Chief Operating Officer for worlds most successful private MIA search and recovery organization.
Other Comments:
500 B.C. battle cry of Greek philosopher Heraclitus: "Out of every 100 men, 10 shouldn't even be there, 80 are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back." Enough said.
Tributes from Members
Thanks SgtMaj posted by 01 Parker, Delmas C., MSgt330
Unbelievable
Date
Not Specified
Last Updated: Dec 30, 2012
Comments
This started as an update but turned into a note the more angry I got. Just sat at a bar with an "Iraq vet" claiming PTSD and TBI after one tour in Iraq 2007. 26 yr old saying he's "Jacked up" because of "The war". He tried to point to me to defend him at the bar when talking to locals by saying "You guys wouldn't understand but he (meaning me) would". I was wearing a shirt that had an Eagle, Globe and Anchor on the sleeve. I said to him "I don't understand, I'm 41, still run a 1st class PFT, jump from planes, have 5 tours, lost over 30 men and I don't claim to have PTSD/TBI. My father was in the first wave with the 29th Infantry Division storming Omaha Beach on 6 June, 1944 and watched hundreds of men get torn to shreds around him yet still managed to make a great life for my family inspite of "The war". Maybe that is why they call them "the greatest generation" because they didn't use crap like this as a crutch and went on about the business of making a life for themselves without excuses. I verified he was truly in the service and asked if he had a purple heart and he said yes because he was knocked out during an IED strike. Any physical injuries? None. Now, most folks know that I was "wounded" on 3 separate occasions but do not have, will never apply for, and will never wear the Purple heart. I was shot across the bridge of my nose tearing out quite a piece that is still visible today (Verified by Sgt Scott Dahn who was there when it happened in March 2003), received quite a peppering of shrapnel to the left thigh when a 120mm mortar round exploded next to my position (Verified by SSgt Earl Budd who was medevaced for the same incident only because I told him to go get treated, and broke my left wrist when I landed hard after being blown 20 feet in the middle of an intersection from a 120mm mortar blast in Najaf Iraq in 2004 (verified by numerous Marines in the company). Still fought for days afterward cause I knew going to the rear and leaving my Marines while I was still conscious was not an option. IED strikes? yes, just like everyone else. Each and every time, I treated the injury myself with the aid of fellow Marines, refused medical treatment and refused to leave the field as did alot of my other brothers. Purple Heart??? I grew up in a town full of folks from WWI, WW2, Korea and Vietnam who REALLY rated that medal. I was not ever going to sit in a VFW next to them and wear the same thing regardless if the regulations state you qualify.
Can I relate to him? Not in any way. Told him to quit whining, buy those guys a beer (They were both Vets), and stop giving my generation of fighting man a bad name...
