Desert Spirit (Living With PTSD)

Long Time, No Post

2011-04-27T14:51:00.004-04:00

It has been almost a year since my last post to the blog. Guess I am falling down on the job but this really is difficult being a creative writer. Obviously, I’m not a creative writer and have to force myself to get at the machine.

I was having a lot of pain last year which I related to my broken hip but a CAT Scan at the VA showed that I had some discs in my back that were slipping. That is what caused the severe pain when I stopped at the stop sign and could not hold the motorcycle up. I thought it was the hip but I guess it was something worse. No surgery, I just have to take it more careful on what I lift and how I bend.

We had a great time on our trip to Colorado last year and saw some beautiful scenery. The Air Force Academy is a beautiful campus set on the side of a little mountain. We stayed in Mountain View (which is near Colorado Springs) for about a week. From there we could easily cover most of eastern Colorado. Heading north we went to Rocky Mountain National Park and south we went to the Garden of the Gods. Both are beautiful rock formations. We also took the train ride through the Royal Gorge. Very nice train ride. It truly was a great trip and Joanne even got to visit a Wizard of Oz museum and winery in Kansas. The names of the wines were named after characters from the Wizard of Oz. They probably will never get used.

Still attending group therapy on a regular basis but I also miss the great EMDR sessions at Henry Ford Behavioral Services. The VA is not into EMDR that much. I think it really works and would like to see it used more.

We have a new 5th wheel this year. As I get older, Joanne and I figured it was time to downsize a little. We went from 40 footer with three axles to 37 footer with just two axles. It is also a lot lighter but weight is not a problem for my truck. The new unit will be easier in the small campgrounds. Unless the weather takes a major turn, we will not be camping anytime soon. Rain and cold is all we are getting right now. You don’t realize how much junk accumulates in an RV after seven years. We unloaded the old unit and put the stuff in the garage. Then when we got the new RV in the driveway, we began moving things in from the garage but not before doing a major sort. Why would two people need fifty coffee cups and plastic glasses? As I said before, we downsized.

Remember how I was complaining about the VA never being able to keep shrinks on staff. Well the Benton Harbor VA has finally gotten one that is excellent and seems to want to stay at this center. His name is Dr. Zamor and he is from Haiti. He really cares and all in our group really respect how he deals with us. Mark that down. Something positive to say about the VA.

Guess that is kind of a compacted version of what has happened in the last year but this blogging is difficult. Don’t forget that Memorial Day is next month.

Memorial Day

2010-05-30T19:58:00.000-04:00

Decoration Day (Memorial Day) is the most beautiful of our national holidays…. The grim cannon have turned into palm branches, and the shell and shrapnel into peach blossoms. — Thomas Bailey Aldrich

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. — General George S. Patton

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. — Francis A. Walker

And I'm proud to be an American,
where at least I know I'm free.
And I won't forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
~Lee Greenwood

It is yet another Memorial Day. Time to remember the ones we lost in combat. I lost a lot of friends in Nam and I think about them everyday of my life. Guess that is part of survivor guilt but I never want those men to be forgotten. I hope everyone can get out to a parade this weekend and truly remember the real reason for this holiday. I really like the words in Lee Greenwood's song.

Guess I should update everyone on my motorcycle adventures. My adventure is over as fast as it began. The technical aspects of riding were not really my problem. The mental was the big road block. It was taking me out of my “safe zone” and it raised the anxiety level just as it did when my PTSD first started. With the help of my therapist I probably could have gotten past that point. My pinned hip was giving me problems with support at stops and mentally it was creating problems on right hand turns. I did not want to fall on the hip again. But I did.

Nothing was hurt except my pride and when I got back from that ride I decided right then and there that at 65 it was not a good idea to try and ride again. The bike is going up for sale this week and I did enjoy it for a short period of time. If I could just ride without stopping and turning corners then it would be great. Or if I just rode counter clockwise all the time and only made left hand turns it would be okay.

I know a lot of guys with PTSD ride motorcycles but they have been riding for years and it probably has little effect on them. Guess I have passed the thrill stage in my life cycle. I raced cars after Nam and loved the thrill of high speed. I had a 57 Porsche Speedster and raced E Production in SCCA. I loved that and it was mentally relaxing after a busy workweek. Guess at 65 the same thrills are no longer there. Or we know what real pain is like and don't want to go through it again.

Be sure and shake the hand of a Veteran this weekend and thank him for his service to our country. Or visit a Veterans grave and leave flowers, or take the kids to a Memorial Day parade and let them know the real reason for Memorial Day. It is not just a holiday for hot dogs and beer. Remember our Veterans from all wars and again thank them for keeping us free. God Bless You All.

Damn, I Got Old Quick

2010-02-03T14:52:00.002-05:00

“Damn, I got old quick”. Time is sure flying by lately. They say that time goes quicker as you get older and it sure seems to be moving at a fast rate lately. I has been awhile since my last post but seems like just yesterday.

I have found something that does tend to take up a lot of my time on the internet. It is a series of mindless games on Facebook. I play Farkle, Bejeweled Blitz, Jungle Jewels and a few different farming programs. Those being Farm Town, Farmville and Lil Farm Life. I also do those on my sisters Facebook for a total of five farms I'm maintaining. They are mindless games but they do keep your mind off of bad memories. I've seen it mentioned on a couple of different PTSD websites as to how it is therapeutic. Farm Town is my favorite because it is the most realistic. And it is a lot easier than real farming.

I got through the holidays fairly stress free and the New Year got here so quickly. Now we are into February and are starting to plan vacations. “Plan vacations...there is still snow on the ground”. We are going to Colorado this year for our long vacation and that will probably be in June or July depending on scheduling. We may also do a four day trip to Cambridge Ohio and some shot trips to Shipshewana, Frankenmouth, and Manistee.

April is going to be a busy month. That month has the Hall China Convention in Columbus OH, Great Lakes Depression Glass Show in Madison Heights, MI, and I start my motorcycle safety classes. Yes, I said motorcycle class. I bought a 2007 Honda Shadow Spirit 1100 motorcycle off of eBay in November. The seller was a retired Police Chief up in the Muskegan area and had two Honda's and sold the smaller of the two. He delivered it via trailer and it is in great condition with very little miles. It has been over 40 years since I have been on a motorcycle so it will take some getting used to riding again.

I was a fearless young man then and now I know what pain is like so I'm sure I will be a fearful old coot rider. There will be two days of classroom work and two days of parking lot riding to complete the class. Upon successful completion of the class, you are certified to get a motorcycle license. I probably will only tide for a couple of years but I just have the feeling that I want to get back in the saddle. I was so much fun as a youth and hopefully it will still be just as much fun.

I'm still attending the weekly group therapy sessions and that is going well. The local VA still does not have a permanent shrink but they may be getting one next month. Talking to a shrink over a TV connection just does not get it. Usually they are so interested in looking at their computer and what they are typing that they never spend much time observing how you are reacting to the questions. Observation is part of how you understand the patient. Almost all of the VA shrinks seem to be foreign doctors. It is probably just a stopping off point until they can get a regular practice started on the outside.

This is the kind of Health Care the government wants to shove down our throats. Poorly paid and poorly run. The VA is getting better in some areas but is still inferior to most regular hospitals and physicians. The Ann Arbor VA is excellent because they are connected to the University of Michigan Medical Center.

Let's hope I can post again soon.

I'm Back For Now.

2009-10-26T15:20:00.002-04:00

My friend and relatives have been complaining that I haven’t posted all summer and fall. Yes…it has been a long time but we have been busy and I wasn’t motivated enough to write anything. The mind has to be in the correct state to put how I feel on paper. I probably should do a little catching up for everyone.

We took a two weeks vacation in June and went out to the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was a long drive but we had a great time. I think Joanne really loved it. We went to the Mt Rushmore park two times and got some great pictures. Mt Rushmore is very impressive as are the Badlands and Devil’s Tower. We also spent some time in Deadwood, SD where there are quite a few casinos. Deadwood is quite a unique town.

We stayed one night in Mitchell, SD and that is the home of the famous Corn Palace. The Corn Palace is quite a site if you like tacky stuff. If you are really into tacky, stop by Wall Drug in Wall, SD sometime. That place will keep you busy for half a day.

The rest of the summer was spent going to baseball games and soccer games that our Grandkids play in all the time. They play soccer rain or shine so we are selective on which games we go to. We also don’t go the away games unless it is in a local town close by.

Otherwise, it was a typical summer with yard work, going for walks and just enjoy our selves and doing activities with my sister. She is getting used to it up here now but kept complaining about the cool weather here. It wasn’t hot and humid like it gets in Atlanta. To me it was a perfect summer but much too short.

PTSD wise, I do pretty well when we camp. I guess I feel fairly safe in the RV. We were around some big crowds at Mt Rushmore and I did okay then. The only problem I had was traveling through Iowa. That was too long of a driving day and is very tiring and my butt can’t handle it even with the air ride seats. I don’t know how truckers can do long trips. They must have concrete butts.

Still attending group therapy weekly and that does help even though some days are just BS sessions. Just being in a group of guys that understand what combat is like is helpful in itself. The therapist does interject thought provoking ideas occasionally that keep us on track about our problems.

Our two oldest Veterans finally got 100% disability. That is our WWII and Korean Vet. The one really needed the money and I’m so happy that it finally came through for him. He has struggled for so many years and did not really understand what his problem was from.

Veterans Day is soon approaching and I will again attend the dinner and program at the Eau Claire High School for Veterans. Last year I took my sister because my wife was at a meeting. This year my wife gets to see the great program they put on for the Vets. It is a difficult thing to attend for me but I got through it fairly well last year so maybe it will be easier this year. Ooh Rah.

Memorial Day

2009-05-25T09:43:00.002-04:00

Dear Proud American,

Thank you to all those who have worn this country's uniform and have served in our Armed Forces. We especially pay tribute to those whose lives were lost in defense of this country.

Memorial Day,which is today, is a special time for all of us to remember that America enjoys freedom today because of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen and Marines who have sacrificed their lives for the defense of our nation.

LtCol Oliver North, USMC (Ret.)

Happy Easter

2009-04-08T15:48:00.000-04:00

I know, I know it has been awhile since my last post but I have been busy. Doing what I have no idea but I am sure I have been busy. PTSD tends to confuse the mind and causes a lack of concentration. I jump around a lot. Not literally but mentally my mind goes in many directions and jumps from one subject to another.

I have discovered a unique website for various mental and physical conditions called Daily Strength. They have discussion groups on many different subjects and the one I have been visiting is the PTSD support group. It is located at http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder/support-group. I have found it to be very helpful in that I can help others with their problems. Many are new to PTSD and are concerned about therapy, EMDR and a multitude of different questions. Having gone through this for many years, I can give some in site in what they can expect when they go for treatment. Maybe I can help someone else and help myself at the same time.

It does feel good but I can only do it for a few days at a time. Many of the folks on the site are women and have gone through rape, sexual and physical abuse. Some of their stores can really get you down if you let it. That is why I take breaks from the website periodically.

Last year about this time, I broke my hip just before going to a convention. I hope that this year I can get to the convention without something happening to me. I will miss one group therapy session but I can get through that okay. Things are improving but I admit I probably do spend too much time in my cave. With summer coming I will probably get out more and try to do things in the yard. Exercise is always good for PTSD.

I hope everyone has a good Easter with the family and do not eat too much candy from the kids Easter baskets. That is one of my problems. I am back on a diet and getting the weight back down again. The weight went up after I broke my hip due to lack of exercise so I am trying hard to get back to my fighting weight. Ya right, that will not happen but at least I need to take off quite a few pounds.

Happy Easter Everyone.

Guest Blog - Part II

2009-03-10T12:11:00.002-04:00

This is the second installment for Michele Rosenthal’s wonderful site about PTSD. She is an excellent writer and is a joy to read. Hers is much better than my ramblings and ranting of a mad man. Her website is http://parasitesofthemind.blogspot.com. Please check out her site because it has tons of helpful information about PTSD.

Guest Blog – Part II

Dealing with the VA is my subject this time around. The problem with informing you on how to deal with the VA is the VA varies so much from state to state. The VA within each state is a separate entity from the Veterans Administration in Washington D.C... What you say? I know this sounds stupid but appears to be how the system operates. To get care, you have to be registered in that state where you live. Therefore, that means if you live in Michigan and spend the winter in Florida then you need to register in both states. In addition, the medical records cannot be accessed from state to state. Each system seems to be independent from each other.

