and sophisticated smoking a cigar.
Silver Britches
Official Sports Forum Birthday Thread Starter
What a thread! Thank you for your service, Dutch! I have northing but respect for all you guys. All of you!
Shadow11
Senior Member
Very neat seeing your photos. A big thanks from me and all of my family for all of you guys!
Son
Gone But Not Forgotten
Dutch
AMERICAN WARRIOR
I brought home a small painting and a calendar of Sadam. Got a duffle bag full of war trophies in the closet. Unfortunately didn't get to bring any weapons home other than a couple of bayonets.Dutch is that picture of Saddam in front of the tank?
View attachment 1068380
oldfella1962
Senior Member
my unit was restricted to what we could take home, but those rules changed a lot. At one point it was nothing that goes "boom" which makes sense for safety & legal reasons, so no guns of course. Then they added nothing you took off a dead guy.
Again a safety thing because of booby traps and disease. They they added no cash again for legal reasons. For some reason a 20 year old E3 sending 10K dollars stained in blood home raises suspicions - who knew? So thanks to incidents like that none of us could do it.
Side note I got a picture of myself displayed on the David Letterman show in 2003.
Ya know, before Dave went full lib. One of my buds took a picture of me standing under a David Letterman Loop road sign at Balad, like the guy in the picture is doing. But I did it very soon after they first put the sign up. Anyway I sent my pic to his show along with a letter, and he read it on the air and showed my picture. Then David sent a "thank you" letter to me which I still have.
