Over the past several months I have broached some serious topics and hopefully given our Veterans some valuable information. We’re all feeling the frustration of COVID-19 and the restrictions it has placed on us. It’s summertime, so this month I’m going to have some fun with my column.
Now that my wife, Jan, and I have successfully put down the 20 yards of mulch in our garden without getting a divorce, we can enjoy the fruits of our labor. Jan says we have a garden with a house in the middle. I went up to her the other day after the mulch and said, “Give me a hug – put down the knife!
As I sit on the deck, I often times reflect on my time in the military and the various Veterans organizations I am part of. While I was commander of the Naperville VFW, we got a call from a lady who wanted to talk to a Vet. I asked her what era and she told me that her dog was sick and needed to see a Vet and she wondered what time could she come in for an appointment. You can’t make this stuff up.
When I go out to the schools and we talk about Vietnam, the students always ask about some of the experiences we had in country. I tell them about the funny experiences. I don’t want to remember the bad ones. I once traded a Jeep for a crossbow; they looked all over the area for the Jeep. I’m pretty sure it was stripped down and the parts were sold in country.
When I first got in country, I was sent down to the resupply depot to pick up supplies. There was a CONEX container that was earmarked for the General’s mess in Long Binh. It was filled with steaks, lobster and shrimp. I had the Air Force tech load it on our plane. All the troops in and around our basecamp ate well for a week. Thankfully the combat engineers buried the container. I would probably still be at Ft. Leavenworth if they discovered I was the one responsible for taking their goodies. I always thought Commanding Officers were supposed to eat what their men did.