This may sound really messed up but trust me the system is greatly improved from what it was years ago. President Bush put a lot more funding into the system from the previous president. The former head of the VA, James Peake, really made some great changes to the system. He also increased our mileage reimbursement up to the present 41.5 cents a mile. The previous amount had not changed for 30 years. The old reimbursement would not even cover gas for half my trip. Now it covers my gas and leaves a little extra.

I hope that the new VA Secretary Shinseki will keep up the improvements and make life a little easier for us Vets. As I stated in the first blog, veterans who recently returned from a combat zone are eligible for no-cost VA care. They are entitled to five years of free VA care. The five-year “clock” begins with their discharge from the military, not their departure from the combat zone.

Each VA medical center has an enrollment coordinator to provide veterans information about these programs. Veterans may also contact VA’s Health Benefits Service Center at 1-877-222-8387 or visit the VA health eligibility Web site at www.va.gov/healtheligibility.

If you feel you deserve a VA compensation for injuries or PTSD, it is best to get a representative to submit your paperwork and represent you to the VA. The VFW, American Legion, DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and others have representatives. I personally believe the DAV can represent you the best because they are paid employees and not just volunteers that may or may not know the system well. The DAV represented me for my PTSD. I had already had a 30% disability for injuries in Nam since my discharge. Once the paperwork is submitted, HURRY UP AND WAIT. It can take as long as two years for older veterans but I believe the current veterans are getting through much quicker. At some point in this process, they will send you to a Compensation and Pension examination. You are getting close at this point.

Usually you will be rejected the first time so keep pushing for another review. If you are suffering with PTSD, try to get into one of the Post Traumatic Stress Recovery Tracks they run at the VA hospitals. These tracks run from 28 days to two months. It is intensive therapy along with medication adjustments and group therapy. Going through a track will help you get VA compensation. You will also be paid when you go through a track.

You can get up to 75% disability and if you cannot function enough to work, an additional 25% will be added for unemployables. I have an 88 years old WWII veteran in my group therapy that has tried to get unemployables (the word we use is unemployability but I do not think that is a real word). At 88 years of age, he should have unemployability. Sometimes we feel the VA figures, “kill a vet, save a check”.

One thing I forgot to mention in my first blog was about brain injury. They have discovered that big explosions close to you might cause a jarring of the brain. You will not have any external injuries but your brain is injured. These injuries will appear similar to PTSD but can only be detected via an MRI exam. Both PTSD and explosive brain injury can be present in combat veterans. Just something else to consider.

It is a quick overview but I hope some of it helps. Just do not suffer with the problems. Get the help you need and deserve from the VA.

Semper Fi

Guest Blog

2009-03-09T19:35:00.003-04:00

Another blogger, Michele Rosenthal, has a wonderful site about PTSD with lots of helpful hints in dealing with the condition. She commented on my site and requested I do a guest topic on her site. I am posting what I sent to her. Her website is http://parasitesofthemind.blogspot.com. Please check out her site because it has tons of helpful information about PTSD. It will take me days to go through all her information.

Guest Blog

Hi,…I am a Vietnam Veteran suffering from PTSD and Michele asked me to write something on her blog. If you are recently back from Iraqi or Afghanistan and you do not feel right mentally, seek help. If your wife, husband, or family thinks you have changed for the worse, seek help. You probably have the beginnings of PTSD so get help ASAP. When you get back from war, you should notice positive changes in your character. However, if the negatives out weight the positives, then seek help.

The VA is offering you returning vets 5 years of fast care in the system. Now what you and I think is fast is not the VA form of fast. At least, do not be afraid to try, and make an appointment to be seen by one of their many Social workers and Shrinks. They will very easily, in most cases, identify if you do or do not have symptoms of PTSD.

I believe that most forms of PTSD from combat manifests itself fairly soon after coming back from combat. We Vietnam Vets did not have that luxury because the mental illness did not exist in the books. The Vietnam Vet brought this problem to the forefront and now it is recognized.

The other form of PTSD manifests itself later in life. Mine took this form. Sure, there were little things that began fairly soon such as the inability to remember peoples names and a heightened sense of awareness of my surrounding. I was able to function in a job and keep jobs. Twenty-seven years later the flashbacks started to occur. Mine started while driving which in itself was a scary adventure. It turns out the reason was certain music from the Vietnam period would trigger my flashback. I would have one a month, and then a couple a month until near the end, I was experiencing two to three per day.

I was seeing body bags and faces of my friends that died. I would dream of “incoming” at night and end up on the floor to be low to the ground. Good sleep turned to bad sleep. The worst thing for me was the fear that I would hurt one of my employees during a flashback.

When I finally sought help, the shrink (she luckily did her internship at the VA) immediately identified it as PTSD. The facility where I worked and was Manager of a large department put me on long-term disability. Behavioral Services put me on medications and began therapy and EMDR treatment. I quickly started to show improvement but not enough to function in a normal world. Hyper-awareness, agoraphobia (fear of leaving your safe zone), depression, anxiety, were all part of the symptoms.

I stepped on a booby-trapped grenade in Nam and developed a fear of even walking in the yard for fear of another explosion. You literally cannot function the way you did before.

Do not let it get to this point. Seek help and get on medications, therapy, group therapy and EMDR. Get a good experienced EMDR therapist but I am sorry to say they are currently rare in the VA system.

Because it was not a recognized diagnosis until late after the Vietnam War, many WWII and Korean War vets developed and have PTSD. In my group therapy, we have one of each from those wars. One of these men had almost 50 jobs in 50 years. He is much better now with meds and therapy. My therapist calls my office in the basement, my cave or safe zone. Do not get stuck in your cave. Seek treatment from the VA immediately.

Next time I will talk about dealing with the VA and what a mess that system is or has been. It is getting better but needs a lot more work.

Semper Fi

Just A Little Cranky

2009-03-06T14:52:00.002-05:00

It has been soooooooooo long since my last post. Guess I have been busy with doctor’s appointments, dental visits, helping my sister, playing games on Facebook, and other oddball things.

I developed a rash on my chest and back and the doctors could not identify the cause. Probably Agent Orange raising its ugly head. Two and a half months later, it is getting better but still itches like a son of a gun. The doctor will send me to Ann Arbor VA if it doesn’t improve soon. I just hate that long drive just to have some bumps checked out.

I guess the Benton Harbor VA will finally be getting a regular shrink so we will not have to deal with meeting with him via the TV. It is not a very personal way to deal with a patient via a little TV screen. Of course, the doctor that will be seeing us does not have a very good history with veterans. Some of these guys have been around too long in the VA system and do not have a caring attitude. We need doctors with good bedside manners.

Okay, now is my time to get on my soapbox and spout off. If the VA truly cared about the veterans, they would totally revamp the system. They need to let us go to local doctors, dentists, and hospitals. I have a state of the art hospital only 14 miles away but can only get treatment if it is a life or death situation. To go to the dentist, ophthalmologist x-rays and urgent care, I have to travel 85 miles one way. If I go for my asthma or dermatology then I have to travel 165 miles one way. Now if I need oral surgery, I have to go 225 miles one-way. Look how much they have to pay out just in mileage reimbursement (41 cents/mile).

One person in my group has three appointments this week so that is three full days shot out of his week. Some of us are lucky, we can drive but if you have to use the VA van for Ann Arbor VA that is a two-day trip. In addition, the government has to put you up in a motel for the night. What a waste of money by our government.

Do not get me started on the stimulus package. I will save that for another soapbox day.

Our Korean vet in the group is doing much better on his medication change. I was really getting concerned about his welfare. The new Iraqi vet is really having problems with the Army. He officially is not discharged but has a very high percentage disability from the VA. They made him re-up for another year and report to a base 700 miles away to be evaluated as to whether or not he can stay in the military. He is not able to function anymore in the military so why do they make him go thru hoops just to give him a discharge.

I know, I know, I am a little cranky today but guess I have been in the doldrums of late. All this changing of meds and dealing with the rash kind of gets me down. Do not worry, the guns are safely locked away and the wife has the key.

Late Update

2009-01-23T20:48:00.001-05:00

Yes, I have been remiss in posting to the blog. Seems like we have been very busy after the holidays and have not found the time to blog. I did get the first two seasons of “The Sopranos” for Christmas and have been watching most of the 26 episodes. I enjoy that because I get to stay in my safe zone (the basement). As my therapist calls it, “my cave”.

The shrink doubled one of my drugs and that was not a good thing. After a couple of weeks at that dosage, I cut back to my old amount. The higher dosage was making me agitated and not really helping the depression. Now he wants me to increase it by fifty percent. That starts tonight so we will see how that works.

Another item that has been keeping me busy is I joined Facebook. I was hoping to find old classmates on it but most of the folks using Facebook are the younger generation. There were only about seven from my High School class on Facebook. Guess the older generation is not used to using computers. Some of them said their kids set them up on Facebook and they just use it to communicate with their kids. Come on you old coots, get with the computer age.

Not much more to update. Group therapy is still going well and we got another Iraqi vet in our group. That makes it now one WWII, one Korea, seven Vietnam, and two Iraqi vets in the group. The group has different percentages of disability from 40% to 100%.

2008-12-23T10:35:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Stan and Joanne.

Happy 233rd Birthday to the Green Side!

2008-11-26T11:41:00.003-05:00

I'm a little late with these pictures but still wanted to post them on my blog.

Happy Birthday Dear

2008-11-25T14:05:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday to my dear wife Joanne. I will not tell you her age because then I might not see my next birthday. We went out to dinner with the kids and grandkids and my sister. Then Joanne and I went north to the Little River Casino in Manistee Michigan for the weekend. I think she had a great birthday. Love you dear.

Almost Thanksgiving Day

2008-11-25T13:57:00.001-05:00

Well, I made it through Veterans Day and I did attend the dinner in Eau Clair. It was quite a shindig and well represented by all branches of the service. This is a fine example of small towns clinging to their guns and religion. They treat the Veterans the way they should be treated. It made me feel proud to be an American Veteran. There were a few tears but I got through it okay. My wife had to go to a meeting so I went with my sister. She also enjoyed the evening.

Joanne and I just got back from a weekend in Manistee, MI celebrating Joanne’s birthday at Little River Casino. I will not say which birthday we celebrated but it was traumatic for her. We came out about even for the weekend and had a great time. It started snowing heavily on the way back but the further south we got the better the driving conditions.

Went to Battle Creek VA last week to have me hip checked out. Guess it is doing okay according to the doctor. That leg is one quarter inch longer than the other is and my limp does cause a few problems with the hip. He said it will take time and that I should not be concerned with some pain. Only be concerned about a lot of pain continuously. I do not have the patience to wait. I want it better now.

The Benton Harbor VA is now officially a full fledge VA facility and not run by a contractor. I do not know if that is good or bad. We will wait and see. The one individual that I liked is not staying with the VA. Paul really seemed to care and I thought he was very good at his job. They have replaced him with a doctor via video conference. I do not think it is right for a physician to be able to analyze you via a TV monitor. Not sure how long this will go on with the TV. Maybe they will find an on-site individual.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving and then it will be time to start thinking about putting up trees for Christmas. Time sure is flying by.

Long Time, No Post

2008-11-08T14:41:00.003-05:00

Long time, no post. Well…I have been very busy moving my sister up to Michigan from Georgia. My wife and I drove down to Atlanta and helped my sister pack up all the dishes and glass. We rented a 26-foot U-Haul truck and hired Two Men and a Truck guys to load the truck. It is best to let the professionals load a truck because they can really pack it tight. As far as we know, nothing got broken on our 14-hour trip north.

26 feet was not large enough for everything so some things had to be left behind. The realtor will try to sell a few things and the rest will be given to charity groups. Some of the stuff we talked her out of bringing to Michigan. I would have loved to brought everything with us but there wasn’t the room. It would have been better to have a garage sale up here rather than leave it behind but you do what you have to do.

I believe she really likes the new house she bought “sight un seen”. Her large furniture fit nicely and looks homey in the house. She did go out and buy a few things to fill in a few places such as a smaller kitchen table and another chair for living room rather than a large couch.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for me with all the activity but I am slowly getting back to normal and mentally calming down. Dealing with all that activity and being out of my safe zone was stressful but I got thru it without too much anxiety. Now that I am back in my basement office, I feel much more secure and relaxed. Every Thursday, I can go visit my sister for lunch after Group Therapy. I think that will be fun and I am sure she will enjoy that also.

I had a few flashbacks during that period but I believe that the physical activity of packing and getting ready to move helped a little to relieve the stress of being out of my safe zone. We have a new member to our Group Therapy and I have only been to one meeting while he was their. New members tend to change the dynamics of a group so we will see how it does. My initial reaction was that he probably was not a good soldier and tends to hate the military and its rules. However, first impressions can be deceiving so I will wait and see how he turns out.

