Thank you for your service. You're welcome. Vote for Biden...

[RPM 26230]

The fucking mental meltdown this response gets is stunning. I wear a veteran shirt, Rando walks up to me and asks if I'm a Vet. (No, I just like the way the shirt looks) I say yeah and they thank me for my service. I normally say thanks, but I started saying vote Biden. This triggers a double, no.. TRIPLE clutch at speed that most aren't prepared for. 

(gears grinding)

But, you're a vet, right?

Yeah.

(gears grinding)

And you support Biden?

Yep.

(gears grinding)

Fuck you!

[atomheartbevo 89452]

4 minutes ago, RPM said:

I wear a veteran shirt, Rando walks up to me and asks if I'm a Vet. (No, I just like the way the shirt looks) I say yeah and they thank me for my service. I normally say thanks,

On a side note, it weirds me out when people thank me for my service, because I never deployed (not that Lawton, OK and El Paso aren't dangerous), and if they only knew what a lot of young soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss/El Paso are thinking about/spending their money on....

[TwiceHorn 31295]

2 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

On a side note, it weirds me out when people thank me for my service, because I never deployed (not that Lawton, OK and El Paso aren't dangerous), and if they only knew what a lot of young soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss/El Paso are thinking about/spending their money on....

Still, whether you deployed or not and whether you fully realized it or not, you put yourself in a position where you could be placed in harm's way.  And for that, your fellow Americans should be grateful.

 

[RPM 26230]

Just now, atomheartbevo said:

I never deployed

Same here. Just got lucky with the times. I'm not a combat vet (although at the time we made fun of the other services because they were training when we weren't) I was never under enemy fire. I respect the fuck out of guys that have been.

[Gil Bang 25898]

 

[Gil Bang 25898]

31 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

On a side note, it weirds me out when people thank me for my service, because I never deployed (not that Lawton, OK and El Paso aren't dangerous), and if they only knew what a lot of young soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss/El Paso are thinking about/spending their money on....

I spent quite a bit of time in EP when my kid was at Bliss, and I came away with the belief (which I still hold) that El Paso is a pretty nice place.   I've seen a lot of worse places for sure.   There are a shitload of worse places in Texas.  EP is top 25% of Texas for sure.   

If you'd ask him...and my Daughter-in-Law, I don't think they'd hesitate to go back there. 

The only think my kid missed in EP (he's a San Diego boy) was water.  No Oceans or lakes anywhere close. 

Edited June 4 by Gil Bang

[F250 28694]

6 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

On a side note, it weirds me out when people thank me for my service, because I never deployed (not that Lawton, OK and El Paso aren't dangerous), and if they only knew what a lot of young soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss/El Paso are thinking about/spending their money on....

I used to have a power generation client that would celebrate right before Veterans Day with a ceremony. They gave out a plaque and gift certificate to Veterans. There was only one veteran and he was Air Force that never left the U.S. who got a plaque and gift certificate.

I had this contract for a few years and happened to be at their office during one ceremony years later. I had a guy embedded with them that was a vet but he was my employee not theirs.

After they finished their ceremony, I spoke up and said something like "I know he isn't one of your employees but he has been here with y'all several years, Rob served in the Army with two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan and has been wounded a couple of times in combat. I'd just like to acknowledge his service."

Rob didn't like the attention and Air Force guy felt uncomfortable so looking back I probably should have stayed quiet. My bad.

[Gil Bang 25898]

and here's my confession to stolen valor.  Today, I was driving, and had to take a wicked shit.  If I'd been in Italy, I'd have hoofed it back to the Excelsior.  Anyway, I come upon a Lowes.  I'm getting desperate.  Up at the front of the lot, open spaces say "Veteran Parking Only".  I never served, but, given the choice between grabbing that space and posting (again) on the shart thread...I did what I had to do. 

[Gil Bang 25898]

1 minute ago, F250 said:

I used to have a power generation client that would celebrate right before Veterans Day with a ceremony. They gave out a plaque and gift certificate to Veterans. There was only one veteran and he was Air Force that never left the U.S. who got a plaque and gift certificate.

I had this contract for a few years and happened to be at their office during one ceremony years later. I had a guy embedded with them that was a vet but he was my employee not theirs.

After they finished their ceremony, I spoke up and said something like "I know he isn't one of your employees but he has been here with y'all several years, Rob served in the Army with two tours in Iraq and one tour in Afghanistan and has been wounded a couple of times in combat. I'd just like to acknowledge his service."

Rob didn't like the attention and Air Force guy felt uncomfortable so looking back I probably should have stayed quiet. My bad.

I had an old friend who's parents were born in Iraq.  
When W started that mess, his company had a sales meeting, and they started it by asking everybody to stand up and speak if they had a family member serving in the war.  Dave said "my cousin is serving".  What branch?  Republican Guard.  

It went over like a fart in a spacesuit, but it was true. 

[Gil Bang 25898]

BTW, Dave was pretty fucked up...mainly because one day he ditched school and came home early, and his dad was re-enacting the scene with Vito Spatafore and the security guard...20 years before The Sopranos aired. 

[HenryJames 65890]

39 minutes ago, RPM said:

But, you're a vet, right?

[aggie08 21434]

40 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

if they only knew what a lot of young soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss/El Paso are thinking about/spending their money on....

The amount of massage parlors within 3 miles of any Navy foreign port is just staggering. Those boys should really be trained to lift with their legs while on deployment!

[atomheartbevo 89452]

28 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I spent quite a bit of time in EP when my kid was at Bliss, and I came away with the belief (which I still hold) that El Paso is a pretty nice place.   I've seen a lot of worse places for sure.   There are a shitload of worse places in Texas.  EP is top 25% of Texas for sure.   

El Paso is great, it's the uh, areas that are across the border that captivated many a young soldier. I think at one point in the 80s they lowered the drinking age on Fort Bliss to 18 to keep soldiers from going to Juarez.

edit: Welp, they dropped it in 2008 (well raised it technically), and banned soldiers from Juarez.

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24878323#

Quote

This military base in the far West Tex as desert stood as the last Army post in America where if you were old enough to fight and die for your country, you were old enough to drink a beer.

But the party is over at Fort Bliss.

Quote

Citing too many drunken-driving crashes and arrests and too many fights, the new commanding general has raised the drinking age on base from 18 to 21, bringing 17,000-soldier Fort Bliss into line with what has been the law in the rest of Texas since 1986.

And not only that, but all Fort Bliss soldiers are barred from slipping across the Mexican border to Ciudad Juarez, the city of famously loose morals where young Americans have been getting drunk — and getting into trouble — for generations. From now on, no passes to Juarez will be issued.

Quote

For the past 28 years, however, Fort Bliss let young soldiers drink. For most of that period, it was peacetime, and things were calm on base. Also, commanders figured that letting soldier drinks at the base club would discourage them from going to Juarez.

But now units are routinely shipping back and forth to Iraq and Afghanistan, and base officials say young men and women have been using alcohol to blow off steam — too much steam.

 

Edited June 4 by atomheartbevo

[RPM 26230]

1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

BTW, Dave was pretty fucked up...mainly because one day he ditched school and came home early, and his dad was re-enacting the scene with Vito Spatafore and the security guard...20 years before The Sopranos aired. 

But not the baseball bat scene...

Edited June 4 by RPM