Big Veterans Day activities coming up in the area but I am not sure if I will partake. Stuff like that brings back memories that I try to forget. A couple of the guys in the group told me to try it so maybe I will. One of the activities includes a free dinner for two with a military program. Betty Bennett is a speaker and I have heard her speak before and really enjoyed what she had to say. She was a Wave Code Breaker in Washington D.C. during WWII. It was amazing what she had to go thru to keep her activities a secret during that time and she had to sign a paper not to reveal for 25 years what she had been doing. She confirms that Roosevelt knew about the attack at Pearl Harbor 4 days before the Japanese hit. I may go just to hear her talk.

Coming Out of the Dark

2008-10-16T20:08:00.003-04:00

A couple more excellent videos dealing with PTSD.

PTSD Video

2008-10-12T20:57:00.001-04:00

If you are a Nam Vet, be careful when you watch this video. It may bring back some bad memories or reactions.

Tax Plans

2008-10-12T13:34:00.001-04:00

This is a VERY simple way to understand the tax laws. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand.

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this.

The first four men, the poorest would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1; the sixth would pay $3; the seventh $7; the eighth $12; the ninth $18; and the tenth man, the richest, would pay $59.

That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day; the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

So the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12; leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59.

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man, but he, pointing to the tenth. "But he got $7!" "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man, "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got seven times more than me!" That's true!" shouted the seventh man, why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!" Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "we didn't get anything at
all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important.

They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!

T. Davies Professor of Accounting & Chair, Division of Accounting and
Business Law
the University of South Dakota

Happy Birthday Jo Ann

2008-09-14T13:05:00.003-04:00

Well…my sister celebrated a milestone of a birthday yesterday. I won’t say which one but she is an old coot now. I have included a couple of recent pictures of her at her part time job at a Hallmark store. The one picture is also of her good friend Marie who she flew with for many years at Delta Airlines. The picture with the flowers is from a pilot that she flew with many times over the years. (Click picture for larger view) I am looking forward to next month when we move her up to Michigan. I sure hope this winter is not too bad. As a Southern girl, she is used to easy winters with a few chilly days. We live in an area that has “Lake Effect” snow. It blows in off of Lake Michigan and dumps the snow on our area. Happy Birthday Sister.

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-03T13:24:00.003-04:00

We had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend and the weather was perfect. Saturday, we drove 100 miles to Barlow Lake to visit my cousins. Uncle Hugo had a cottage at the lake for as long as I can remember and we spent many a summer day out at the lake. Now the kids have the cottage and they spend many of their summers there. I think Cousin Vincent is about four years older then me and Georgia is probably two years older. We have not seen them for many years so I just had to go to the lake to visit. Labor Day is the weekend that they bring in the boats and dock to store away for the winter.

Vince’s wife is Suzy and their son (Erik) and daughter-in-law were at the lake. In addition, Georgia’s husband Steve and their daughter and granddaughter (Samantha) were at the lake. Here is another case of my not remembering names. I should know their names but forget names so easily. I somehow missed getting a picture of Samantha.

The first picture is of Georgia, her daughter, Erik, Erik’s wife, and then Suzy. The next picture is of Erik, Erik’s wife, Suzy and then Steve (Georgia’s husband). The third picture is Suzy, Erik, Georgia’s daughter, and Erik’s wife. The fourth picture is of Steve and Vince (he graduated from Michigan). The last picture is of Joanne and me on the swing that has been part of the cottage for as long as I can remember. I was just as if I had never been away. (You can click on the pictures for a larger view.)

On Labor Day, the kids and grandkids took us out to dinner for our Anniversary. It was a fun time with the kids and little ones both at the restaurant and out on their patio at home.

An Evening With The Kids

2008-08-19T12:39:00.002-04:00

My daughter-in-law did not want her picture taken because she said it would just end up on my blog. Guess I will have to post her picture here just for the fun of it. Kelly and her daughter, Lauren, were playing a game and that is why their arms are raised. I have included another picture of just Kelly and one of Nana, Mike and Josh.

Happy Birthday Josh

2008-08-19T12:20:00.003-04:00

Happy 13^th birthday Joshua. You are now a teenager. Our grandson turns 13 today so that is a big deal. It means we are really getting old to have a teenage grandson. The kids get to pick their restaurant of choice on their birthday so we will be celebrating at Chili’s this evening. The first picture if of Josh and the second picture is of Nana and the Grandkids (click picture for larger view). Actually, this took place yesterday but we spent a lovely evening at the kid’s house talking and watching the grandkids swim.

Update on the hip. It is still healing but very slowly and I still cannot put the anti-embolism stocking on by myself. I need to continue to use that stocking to keep the edema down.

I will miss Group this week because we are going on a trip for a few days. We will be camping in Birch Run and visiting the outlet mall there and go into Frankenmuth. It is a quaint little town with a very German atmosphere.

County Fair

2008-08-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

It is County Fair time in our little town. The fair is actually the Berrien County Youth Fair and really draws a crowd. We go for the junk food and to watch the people. It is great people watching in this area. I think we must be too close to the nuclear plant because the county has some strange people living here.

For lunch, we had “walking tacos” and for dinner, we had sirloin tips with potatoes and mushrooms. For dessert, we had ice cream cones. Nothing like fair food while watching the kids rides around on their horses getting ready for shows. We really enjoy the sights and sounds of the fair. We have a weeks pass for both of us so we will probably be having lunch and dinner there all week. Everyday, we will probably try different foods and pick different spots for people watching.

Prior to going to the fair is a double Xanex but I got through it okay. We missed on Monday because I just could not get ready mentally. I should be okay for the rest of the week now that I have made it through one day. Tomorrow will more horse watching and we always have to check out the Llamas. They are such a strange looking animal but always have a happy look on their face. A little rain is predicted for tomorrow but I hope it holds off until the evening and after the events.

Safe Zone

2008-08-07T19:47:00.001-04:00

Guess it has been a while since my last post. It is difficult to sit down and write out what is happening when PTSD keeps you from doing many things. Just getting me out of the house is a problem and I have all kinds of excuses why I do not want to go somewhere. My wife is good at getting me mobile but it is a struggle. Veterans with PTSD need to stay within their safe zones and we avoid crowds at all cost. As one member said today, he needs to be warned ahead of time (like a day or two) if the wife wants to go somewhere. We have difficulty just spontaneously going somewhere. We need to get our minds ready to leave the safe zone.

Well…we are going camping this weekend and I have had a couple of weeks to get my mind prepared. It is a short trip to Amish country to relax and take in the sights and sounds. It is fun listening to the “clop clop” of the horses all over town. There are some nice antique shops and a great hardware store in town. Going to that hardware store is the most fun of the whole trip. This store has anything and everything you can imagine.

Health wise, the hip is slowing getting better but not fast enough for me. With PTSD, I have little or no patience and that seems to be common with others in our group. I want to be walking normally again and that is not happening the way I envisioned. We did camp at Little River Casino in Manistee, Michigan a couple of weeks ago and Joanne had a great time. She loves to play video poker so she got three days worth of it. I did gain ten pounds at the buffets in the three days but luckily lost it in two days. I lost the weight about as fast as I lost money at the slot machines.

Group Therapy

2008-07-19T13:24:00.000-04:00

Well, the hip is not progressing as fast as I had hoped but it is getting better. We have been doing a lot of walking and going to a lot of the grandkids baseball and softball games so that is exercise for the leg. Guess by now I wanted to be back to completely normal. At least going to the games gets me out of the house and my hibernating mode. I am having no more flashbacks or bad nightmares so that is good news.

Still going to Group every week and some weeks are better then others. Sometimes we just talk about our weekly problems and other weeks we just talk about miscellaneous things in our lives. We usually, at least weekly, talk about Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor. Our oldest member (87) of the Group is a WWII veteran and was in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theater. He was in the Navy before the war started and saw a lot of communications just prior to the war starting that our government knew a war was about to start. Pearl Harbor really upsets him and he will get mad when he gets into that subject.

We also have a Korean War veteran in the group that was a military photographer and he still carries those pictures in his mind. He says he is much improved since starting therapy and medication.

Another in our group was in the Navy, landed Marines into Vietnam, and did some riverboat duty in Nam. We have one from the Air Force that was in ordinance and he has some physical problems along with PTSD. The one Marine in our Group probably has the most physical problems (other than our oldest member and that is just from old age) plus PTSD from Nam.

The other two regular members are both Army draftees. One was a convoy driver and the other did both driving and miscellaneous military duties in the southern part of Vietnam. We are a real mixed group of veterans from many wars. There are a couple of members that no longer attend Group meetings. One was an Iraqi vet that is well enough to find and keep a job so he has not attended in a long time. The other Army vet is really messed up and does not attend much because he does not like to leave his safe zone. I will have to see if maybe if I pick him up that maybe he might attend.

The Group has varying percentages of disability from as little as 30% up to a couple of us with 100%. Some of the guys should have a lot higher percentage then they are getting. The WWII and Korean War vet should both have 100% but the government probably figures they are too old so why bother. They will not be around much longer. Actually, they are cantankerous enough to last many more years and the government should give them what they deserve.

Enough rambling for today. God Bless America.

Wish I Knew Who Wrote This

2008-07-05T10:25:00.000-04:00

"Wish I knew who wrote this."

I know everyone has a different opinion on the war and our current President. But, this article makes a lot of sense, and I hope you will take 2 minutes and read it and give it some thought. I have never seen the 'situation' expressed any better in words! Recently I was talking to a friend about the upcoming election and the candidates. As we ended our discussion he said 'the only decision you have to make is who you want sitting in that seat in the White House when - not if - but when we get hit again and millions of American lives are put at risk!'

This is from: 'You ain't gonna like losing.'
Author unknown.

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq

Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not.

Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.

Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.

And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.

Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.

Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!

Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies.

A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.

No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.

It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause... Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits. So...We either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

America is not at war....the military is at war.
America is at the mall.

Camping Soon, I Hope

2008-06-28T12:10:00.002-04:00

Well…the hip is progressing and I took the truck out for a spin to see if I can work the brake and accelerator without much pain. Everything looks good for some camping soon. I did take the truck up to Flying J to fuel up and at $4.499/gallon; it was a lot of pain at the pump. Luckily, I only needed about 87 gallons so the bill was about $392.00. Last year I could put in 100 gallons for about $200.00. Still, RVing is the way to travel. I hope that we can get in a few short trips this year and will get some planned longer trips next year.

I would love to go to the Black Hills next year for a couple of weeks. In addition, the RV Dreams group will probably have another Rally next year and maybe we can catch that one.

PTSD wise, I am doing well and hope that continues. Joanne says I am still hibernating more than she would like me to do but it is difficult to get out among many people. The medication works well in stopping the nightmares but I still have weird dreams. I have no flashbacks to report since the ones in the hospital so that is a good thing. I am back to attending my group sessions and being with guys with many of the same problems. A couple of our group members only show up sporadically because they have trouble adjusting to life outside of the safe zone (home).

My sister seems to be adjusting well to her single life and that makes me happy. I was concerned about her down in Atlanta by herself but she is keeping very busy so that is excellent. I still would love to get her to move up to Michigan near us. We do talk on the phone very day so that helps both of us.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T13:31:00.001-04:00

Well, I am walking without a cane. It is a dull pain when I walk but that side is also weak from lack of weight bearing. It should really begin to loosen up quickly once I put more and more weight on the leg. In fact, we sent to church this morning without the cane and everyone noticed right away. I still cannot bend enough to get my sock on the right foot. As it loosens up it will get more flexible and Joanne will be free of the sock duty.

It is Father’s Day but our kids are in Fort Wayne at a soccer tournament so it is just Joanne and me celebrating.

Another Sad Day

2008-06-10T10:39:00.002-04:00

It started out a sad day for Joanne and me. We had to put down one of our older cats. Boyd was about 16 years old and was having troubles. We did not want him to suffer so off to the Vet Joanne took him. They become part of the family so it is difficult to put them down even when you know it is best for the cat. We had a burial in the back yard for Boyd. Now we are down to three cats and all three are a lot younger. They will be around for quite awhile. I think the oldest, Bear, is about five year old. All our cats are former Ferial cats but live indoors fulltime now. Boyd is the tan cat in the picture. Ace is our youngest and is the black and white cat.

I have a Doctors appt this week so we will see how the hip is doing from a medical standpoint. Putting a sock on and tying a shoe is still out of the question. It hurts too much to bend the leg way up to reach my toes. My movement is getting better with only a few sharp stabs of pain if I move wrong. Every night we try to walk a little further but I am still using the cane for support.

The RV-Dreams Rally starts this week and that was going to be out first trip of the season. The Rally is in ABC Campground in Branson, MO. It would have been a fun time with that group that follows the travels of Howard and Linda on their blog. Maybe next year they will have another Rally and if I stay healthy, we will join them.

Walking With A Cane

2008-05-18T12:41:00.000-04:00

I’m finally using the cane but it is a lot more difficult then I had imagined. The hip is painful while walking on it but not unbearable. I can get around fairly well but not very fast. I have driven myself to two group sessions and that worked out fairly well and it will probably be easier with the cane. At least it is easier getting in and out of the car with the cane. With the walker, I had to fold it up and put it in the backseat of the car then scoot along using the cargo railing on the roof of the car to get to the drivers seat. People probably figured they wanted to stay clear of my on the road. They were probably thinking, “What is that handicapped old coot doing on the road?” The foot is still swelling up during the day but the more I use the muscles the more that should go away. Just moving around will be good physical therapy for the leg.

Hopefully, we can start to plan some RV trips. We had to cancel the Branson RV-Dreams rally but I’m sure I should be able to deal with traveling by the middle of June. It sure will be costly for diesel fuel this year though. I usually fill up when I get to the point that I need about 100 gallons so that will be more than double the cost of a fill up from last year. It is still cheaper than staying in hotels and eating out. Plus I’m sleeping in my own bed and have everything I need close at hand.

I still have not tackled stairs in the house but in a week or so I may try getting to the basement. I’m tired of using this laptop and would love to get back to my regular computer. I hate typing on this flat surface keyboard. Plus, I would love to get back to my comfortable recliner chair and the big TV. I want my normal life back. My wife, Joanne, also wants her normal life back too. Probably more so then I do.

Ahhhhhhhh!

2008-04-23T15:26:00.000-04:00

Well, life continues on and I’m still struggling with this stupid walker. Joanne did go out and buy me an anti-embolism stocking for the right leg. I do think it helps with the swelling and does feel better when I walk. It was a bugger to get the stocking on though. If the swelling goes down then it should be easier to get the stocking on in a couple of days.

Our weather has been so nice for the last few days that it makes this process even more of a pain in the hip. I would love to be outdoors working in the yard and getting the truck and RV ready for traveling. Guess that will not happen until about June. Maybe in a week or so I will give driving a try and see if it hurts the hip or not. I hope that I will be able to drive with little or no pain. I am a goofy footer so I only use the right leg for the accelerator and brake with my left. That is what my dad did and that is how I learned. With the Freightliner, I have to do everything with the right foot because the accelerator and brake are both on the right of the steering column. There isn’t any room to get the left foot over to the brake.

Maybe if my driving test works out okay then I will be able to go to Group. I asked the doctor when I would be able to drive and he said it was up to the “Boss”. He was referring to Joanne. It would be a lot easier if all I needed was a cane but dealing with the walker sure throws a wrench in the works. Things will get better…right?

Four More Weeks

2008-04-20T12:48:00.001-04:00

Well, after visiting the doctor on Friday, he gave me the bad news of four more weeks with the walker and no weight bearing on the hip. I sure was hoping for better news. It has been a tough two weeks and having to do four more like this will be so boring. I feel like I can’t do anything. Pain wise, the leg is doing fairly well but I do have some swelling of the foot and calf. I try exercising the leg but the muscles are very tight.

Guess we will have to cancel our first trip of the year to Branson, MO for the RV-Dreams Rally. The brake pedal on the Freightliner takes a lot of pressure and I will not know how that will affect the hip. Rather than push it too much, guess it is best that we delay the first trip of the season. You should check out the RV-Dreams website for some young folks that decided to travel the country and leave the corporate world. The site is at http://www.rv-dreams.typepad.com/.

The thing that I miss right now is not being able to go to my Thursday group therapy sessions. I had a couple of flashbacks in the hospital because I was out of my safe zone. I’m doing fairly well now but still would like to get back with my sessions and the guys.

I've Fallen and Can't Get Up

2008-04-17T15:23:00.002-04:00

The best laid plans of mice and men…. Well, our trip to the Hall China Convention in Pittsburgh was cancelled at the last minute on Wednesday, April 2nd at about 3 PM. I had gone out to the RV to get a new pair of flip-flops to take on the trip. While exiting the RV, I found myself flying through the air and landed on my right side. As I was falling, I said to myself “this is going to hurt”.

I could not get up from the ground because of extreme pain in my right leg. Joanne came out of the house and saw my feet under the RV and thought that maybe I was fixing something. She asked what I was doing and all I could say was that famous saying, “I’ve fallen and can’t get up”. I told her to call 911 because I better go to the local ER.

To make a long story short, it turns out that I did break my right hip in two places. I went to surgery on Thursday at about 7 PM and was discharged the next day by 2:30 PM. At 10:00 pm this evening it will be officially two weeks since the three pins were placed in my hip. No weight bearing for four to six weeks is going to be a real pain in the neck. Of course, my allergies to pain medication did not help the situation any. Hopefully, I will get the sixteen staples taken out tomorrow and maybe the doctor will let me start doing more things and start putting a little more weight on the leg. Hey, I can hope can’t I.

I Know, Late Again.

2008-03-30T14:08:00.001-04:00

I know I have been bad in not posting lately. I have been quite busy trying to sell Hot Wheels for my sister that her husband collected. I also have many surgical instruments to sell too but I am having trouble taking good pictures of the instruments. They are so shiny that the light just reflects back at the camera and I cannot show good details of the item.

We got back from church this morning after being greeters and felt that I really needed to put an update on my blog. My sister seems to be doing much better now and is still keeping very active. She is slowly donating many of his clothes to charities and getting the house squared away. As a Flight Attendant, she was away a lot and Moon tended to let things slide. The basement and garage are nice and clean now with brand new garage doors. Anyone need a nice 2005 Dodge 3500 Dually with Cummins engine with less than 4000 miles on the truck? Yes, that is not a typo; the truck has less then 4000 miles on it. That Cummins is not even broken in yet.

How am I doing? I have my good days and my bad days both physically and mentally. I have been having dizzy spells for the last couple of days so I hope I am not coming down with a bug of some sort. Mentally, I am still down because of my sister and sure wish she would move up to this area. I think that would be great. My sister is going back to work part-time at a local Hallmark store so that will give her something to do.

We have a Hall China Convention in Pittsburgh coming up very soon so that should be exciting. This will be the eighth convention and we have been to all of them. This year I am sort of the unofficial photographer. Need to get all the batteries charged and get out the extra memory cards. Hate to miss a week of group therapy but everything will be fine. A few extra drugs will help me get through that period.

I will try hard to get back to posting more frequently.

Late Update

2008-02-15T12:04:00.002-05:00

I’ve been remiss in keeping up the blog. I drove to Atlanta to help my sister out some more and spent a week down there. I drove down on a Monday and the wife flew down on Wednesday. We drove back together on the following Monday. Much was accomplished while with my sister but we have a lot more to do. I am thinking that maybe I should go down again so I am trying to decide if I should fly or drive. Driving is a good twelve hours and is very tiring. I will have to see how things go with my sister. She has many help down there but I think she does need her brother.

The other day I saw this quote and it reminded me of Moon (my sister’s late husband). "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." Moon was an individual like that. He would always leave footprints in your heart. He was an odd duck but everyone seemed to love him and he had an impact on their lives.

While we were down there, my sister had some people from the Jaguar Club come by and check out the XK-150S Jaguar. One of them decided to buy it and someone else took the other three cars in the basement. The other cars were a 66 Mustang, a 62 Volkswagen Convertible and a 58 Porsche 356A Cabriolet. They were all in various stages of restoration but those folks are used to restoring cars. Now she needs to find buyers for an 03 Nissan 350Z with 33000 miles and an 05 Dodge 3500 Dually with Cummins engine with..get this…are you ready…3400 miles. They only used it to pull their Airstream trailer and they only did two short trips with it.

I brought back a lot of surgical instruments (Moon sold them for many years) and a nice Hot Wheels collection that I will be putting on Ebay. If you are into Hot Wheels or need surgical instruments then check out “Crazygramma” on Ebay. Trust me, this will take a long time to sell all these.

I wish I could spend a lot more time with my sister but it is difficult for me to leave my “safe zone” and be comfortable. My wife knows how to deal with my quirks and me so she stays close and that is comforting to me. I will try to do better in posting more but Ebay has really been keeping me busy. Which is a good thing for someone with PTSD.

Sad News

2008-01-17T15:28:00.000-05:00

The last week was a difficult one to say the least. My sister’s husband of 32 years passed away suddenly. He was admitted into the hospital on a Monday and was gone by Wednesday. We flew down on Wednesday to be with her during this sad time. Yes, I flew to Atlanta from South Bend but needed some good drugs to get me through the flight. He had an infection in his abdomen but suffered a heart attack prior to surgery. They revived him but were concerned about doing the surgery after this heart attack. The infection was getting worse so they felt they should try to fix the problem and hope for the best. He made it through surgery but remained in a coma and was having trouble getting oxygen because of the damage done to the heart. He passed away about twelve hours after the surgery.

He was quite an individual. I believe that he was probably a genius and could retain almost everything he ever read. He graduated from Georgia State and was in the Army Reserves for four years. His main profession was a photographer and did this for many years. Later on, he went into the surgical instrument repair and sales business. He also loved to restore old cars and had quite a few in his day. Currently in his basement garage was a Jaguar XK-150, Porsche 356 Cabriolet, an early Volkswagen convertible and an early Mustang. All of these cars were in various stages of restoration. The Jag was complete and the Volkswagen was close to 100%. His daily transportation was a Nissan 350Z. Now that was a nice car.

Albert Bayliss Mullins, Jr. was his name but he also went by Al, Bayliss, or Moon. His family called him Bayliss and my family always called him Moon. Many people will sadly miss him. Moon, Rest In Peace.

Of course, I feel sad for my sister and wish I could have stayed longer with her to give more help and comfort. I probably will drive down to spend some time to help out and give that much needed comfort that she needs in this time of sadness.

John 11:25-26 (New International Version)

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Time To Think About Vacation

2008-01-07T14:15:00.000-05:00

Wow, things sure have changed around here. A few days ago, we had 14 inches of snow and now the temperature is 61 degrees and most of the snow is gone. Guess that is why Michigan is so strange weather wise. The Great Lakes can make the weather do a 180 and sometimes that happens all in one day. In the morning you can have lake effect snow and by afternoon a thunderstorm. This warm weather today does remind us that we should start planning our vacation schedule for the year.

Being RVer’s, we need to do a little planning on campgrounds and the direction of our travels. We also have to give our house and cat sitter our schedule so we do not interfere with their schedule. Our four cats are not RVer’s yet so we need a sitter for them. Maybe someday we will get them used to traveling but not this year.

Our first planned trip will be to Branson, MO for a rally of about 100 rigs. There is a website called www.rv-dreams.com and they are having a rally for all their website fans. They are both in their early 40’s and decided to leave the corporate world and try fulltime RVing. After two years, they are still enjoying the lifestyle. Be sure and check out their website.

We usually spend a week in Cambridge, Ohio to do a little antiquing and visit the Fenton factory. The Fenton factory was going to close last year after over 100 years but supporters have kept it going. I hope that it will still be open this summer.

We will probably include many short trips to quaint places such as Shipshewana, IN, Frankenmuth, MI and Houghton Lake, MI. The Branson trip will be the longest of about a week and a half. Joanne is still semi-retired working at the Police Station so we still do not go for long periods as most retired folks. She has a flexible schedule at work but why push it too much when she loves her job. Next year we will probably head for the Black Hills of South Dakota for a couple of weeks. Of course, the other thing that keeps us locally is the grandkids active summer schedules of sports and activities. They all want Nana and Papa to come and watch. By the time they are teenagers, they won’t care as much as they do now.

Before we do all these trips, we need to take the fiver into the factory for a few fixes. I think we have a leak on the water inlet point that has gotten the wall above that point wet at some time. Need to fix that and a few minor fixes that always occur when you haul your home behind you at 65 mph. We love our 40-foot Travel Supreme but as I get older, I think that maybe I should cut back to maybe 38 or 36 feet. Backing up a 40-foot fifth wheel is a challenge at some of these campgrounds. However, we love it and that is what counts.

Re-Hash of Military Days

2008-01-05T14:48:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since I have written much on my blog so I thought I should do a little re-hashing of my military days. I had connections at the Draft Board so I knew when it was close to being drafted. My Dad was in the Navy along with my Uncle so I enlisted in the Navy but said I wanted to go to boot camp in San Diego. Being from Michigan, I wanted a warmer climate to train. The first available spot was in April of 1966 in San Diego so I waited until then to go into the Navy.

Let me interject something at this point. I am a strong believer in military service and how it prepares young people for the rest of their lives. Having a system similar to Israel where everyone must spend some time in the military is a good system. Spending two years in the military for both men and women would probably create a healthier and more disciplined population.

Enough of my soapbox rhetoric let us continue with my military days. I spent my boot camp days in San Diego’s wonderful weather where we could march all day in the hot sun. It is better than marching in the snow. Besides marching, there was a lot of military training in the classroom and teaching us the Navy Regulations. We also took tests that helped the military decide what specialty we would be best suited. I got high marks in the new computer field and in medicine. I should have taken computers. At the start of boot camp, we were a disjointed bunch of guys but by the time of graduation, we were a well-oiled machine.

After boot camp, I was sent to Hospital Corps School in San Diego. U.S. Naval Hospital in BalboaPark, San Diego is a beautiful facility. The whole area was nice. Sun, surf and beautiful women. What more could a sailor ask for? I graduated first in my class even with all the distractions.

From San Diego, my next duty station was U.S. Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. It was a nice setting on a bay but it overlooked shipyards and Navy ships. I worked in the Operating Room and help train OR Techs in Pack Room Procedures. That included how to create sterile packs for surgery and how to clean and prepare surgical instruments for the next operation. I was an OR orderly while going to College so I had some previous experience in the field. On most of my duty periods, I was an ambulance driver. Boy did I get lost in Portsmouth and Norfolk but I did learn to get somewhere fast on a code 3 (lights and sirens) was to go down one-way streets the wrong way. People could see you coming and got out of your way very quickly.

One of the memories I had of my duty at Portsmouth was a bad accident that happened in Norfolk. They have helicopter carriers and a helicopter was taking off from one, lost control, and crashed back onto the deck of the carrier. I do not like being around helicopters during takeoff or landing. When a helicopter goes down, the blades break off into thousands of little pieces that are traveling at high rates of speed. You do not want to be around when the pieces of the blade are flying by because it does major damage to human tissue. We were just getting ready to leave the Operating Room about 3 PM, the word came in about the accident, and that casualties would be arriving soon. Portsmouth had eight surgical suites and we filled them all with severe trauma cases. There were limb amputations and very bad wounds causes by the flying debris. One patient took over 50 pints of blood because of a large abdominal wound. Sorry to say he did not make it. It was two in the morning before we finally got the OR ready for the next morning’s surgeries. We were a little tired working that next day. I only got about 3 hours sleep before being back to work.

I was scheduled to go to Pharmacy School at Portsmouth but by the time the next class started, they wanted me to extend my service by another year. No way. Got my orders to Nam a few months later. From Portsmouth, my next duty station was Camp Lejuene for Fleet Marine Force training. That training included shooting a rifle (a type that was NOT in Nam) and the 45-caliber pistol. In addition, we got a lot of physical training, nighttime patrols, patient care in the field and taking care of snakebites. I never saw a snake in Nam. The best thing the Marines did was to get us into great shape physically. I hated Gunny then but thank him now for getting us prepared for combat.

After a 30 day leave at home, I was then off on a full expense paid trip to Vietnam. Read some of my earlier blog about my misadventure on the way to Nam. I think it is under my fear of flying section. I arrived in Nam around 1 July 1967 and was assigned to Bravo Company 1^st^th Marines. Battalion 4 I was then injured on Friday the 13^th of Oct. 1967 and finally arrived on Guam on 2 Dec. 1867. Spent three months in the hospital on Guam until my orders came through to go back to Nam on 3 March 1968. I arrived in Saigon on 3 March 1968, flew to Da Nang 4 March 1968 and then flew to Phu Bai on 5 March 1968. I was assigned to 3^rd Shore Party Battalion in Gia Le outside of Phu Bai on 5 March 1968. I left Nam the first part of July 1968 and headed home for a well-deserved 30-day leave.

My last assignment for the Navy was another FMF duty. I was assigned to Camp Pendleton and luckily got picked to replace a retiring Chief in the base Medical Supply. That turned out to be great duty. I only had to stand duty about every 17 days and then I was in charge of a clinic on base (it is always good duty when you are the boss). I rented an apartment on the beach in Oceanside so my stay in California was very pleasant after the previous year’s duty in Nam. I got an early out of the Navy to attend college in January 1970. Did you notice that after 4 years in the Navy, I never once got on a ship?

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T10:53:00.001-05:00

Press 1 for English (Strong Language)

2007-12-30T13:48:00.000-05:00

The Guy from Boston uses some pretty strong language but I like what he says. The song is one of my favorites also. My regular posts should start back up sometime next week. Too much going on lately plus all the great bowl games. Not enough time to type out all the memories and work on the regular blog. Don't worry, they will come back very soon.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

2007-12-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Christmas. I know I am ready for a nap after all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Holiday. Enjoy your day with family and friends but also take a little time to unwind from all the excitement. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-23T16:54:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas

I won't be home for Christmas... .

2007-12-21T12:17:00.000-05:00

I won't be home for Christmas... .

I am among the thousands of Americans who served in uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan who are now gone. Many who survived their wounds will never be whole. Many will have life expectancies far shorter than others their age who never served in uniform... never seeing the same number of Christmases to come.

I am among the millions of Americans who served in uniform during WWII who are now gone... and it is estimated that less than eleven percent of the men and women who served during WWII are alive today, with more than a thousand passing away each day.

I am among the tens of thousands of Americans who served in uniform in Korea who are now gone... and it is estimated that less than four percent of the men and women who served in Korea are alive today, with more than seven hundred passing away each day.

I am among the hundreds of thousands of Americans who served in uniform in Vietnam who are now gone... and it is estimated that less than one-third of the men and women who served in Vietnam are alive today, with more than a two hundred passing away each day.

I and those with me won't be home for Christmas. Please always remember us... and those who will join us before next Christmas...

Signed,
The Unforgotten Soldier

(Author Unknown)

PTSD

2007-12-19T10:31:00.000-05:00

Okay, maybe by now you have realized that I suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from combat in Vietnam. I actually feel that I am one of the lucky ones because mine was the late in life onset type. Many men and women find themselves in the grips of PTSD soon after the stressor. I had some symptoms early on such as inability to remember names, excessive responses to loud noises and anxiety after hearing the sound of Huey helicopters. These did not affect my life much so I lived a normal life for many years.

Many Vets feel the symptoms right away after coming back from the war zone. Some of the Vets in my therapy group have had multi-marriages, multi-jobs and addictions to drugs or alcohol. Their lives were affected as soon as they got back.

That is why I say that I was lucky because I lived a normal life for many years. I started having flashbacks about 1995 but they did not totally engulf me. The big problem with my flashbacks was because they started occurring while I was driving. As it turned out, certain songs on the radio would trigger the flashback. Luckily, I was able to get the car off the road before causing an accident. Even at this point, I did not really comprehend what was happening and continued with my normal life.

There were many changes at work that caused undue stress in my life and may have contributed to the old memories breaking through the wall that I had created. I did not associate with Veterans or even talk about Vietnam. I had done a great job of walling off that part of my life. Bad mistake.

About this time, I also became a little more negative about things at work. The administration of my area began to force things on us that I felt were not in the best interest of our department and the institution. An example was a new computer system that a department head was pushing for us to use. They did not want me involved with the main part of the development of this program even though I was the Manager of the area. Therefore, I assisted the accounting side of the program. When it came time to implement the program, old Mr. Negative stood up and said the program would not work the way it was set up. How did I know that? Because I had run, what I call “What If” scenarios repeatedly using different parameters and discovered they failed to include a "deliver to" location in the programming.

Of course, this created an uproar and I was the outcast, which upset me even more. However, when I explained that they had failed to create in the program a method to tell the Receiving Department where the material was to be delivered they listened to me very carefully. We receive over 40,000 line items daily so the Receiving Department would back up very quickly if they could not deliver the material. Accounting and I never liked this particular program anyway and talked administration into going with another program. Millions spent for nothing.

It was things such as this that started to upset me and the flashbacks started becoming more frequent. About the same time, a power struggle started taking place within the department and my boss and I decided to leave the area and stay out of the politics that was brewing. I began helping the Nursing Department create a bar code ordering system and a system for next day delivery of supplies for Nursing.

About this same time, another power struggle was going on by a VP who wanted control of my old department. He won that battle and got rid of the director and managers. At this point, my problems were getting worse but I was dealing with it by trying to ignore the problem. Even my wife could feel that something was not right. She was afraid that I might be having an affair. Guess I was starting to shut down socially and did not want to do things that we normally would do.

One day I attended an informational meeting that I thought was going to tell us the new structure of Purchasing. This VP laid out his plan for the future and informed the group that I (Stanley) was going to be the Manager again. Bad move on his part. You do not tell some one that they will be in charge of an area without first talking to them. I wanted to turn it down because of my problems. A couple people I talked to about it said that was a career-ending move if I did turn it down. Guess it did not really matter at that point because PTSD was ending my career anyway.

I did quickly turn the department around and speeded up the process for ordering via the new computer system. What was a 5 to 7 day cycle was reduced to 2.5 days and I felt that I could get that below 2 days. This was a large department and we processed one million dollars per day in orders. By now, I was experiencing about two flashbacks per day. Not a good thing. I was afraid I might hurt someone if I had a bad flashback.

One day I met with the VP and he informed me that he wanted me to get rid of one of my best buyers. Good buyers are trained to question things and to find the best solution to a problem. He did not like her questioning his authority. This is when I went ballistic. I called him an ‘asshole’ and felt that I was ready to pound the shit out of him. He must have sensed that he was in big trouble and made a quick exit.

We had a department called EAP (Employee Assistance Program) which helps employees with work or home problems. I went down to them, told them I have a problem, and needed help. They sent me to the Psychiatrist and she said at the end of our session that I had classic PTSD.

I immediately went on Long Term Disability and finally decided to take early retirement. I did not want to hurt any of the wonderful employees that I had hired and had dealt with for many years. I was able to get Social Security Disability and the judge that heard my case told me to go to the VA and apply for benefits.

If you are already familiar with the VA, you know that process is a long drawn out one. Mine did not take as long as some that I have heard about. I did have an advantage in that I already was rated at 30% disability due to my mangled foot. After talking with the VA Psych department, I was awarded 100%. So now, you know that part of the story.

If you feel you are having problems adjusting after combat, please seek help from the VA and do not wait for 30 years as I did. I hope our little talk helps someone and good luck.

"In God We Still Trust" sung by Diamond Rio

2007-12-17T12:53:00.000-05:00

As long as we are on a patriotic theme, I have to include this great song by Diamond Rio. Our country was founded on religious freedom and a few are trying to eliminate God from the National Anthem and from our currency. Let the majority stand up and be heard that "In God we still trust".

Welcome Home, Vietnam Vets

2007-12-17T10:41:00.001-05:00

Welcome Home. If you were like me, you flew in by military charter from Okinawa or the Philippines after leaving Nam. I think I came back via TWA by way of Okinawa to Alaska and then to San Francisco. There were no parades, no welcome home banners and no one thanking us for a job well done. We tended to sneak back into the United States. The only welcome I got was from my family when I finally got back to my hometown for my 30-day leave. I am sure most of you got the same kind of welcome. I hope that not many of you ran into protestors when you flew into California.

To my Vietnam brothers, “Welcome Home”.

Soldiers With PTSD

2007-12-16T16:50:00.000-05:00

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a recognized disorder thanks to the Vietnam Veterans. Sometimes it strikes right after the stresser and other times it will not appear for many years. If soldiers or their families feel that something is different after being in combat, please get help as soon as possible. Many WWII and Korean War Veterans are coming forth with PTSD so it is just not within the Vietnam Vets. Go to the VA for help and get the process, not for recovery, but for help in adjusting to a normal life. The VA can help through counseling, EMDR and group therapy. You do not need to have a Purple Heart to have terrible memories of combat. Please seek help at your nearest VA.

Tribute to Our Troops

2007-12-16T13:35:00.000-05:00

Do You Remember These?

2007-12-12T15:15:00.000-05:00

Some miscellaneous things that I dug up related to Nam. I must have had it nice in May of 1968 because I have a laundry slip from Lili’s Laundry. What really made it special was the slip shows six pairs of underwear. While in the jungle, we never wore underwear because it was too hot and they were not comfortable. Guess I was used to the weather and did not have to go on long patrols in May 1968 so I was able to wear underwear. Isn’t it odd the things you remember? I do not know where I got the “Life in Vietnam” but I always laugh when I look at it and wonder why they gave us a travel guide for Nam. The little magazine is full of ads for hotels and bars in Saigon. The little “Airlifted by” tag was stuck to my ditty bag when I was airlifted to Cam Rahn Bay. The combat phrase book is the one I carried around Nam in case it was ever needed. I do not recall using it very much. Click on picture for larger view.

Old Pictures from the Military

2007-12-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

I dug up some old pictures from my military days and scanned them for the blog. If you recognize yourself or anyone in the pictures, please attach a comment and let me know. The only name that I can remember is an old friend from both boot camp and Corps School, Steve Sabin. I am not sure of the spelling of the last name but Steve is the person kneeling in the Boot Camp picture. We both did very well at Corps School. I was ranked number one and he was close behind me in score. I would not be surprised if Steve went on to become a Doctor. I was close to being admitted to Medical School but was number two on the waiting list for RushMedical School in Chicago. Never did get there even though I was close. I did spend the next thirty years working in the medical field as a Purchasing Manager. Guess my Medical Supply training at Camp Pendleton did pay off. . Click pictures for larger view.

Doc Getting A Medal

2007-12-11T16:30:00.001-05:00

I do not remember what this picture was about other then I was getting a medal for something I did in Nam. It might have been my official presentation for the Purple Heart. Thought I would include this picture for old Navy or Marine buddies that might recognize me and send a note off. Of course, in Nam, I had a big handlebar moustache but could not wear it stateside. Click pictures for larger views.

Scattered Memories of My Military Days

2007-12-11T16:28:00.000-05:00

Please forgive me but I am going to do a lot of rambling on this post. So many things have popped into my head that I will attempt to put them down on paper. If you are looking for horrible war stories, those will remain tucked as far back in my brain as I can put them. They only come forth during flashbacks and I would just as soon forget about them.

I started my four-year military career at boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp, I went to the Naval Hospital Corps School at the US Naval Hospital in San Diego. I graduated first in my class so I got to choose my next duty station. I chose Pharmacy School in Portsmouth, Virginia. The school was already underway so I would have to wait until the next starting date. In the meantime, I worked in the Operating Room at Portsmouth Naval Hospital and drove ambulance during my duty nights. When the school was ready to start, they said that I would have to extend my tour another year to get into the school. I did not want to extend another year. About two months later, I got my orders to Vietnam.

Before going to Nam, a Hospital Corpsman must go to Marine Corps training to get some education on how to survive in combat on the ground. We carried rifles (I did not in Nam) and learned how to field strip them. By the way, the ones we learned to field strip at Camp Lejeune were not the same ones used in Nam. Not sure why I needed that training.

We learned how to treat soldiers wounds under combat situations, how to care for jungle rot and to take care of snake bits. Did I tell you that I never saw a snake in Nam? We did get a lot of good physical training to prepare us for long patrols in 100+ degree temperatures. They also taught us basic Marine Corps jungle fighting tactics and we got a feel for what it would be like under combat conditions. After this four to five week training, it was off on an all expense paid trip to South Vietnam for thirteen months.

My aunt Blanche (my Mom’s sister) was dying of cancer and that was the last time I would get to see her just before going to Nam. That was difficult because my Mom and aunt Blanche were so close and we were very close with the family. It is tough leaving and knowing that is the last time you will see someone. In Nam, you never really thought about your own vulnerability. You just did what you had to do and I guess I trusted that God would get me through my thirteen months. The only time you really started to feel vulnerable was, as you got closer to your tour end. You tend to develop a short-timers attitude and get nervous at loud noises.

Vietnam was both a beautiful country yet also a run down poor country. The cities were run down but the countryside was very beautiful. It was especially nice out near the jungle and mountains. Some of the old temples were situated in such beautiful settings. Please read some of my earlier posts where I talk about the jungle and mountains.

Guess I did not get very far with this post but I am sure more junk will pop back into an old brain of mine. Have to save some stuff for a later post. Take care.

Gary, Joanne's Baby Brother

2007-12-06T14:29:00.000-05:00

Joanne’s brother is Gary. He is about 9 years younger then she is but looks a lot older (heh heh). I know who sleeps on the other side of my bed. I am no fool. I do not have many pictures of Gary or at least I could not find many. Gary lives on the other side of the state with his wife Jenny. The first picture is Gary holding Joshua when he was young and the other picture is at a birthday party for Josh. Gary is in the red shirt.

The Oz Fest and the Grandkids

2007-12-05T11:59:00.000-05:00

Okay, this took place back in September, but I have not talked about our grandkids yet in the blog. Therefore, here goes. We have three lovely grandkids named Joshua (call me Josh)(12), Allison (call me Allie)(10) and Lauren (call her wild)(7). They are our pride and joy and we love them so much. They are great kids that love sports (Josh and Lauren) and singing and dancing (Allie). Allie was into sports but now has become more girly girly.

Joanne (Nana) is a collector of Wizard of Oz so we had to attend the Chesterton Oz Festival in September. That same weekend, we also had the kids so they were able to go with us to the festival. The pictures above are of the kids at the festival and at the Wizard of Oz museum. The last picture is of our Son (Mike) and daughter-in-law (Kelly) with the kids.

Aren’t they just special. I believe that you can click on the picture to get a larger image.

Time for Giving

2007-12-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

My mind was drawing a blank today. Usually, the more I write about Vietnam, the more miscellaneous memories that pop into my head. Much of it is just random stuff so I avoid just dropping it into whatever I may be working on. So, that being the case, let us think about the Holidays and helping those less fortunate then us and do not forget about our wonderful soldiers overseas.

“Toys for Tots” is a wonderful charity run by the Marine Corps. Help them with toys, gifts or money. In addition, there is a nice website that you can send a card to a service man or woman overseas. LetsSayThanks.com gives you the opportunity to send a FREE pre-printed postcard greeting card to military personnel overseas to say Thank You for their service. What better time than Christmas to send some cheer? http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1024.html Remember, Christmas is a time of giving and volunteering and do not forget those protecting our Freedoms.

Jo Ann, My Baby Sister

2007-11-30T12:34:00.003-05:00

As long as I am discussing flying, let me tell you about my sister. She has been a Flight Attendant for many years with Delta and now with ASA. She went to Michigan State University for two years and then applied to Delta to be a Stewardess (now call Flight Attendant). Delta accepted her into the school and she flow for them for over thirty years before retiring. Retirement did not last long and she applied to ASA and was accepted.

My sister is currently a Flight Attendant with ASA and she loves flying around the States. When she was with Delta, she spent a lot of time as an international Flight Attendant. She loved flying international flights but it is hard on you with all the time changes. Before the start of this Iraq war, she flew many soldiers over to Kuwait in the middle of the night. She never told me about this until she was finished doing those flights. Guess she knew it would upset me and I would worry about her.

I have included a of picture of her while flying. The picture was taken with the Russian Cosmonaut Sergey. I forget his last name. Jo Ann is in the middle of the back row. The second picture was my sister and me as little kids. That sure was a long time ago.

Why I Hate Flying

2007-11-30T09:42:00.000-05:00

In my previous post, I mentioned my flight from Vietnam to the Philippines had a few problems. Two of the engines were overheating so they shut them down when we were at altitude. They had all four engines running for takeoff and landing.

My flight to Vietnam went from San Fransisco to Tokyo on the first leg. It was via TWA and was uneventful. The flight was a combination of military and civilians. After a layover of a few hours in Tokyo to refuel, we continued on to Okinawa and it was now all military. About a quarter of the way to Okinawa, the pilot announced that there was a slight problem with the plane and we would be going back to Japan.

Of course, we all cheered that announcement. It was the sight of the co-pilot walking down the isle and opening a little door in the floor. Now they had our attention. The co-pilot opened the door and went down into the belly of the plane. This caused us to wonder what the problem was and how severe.

There were a couple of military pilots among the passengers and they were the only ones that really knew how bad the problem was. They knew that because of the method the pilot was using to turn the plane around. He was adjusting the engine speed on each side causing a slow turn. The reason the co-pilot went into the belly of the plane was to hand crank the wheels into a down position. The Flight Attendants (we called them Stewardesses back then) had everyone get into the emergency landing position with our heads on a pillow on our knees. I still peeked out the window on landing and saw all these emergency vehicles lined up along the runway. When the pilot reversed the engines, the wings caught on fire because he had dumped fuel over the ocean earlier. It turns out that the plane had lost hydraulics. This is not a good thing. At least we had to stay in Japan an extra 18 or so hours until another plane was brought in to take us on the rest of our trip.

Another problem I encountered while flying was out of Camp Lejeune. It was a small twin-engine airline (DC-9 or something like that) and as the plane prepared for leaving the gate, the cabin filled with smoke and we evacuated the plane. After an hours wait, they fixed the problem and we got back on that same plane. My confidence was greatly diminished.

The worst problem was while in Vietnam. This occurred while on my second tour (as I call it) and was about the middle of March 1968. I was ordered from Gia Le to be reevaluated at the hospital in Da Nang. The Marine Corps wanted to make sure I was okay for duty in the bush. Of course, the doctors in Da Nang could not figure out why I was sent back to Nam with my type of injury. They put me on limited duty at that point and said I could not leave the base. I could work at a Medical Clinic on base only. That was fine with me. However, going back to my base from Da Nang, I boarded a twin-engine plane they referred to as the Caribou. It had a high tail and the back dropped down to load cargo.

I was used to taking off in C-130’s from Dong Ha, accelerating, and climbing very quickly. We were in a slow assent from the end of the runway when we were hit by 50-caliber fire. The left engine shut down instantly which throw us into a left turn because the right engine was still on full power. In a matter of seconds, we had changed direction and just missed the top of the hills as we were coming down. The pilot got control of the plane and we came in wheels up onto the runway that we just left. Remember that back door I mentioned earlier on the Caribou? It was still down in the open position and as soon as the plane slowed down enough, we were out that door and off the runway.

Now do you know why I hate flying?

Quang Tri to Guam

2007-11-29T08:55:00.000-05:00

After my big foot hit the booby trap, Doc Hall bandaged me up and off I went by chopper with two other Marines that also were hit by shrapnel. I went to Dong Ha where I had my initial surgery on the wounds and by the end of the day; I was headed to Phu Bai via C-130. I had more surgery on the wounds and was put into a full leg cast with little openings for dressing changes. Here is how I described by wounds in my little medical book, “shrapnel in left lower thigh, shrapnel laceration of lateral malleous, shrapnel in middle of foot, thru and thru shrapnel wound near middle toe”. They estimated the grenade went off about two to three inches away from my ankle. It was not pleasant.

My little medical journal says that the next day was “uneventful, Pain bearable with slight drainage of wounds”. “Possibly will have dressing changed tomorrow”. After my surgery on the 13^th is when we discovered that, I was allergic to pain medicine. I began taking many aspirin, which did not give me a problem. Changing dressings and debridement of wounds was not a pleasant experience without pain medicine. They gave me a large dose of Thorazine so I did not care what they were doing. It still hurt but I did not care.

In my little book, it states “as of 1200 hours 19 Oct. 67, I have received 26.4 million units of Pro-Pen and 11 grams of Streptomycin. Guess they were not taking and chances in my getting an infection. A lot of the skin was blasted off the top of my foot so the Doctor used something he was experimenting with for wound granulation. Sugar and Basitracin mixed and packed on top of the wound. This kept the wound moist and helped to reduce infection. This is a precursor to the modern day wet dressing. Alternatively, maybe it was a form of maggot therapy to get the maggots to eat the dead tissue. I was swatting flies that were constantly landing on my foot.

The healing process was slow and not progressing as fast as the medical staff had hoped. About the middle of November, I was flown down to Cam Rhan Bay where they have air conditioned medical wards to see it that would help. I still had a lot of swelling of the foot and ankle and after two weeks, they decided to ship me out to a Naval Hospital. Am I going home? Fat chance.

They shipped me off to Guam via the Philippines. The plane that came in to take a bunch of patients out to the Philippines had a problem with the engines. There were only two stretcher patients so they considered us the critical ones and put us both on the plane that normally would hold a couple of hundred. We must have had ten nurses taking care of two patients and they were all female. It was a great flight until they told us about the engine problems. Two engines were overheating so once we were airborne; they shut down the two problem engines and did not turn them back on until we landed in the Philippines. Remember this problem with airplanes and I will tell you, later, a few more problems that I have encountered while flying.

From the Philippines, I was placed on another plane, headed for the U.S. Possession of Guam. I arrived at the US Naval Hospital on Guam on 2 December 1967. After a couple of weeks there, I finally was able to get around on crutches. Mobility at last. The wounds on my foot still had not closed up as yet but it was getting there. By the middle of January 1968, I was finally walking without the aid of the crutches. I was transferred from the Hospital to work at a Medical Clinic on the Naval Base while waiting for orders back to Guam.

I was on Guam for New Years Eve that year and let me tell you a story that is cute now but was not cute then. I was an E4 or Hospitalman Third Class at that point but was friends with many Marines on the ward that were E6 and above. E4s had to be back on the ward by midnight that night. Well, about four of us went out, started hitting parties and bars and at 2330 hours, I said that I needed to catch a cab back to the hospital. These guys would not let me go. There excuse was “what are they going to do, send you back to Nam?” Therefore, I stayed out and partied with the Marines.

When we rolled in the next morning, the Chief on Duty said I was late and AWOL. All the Marines in unison said, “We told him but he wouldn’t listen”. They all had big grins on their faces as they walked off leaving me there. I was scared for the next couple of days that I was going to get a Court Martial or something. I never heard anymore about that so I figured the Marines had taken care of everything. It is just as the bumper sticker says, “The Navy has Hospitalmen, Marines have Corpsmen”. Semper Fi.

Quang Tri, Vietnam

2007-11-28T14:33:00.000-05:00

On my first tour, I was not at Quang Tri for very long. Maybe a month to a month and a half and I do recall we got a lot of rain. Bravo and H&S Company of 1^st Btn 4^th Marines were the initial military group to secure and prepare the area for the new air base. Dong Ha further north was too close to the DMZ and was in range of artillery. Quang Tri was level and further south and was less vulnerable.

My first day there was miserable because of the heavy rains. We setup in a Vietnamese cemetery. The dead were buried under mounds so a lot of us setup our tents on top of these mounds. The water drained off nicely. The next day, the villagers marched on our camp in protest of what we were doing. The villagers were informed that a base was going to be built here and the cemetery could stay inside the base or they could move their cemetery. Guess they decided to move the cemetery.

We did patrols from this small camp going west out onto the rolling plains. There was not a lot of farming out in this area and it was rolling hills and tall grass. The area had a few small villages between the camp and the mountains jungle. Most of these villages were the enemy and we would come under sniper fire when we approached them. Thank goodness, we had patrol dogs with us on these wide-open plains. They warned us of sniper fire before the rounds got to us. It was out on these plains that I stepped on a booby trap. A grenade went off next to my left foot. Twenty Marines went through the same spot before me but lucky or unlucky I am the one that set it off.

Before I jump ahead to Friday the 13^th of October 1967, I will talk more about the early Quang Tri base. As I said before, there were very few of us at the start but everyday more and more would arrive with wire and fencing. Once the engineers arrive, things start to more fast. Around the wire, we had many small tents and the Headquarters had a large tent. During the heavy rains, the large tent was the place to go to get warm and to stay out of the relentless downpour.

This area backed up to a river, which we used to bath every now and them. One of the guys in our platoon was married and one day he lost his wedding ring in the river. We all tried diving to the bottom looking for that ring. Two days later after the rains had stopped, there was his ring sticking out of the mug on the edge of the river. How cool was that? He was about 21 and he had been married for 6 years. He was about 16 and she was 14 or 15 when they got married. He was a Southern boy from Tennessee or maybe West Virginia. I do not remember now. I really like that guy and how he loved his wife so much. He wrote her everyday and she did the same. He was short but very stocky and must have carried 20 clips of ammo on his belt. He was ready for anything. (Sadly, I heard that he was KIA from a mine.) Wish I could remember his name to leave a remembrance at The Wall.

While at Quang Tri, I had two to three days a week that were not spend on patrols so I volunteered to go to the Quang Tri Provincial Hospital in Quang Tri. Two of us Corpsmen would take a jeep and follow the engineers into the city. The engineers were sweeping for mines so it was not wise to go pass the engineers. Once we got to the hospital, our job was to work mostly with the children. There was a Norwegian Red Cross group working there running the emergency room and surgery.

Much of what we did was to lance and treat boils. The rice paddies were also their bathrooms so the water was a little bit contaminated. It the kids were cut or bite by a leach the wound could turn into a large boil. Boils are not a big deal in the states but in Nam, it took the lives of many children. We would lance and pack the area and give an injection of antibiotics. The next time we were there, we would give another injection and change the dressing. I hope that we saved many kids by doing this on our days that were somewhat free.

Hospitals in Nam were very different then what we are used to stateside. In Nam, when a patient was in the hospital, the whole family also moved in with them. There is not a food service at these hospitals so the family cooks the patients and families meals out on porches that surround the wards. The patient area is a little smoky from small fires but does smell nice from all the cooking. Even though there was a war going on, the people were friendly and so thankful for our help.

While at Quang Tri, you might say that I got promoted by moving up to H&S Company from Bravo Company. I was now in charge of the Corpsmen in Bravo Company. Now I did not have to go on patrols all the time but I did have to go out on Operations. After two weeks with H&S Company, we went out on Operation Granite and four hours into the Operation, I stepped on the booby trap. I was Med-Evaced out by a UH-34. Usually you see the Huey as a Med-Evac chopper but I was picked up by the old UH-34. I thought I was going stateside. Oh how wrong I was.

Shitters

2007-11-26T19:23:00.001-05:00

I will keep this short and sweat because this is a messy subject. Earlier, I described the basic layout of the shitters in Nam but what I found interesting was the magnetic effect they had on enemy incoming. If mortars or rockets hit us, invariably, the shitters would get almost direct hits. Of course, no one was stupid enough to seek shelter in one of the shitters during an attack because we all knew they would be hit. I have a series of slides of this phenomenon but could not find them for the blog. Maybe some other time.

Ask any Nam Vet and he will tell you the same story about the shitters always getting the brunt of an attack. Being a Corpsman, it was my job to get a couple of Marines and a can of diesel fuel, go around, pour fuel on the little piles of shit, and set them afire. We needed to keep the area as sanitary as possible. Like I said, it was a shitty job but someone had to do it. I wonder if this same phenomenon occurs in Iraq.

One thing that is probably different in Nam then in Iraq is the urinals. In Nam, we had artillery transport tubes sticking out the ground with a screen on the top stationed around the base and that was the urinal. With the female Marines in Iraq, that method probably would not be feasible. At least we did not let the Marines just pee anywhere. We needed to keep things sanitary.

Bet you never thought of these kinds of things in a war zone. Isn’t this a great education?

Leftovers and Football

2007-11-25T17:17:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and a safe one also. Being grandparents, we had to split our holiday with the other grandparents so we got everyone on Friday. That worked out nicely this year because that was also Joanne’s birthday. It was a double celebration day. We were stuffed and have been having leftovers for the last two days. I think we will have pizza tonight. We will probably go to Red Lobster tomorrow for Joanne’s normal birthday dinner. Much of the last two days has been spent eating leftovers and watching football.

We got a lot of snow on Thursday and it is snowing heavily right now. I hope that this will not last long but with Lake Effect, you never know. If the wind is coming down off the lake and the temperature is just right, it will continue to snow for hours on end. It is supposed to warm up above freezing this coming week so the snow should be gone by weeks end. Let’s hope so.

Happy Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T19:04:00.001-05:00

Wishing all of our family, friends and readers a “Thanksgiving Blessing and Best Wishes for a safe and happy holiday”. May we all take a moment to be thankful for the many blessings that we each receive from our friends and family. I also want to thank our Military personnel in far away places to stay safe and remember you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Best Wishes and Safe Travels

A Series of Rambling Memories

2007-11-21T10:27:00.000-05:00

As I go along, all these miscellaneous, memories pop into my head and I keep telling myself that I need to put those down on paper. Most are meaningless to readers out there but they were part of who I am and what I did and from these I learned.

One thing that I enjoyed was learning how to shoot the various weapons used by the Marines. The M16 was okay but the M60 was the most fun of all. It was great watching that grenade go flying off to the target. Our M60 guy was really great with that thing. We would float things down the river and he could lob a grenade right on top of the item. I never got to try the machine gun but that was a fantastic piece of firepower. Felt sorry for the guys that had to lug that heavy thing around. Was that what they called the BAR? The other weapon I got to use a couple of times was the LAW. This was a shoulder mounted rocket launcher and made a BIG bang when it hit.

1967 was still early in the Vietnam War and I do not think the VC were used to our tanks. At the mountain base, Camp Zamora, we had one tank and there was a trench dug for the tank to sit at a slight angle upwards. The tank faced south and on the south end of the base was a hill that looked down on the base. One night, the VC decided to set up mortars on that little hill. As soon as I heard that first mortar leave the tube, I was in our bunker. After the second or third mortar hit, the tank guys were in the tank and had a round loaded and with one shot blew the top of that hill up. The tank was aimed right at the spot the VC setup their mortars so they must not have known what it was or what it could do. There was plenty of blood but no bodies.

Another nice defense we employed was on the wire. All around the base was rolls of razor wire and inside of the wire was placed claymore mines. The guys in foxholes that were on security watch could activate them. The claymore mines would blast out toward the perimeter. Another added security measure, probably designed by the engineers, were barrels of jet fuel that were wrapped in detcord (spelling?) with one claymore on the backside. That baby going off was just like a napalm bomb.

Continuing with this rambling, I will go to the subject of water. Being a Corpsman, I wanted to keep my group healthy so I made sure they drank plenty of water everyday and took their malaria pills. We were issued a new malaria pill because of the new type of malaria we ran into in this part of the jungle. Turns out that pill causes cancer so I am sorry guys for being such a mother to you and making you take that pill everyday.

We got our water from the river near the base. It was pumped into “mules” and we had a couple on the base so we could fill our canteens. One day, someone on the water detail, said, “Doc, check out the water in the river”. The water was foamy and had a darkish muddy look. We were either being poisoned upstream or they were spraying defoliant upstream and the rains were washing it down to us. I hope that we did not drink that contaminated water too long before it became visible. We had to have our water brought in by convoy after that. Now, I do not remember if we called it Agent Orange or just defoliant at that point in time.

Okay, I am probably going to get a lot of static on this one, but the Army guys were pigs. Let me back up and explain something first. We had wooden shitters over there that had an opening in the back that contained a 55-gallon drum cut in half. Some shitters were two holers up to four holers and were fancy outhouses that did not have a hole under them. Everyday, someone would be assigned to shit duty, literally. The half barrel would be removed, oil and a little gas would be added, and we would literally burn the shit. That smell sticks with you a long time. Well, when the Army pulled out with the big artillery, it was up to the Marines to clean up their mess. I do not think they every cleaned or burned their shitters. It was crawling with maggots. I told our guys to pour gas and oil on the whole building and burn it to the ground. It made a great fire.

Because the heavy artillery was removed, the base was not really needed anymore. We had to start breaking apart our bunkers and cut the sand bags. Two B-52 pilots were flown in and they surveyed what they needed to do in the middle of the night. The engineers strung detcord (spelling?) all around the base. When we were a distance away from the base, we heard the loud explosions of the engineers clearing the place out. I hope that the VC would go to the area to pickup what they could and would be there when the B-52 dropped there big bombs on the place.

We took a few AK-47 rounds on the road as we were leaving but we gave back a lot more rounds. They always told me, “Doc has his 45 on automatic again”. I tended to empty a full clip when I started shooting my 45. I had strong wrists so the 45 did not kick much for me and I could pull the trigger as fast as I wanted and still hit the target. The only casualty was a burn from a hot cartridge of an M16 that went down a Marines shirt. Oh, by the way, I was ridding in the back of the 6 X 6 with the other Marines. No more explosive trucks for me.

The Saga Continues

2007-11-20T10:02:00.001-05:00

If you are looking for war stories, then this edition is not what you want. I am going to concentrate on the floral and fauna with this segment. Actually, more about the trees and bugs. At Camp Lejeune, we got a lot of training about how to handle snakebites. Vietnam has many neurotoxin snakes that were very deadly. We considered them 2 step or 10 step snakes. That means after being bitten you could take a few steps and be dead. Guess what? I never saw a single snake in all my time in Nam.

The guys were being bitten a lot from scorpions but the worse bite that I saw was from these big red centipedes. Those little legged critters could sure create a lot of pain. Benadryl and aspirin was about all we had to take care of those bites. I saw many very large interesting looking beetles over there but no one ever was bitten that I know of.

One interesting creature I found was a very large lizard at the base in the jungle (Camp Zamora). When the engineers build the base, they left this mound of vegetation and it happened to be at one end of our medical tent. At night, this big lizard would come out and explore our tent for food so we started leaving him or her C-rations. We usually left Ham and Limas because most of us hated that one. I slept pretty well so I never saw him at night but one of the other corpsman said that it must have been six foot long. That probably means he was only three feet long because that corpsman was a fisherman.

Did I mention that I never saw a snake over in Nam? Damn training never did prepare us for the right things. I had occasionally had to give penicillin to the patrol dogs because their footpads would sometimes get sores. All I could do was to go by weight and hope the dog was not allergic. I also had to hope I was not bitten. The handler would just lie on top of the dog while I came from behind and stuck him or her with the needle and syringe. One patrol dog was very nice and seemed so gentle until the handler gave the command “kill” and then the dog went ballistic. On patrol, if she started barking, we would hit the deck because a sniper round would zip overhead after she barked. We loved to be on patrol with a dog. They were lifesavers.

While at the jungle base, we did not have patrol dogs so at that point I really did not know what I was missing. There were three of us corpsmen so one would usually go out on day patrol with a platoon. Another would go out on afternoon patrol with a different platoon and the third one would go out on night ambush. One corpsman came down with the new form of malaria that we did not have a prophylaxis for and he was sent to the Hospital ship. Then one day, after I got back from patrol, I found out that I was by myself because the other corpsman was Med-Evaced out due to an accidental discharge on another part of the base. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My life just got a lot busier. Platoons have to have a corpsman on patrol with them so I started having triple duty waiting for relief to show up. I ate and shit between shifts and took care of sick call when I could and I slept on night ambush. At least I was not spending hours on end filling sand bags for the bunkers. As I recall, I did this for about a month. The morning patrol would usually cover the east area along the road to give protection to the convoys coming into the base. The afternoon would usually be west into the jungle. I liked that direction the best.

Getting into the jungle was the most difficult part. Once you got in, it was easy because it was triple canopy jungle and the lower level was easy walking. Getting in was the tough part because it was so thick on the edge. There was also this troublesome bush we call the “wait a minute” bush. It was a big version of the spider plant. You know those things that hang down that have flowers on it. Well this plant had barbs on these long extensions and they were always hooking your cover or clothes. You would say, “wait a minute” and backup to get unhooked or to get your cover back. That bush was almost as bad as the elephant grass that had sharp edges.

Did I tell you I never saw a snake in Nam? I did see a column of red army ants in the jungle that was about eight feet long by six inches wide. They would attack anything that got in their way including burning matches. I would clear the leaves after the trail marker ants went through and the whole column would start to back up until they found the path again. Another interesting thing in the jungle was the leaches. There were leaches that you found in the water and leaches on the jungle floor. If you stood in one spot to long, you could see the leaches heading your way moving across the leaves like little Inch Worms. As long as you cleared a spot to bare ground, the leaches would not move on the dirt.

In triple canopy jungle, if it rained, it would be about a half hour before the rain got to the bottom but it would still rain on the floor after the rain stopped. Lions and tigers and bears oh my. Well, no lions or bears but tigers, elephants and monkeys. I never saw an elephant but I did see what must have been the area they went to die. It was covered with HUGE bones. I did see a squirrel that looked just like the squirrels in the states. I think we were the first humans he had ever seen and did not seem that afraid. Sure not like the water buffalo the Vietnamese used to plow their fields. Little kids could control those big things but those buffalo did not like us Americans. Maybe we smelled bad.

To be con’t…

Lest We Forget

2007-11-19T10:14:00.000-05:00

It appears that my blog is turning into my own form of “Lest We Forget”. Guess that is a good idea before all the memories are totally gone. So much of what I did in Nam is gone from my memory. What I will attempt to do is just report things that pop into my head about big or little things. Maybe that will trigger more memories so we will just see what plays out as we go along.

When I got to Nam, I like most of the guys arriving there, was a little naive as to what to expect. I was also quite naive as to the Marine Corps side of things. A prime example of this was the method I took to get to my first assignment. They send you to various convoy pickup points to catch a convoy going to the destination you are assigned. I was going to a small base out near the mountains that was next to a beautiful river. So I headed to the convoy area to locate the one that would take me to the destination. Many of the trucks (6 byes) were loaded with supplies and the ones that were empty were loaded with Marines. I found a truck that was filled with boxes and just had a driver. I asked if I could ride shotgun and he told me it was my neck but go ahead and join him. I threw my pack in the back of the truck and waited for the convoy to head out to wherever.

Okay, I don’t know how to spell this, but the truck was filled with banggalor torpedoes. I found out later that they are very explosive and the engineers used them a lot to clear land for bases. I think they were originally designed to blow barbwire. Being an inquisitive fellow, I asked the driver about his cargo and didn’t like what I heard but it was too late. We were on a winding mountain road and all of a sudden we hear automatic (AK-47) fire behind us. About the same time, two grenades come flying from up on a hill. The first one hits the hood of the truck and explodes off to the left front of the truck. The other grenade hits the boxes in the back and thankfully bounces off the edge and explodes. The driver by now was shifting gears and we were flying down this narrow winding dirt road at about 60 mph. It scared the shit out of both of us. I somehow managed to get my 45 out and let loose with one clip. I could not see anyone but at least I was sending some bullets flying. We safely got to this little base out in the middle of nowhere.

I don’t remember how long I was at this base but I don’t think it was longer then a couple of weeks. I do remember having C-130’s flying over with defoliant (Agent Orange) and having to get undercover from the spray. Remember earlier when I mentioned the beautiful river near this base? It was crystal clear and great for swimming and taking a bath. Two Marines drowned in the current and after that, the river was off limits. This place did have many scorpions and you had to be careful when you jumped in a foxhole.

After my short stay here, we moved further into the jungle towards the Ho Chi Min trail. It was a small base; a Marine with a good arm could throw a grenade across the base. The base was to be used for a platform for four large Army artillery pieces. They would fire about 400 rounds a night into the Ah Shaw Valley to destroy supplies for the NVA. After a few weeks, I could sleep through the whole night and not be disturbed by the sounds of the guns. My medic tent was right behind the guns so it was amazing I could sleep through all that. If we got incoming mortar rounds, I would be awake in a split second. The name of that base was called Camp Zamora. It was named after Juan Zamora, a fellow from 2nd platoon who was the first Marine to get killed there. Thanks to a Marine for the name of that base. That camp was on an old French road that went through the jungle to the Cobe' Ta Tahn Valley (spelling?).

This base gave me a lot of experience with triple canopy jungle. Being a Biology major in college, I really enjoyed our patrols and ambushes in this jungle. It was not a great place to be on point but Doc never had to do point. I will continue on my nature tour at the next issue.

Memorial to Friends KIA on 27 October 1967

2007-11-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

Two weeks after I was injured and Med-Evaced to Da Nang, my unit walked into an NVA ambush. This memorial is to those that paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country. They were good friends and we shared stories, family thoughts and food from home. I guess I suffer from survivor guilt for not being there when they needed me. They were a great bunch of guys and they will always be in my memory. Semper Fi.

Lt. John Robert Dawson, H&S 1 /4 On Loan from and artillery company

William Ralph Hacket, Jr, Bravo 1 /4

Angus Layafette Hare, Bravo 1 /4

Michael Edward Angerstein, Bravo 1 /4

David Paul Betts, Bravo 1 /4

Robert Matthew Carlozzi, Bravo 1 /4

Jesse Nathaniel Clayton, Bravo 1 /4

Verne Dewitt Johnson III, Bravo 1 /4

Kenneth Clarence Stommes, "Doc" Bravo 1 /4

Nam Vet

2007-11-17T13:33:00.001-05:00

As I stated before, I am a Vietnam Vet. I was stationed in Nam from June 1967 until July 1968. However, I was a patient at the Naval Hospital on Guam during Tet. I spent four months on Guam recuperating from wounds sustained on Friday the 13th of October of 1967. I stepped on a booby trapped grenade that tore up my left leg and foot. It totally blew off my boot and and put about 300 holes in my leg. The Corpsman that treated me was Hospitalman Jerry L Hall. I still have the original DD 1380 or U.S. Field Medical Card that gets attached to you when you get injured.

I was flown to Dong Ha by chopper for initial surgery on my leg and foot. From there, I was flown to Phu Bai by C-130 and eventually ended up being flown to Da Nang. Because I was a Corpsman, rather than being sent Stateside, they tried to get my wounds to heal in Nam so I could go back into the field. As it turned out, the wounds were worse then they anticipated and they finally Med-Evaced me out of Nam to Guam via Cam Rann Bay. By April of 1968, I got my orders back to Nam.

Before I got injured, I was with Bravo 1/4 3rd Marine Division and two weeks before I got injured was moved up to H&S Company. It should be a lot safer with H&S Co. but in my case I guess it wasn't. After my Guam recuperation, I was assigned to H&S Co. with the 3rd Shore Party Btn at the big Quang Tri air base. I was on limited duty which meant I was assigned to stay on base and could not go on patrols outside the wire. We still got mortars and rockets inside the base but it was a lot safer. I still walk with a slight limp today.

After Nam, I was hoping for a sweet assignment such as Nice, France or something in Europe. Guess what they gave me? Two more years with the Fleet Marine Force at Camp Pendleton, California. At least it was nice in California. I really lucked out and got assigned to the base Medical Supply. I replaced a Chief that was retiring and I was just promoted to E5 so I was honored to get such a position. The officer in charge liked my college background with a good deal of mathematics. I don't remember the officers name but I do remember Chief Waters and E6 Jimmy Valdez. It was a great group to work with. On duty nights, I was assigned to supervise one of the Medical Clinics. I only had to stand duty about every 17th day. If it fell on a weekend then I had to work both days. Being in charge of the clinic was pretty good duty unless we really got a lot of patients (full moons). I was trained to take X-rays, do lab. blood work, dispense prescriptions and put on plaster casts.

I got an early out discharge to attend college. You could get about 4 months early out if you were excepted to a college so I got accepted to Michigan State University and got almost the full 4 months. After a couple of semester, I transferred to Wayne State University in Detroit and got my BS degree.

While in Nam, I was at or flew into the following places; Da Nang, Phu Bai, Camp Evans, Hue, Camp Cumberland, Camp Zamora, Dong Ha, Quang Tri, Chu Lai, Cam Rann Bay, Siagon, Gia Le and Ton Sa Nadt. I believe I was on the following operations; Hickory II, Cumberland, Medina, Granite, Fremont and Buffalo. Some of my Corpsmen that I was assigned with were Jerry Hall and Kenneth Clarence Stommes in 1st Platoon. HN Stommes gave the ultimate sacrifice on Oct. 27th, 1967 in Vietnam. Second Platoon was HN Warren M Hardy (WIA) and HN D. Souza. My guys in 3rd Platoon were HM3 Mike D. Thompson (WIA), HN Gary L. McDonough who came down with malaria and HN Ronald E. Sierer (WIA). As you can see, Corpsmen didn't fair to well in Nam but we are proud of the work we did to keep our troops in tiptop shape. I, on occasion, even had to give shots to the patrol dogs if their foot pads got infections.

If any of my old Marine and Navy buddies find this, please leave me a message. I would love to hear from you. Semper Fi.

Camping in St. Louis

2007-11-16T23:21:00.000-05:00

This is our truck and trailer in St. Louis. We had a lot of fun at the Casinos in St. Louis. Seeing the Arch and learning more about Lewis and Clark was exciting. The people of St. Louis were so nice and helpful.

Okay, I'm proud of my Wife and truck

2007-11-16T20:12:00.000-05:00

Here is a better picture of my wife and my white beard. Guess the hat covers the hair. The last picture really showcases my truck and not me. Oh well. I love my truck but I love my wife a lot more.

Current Picture of Doc

2007-11-16T20:04:00.001-05:00

As you can see, my hair has gotten a lot whiter then it was in 1968. This is our truck that pulls the RV.

Us and Traveling

2007-11-16T19:57:00.001-05:00

The first picture is of our truck and RV. The next picture is my lovely wife Joanne and the last picture is me while a patient at the Naval Hospital on Guam in 1968. My hair is a lot whiter now.

I'm Learning

2007-11-16T19:32:00.000-05:00

As you can probably tell, I'm experimenting and learning as I go along. I was a Navy Corspman with the 1st Bt, 4th Marines in Vietnam. They called me Doc. Here is a cartoon character I always liked that represents "Doc". That picture was supposed to be below this line. Hay, I never said this was easy. Guess I can move these pictures around. The next picture is the shield for 1/4.

This is the 1/4 shield or patch.

Early beginning

2007-11-16T19:17:00.000-05:00

This is all new to me so please bare with me until I get the hang of what I am doing. My wife and I are RVer's but only parttime. We like to live near our grandkids (and kids) and spend the winter in the cold of Michigan. That is not what Rver's are supposed to do but my wife is only semi-retired. I'm retired and can do whatever I want whenever I want, with the wifes permission of course.