Veterans Day at AZB

The United States of America exists because John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and the Second Continental Congress reached the conclusion that some things are worth fighting for, and Adams, consequently, nominated George Washington to be the commander in chief of those that fought the American revolution. The rest is history. All those who have since served in the armed forces reinforce the value system of America's founding fathers and are both the descendants and the legacy of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Veterans have always been a big part of the American backbone, and deserve our appreciation not only today but every day.

Thanks to those that serve and to those that have served in the past.
 
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The United States of America exists because John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and the Second Continental Congress reached the conclusion that some things are worth fighting for, and Adams, consequently, nominated George Washington to be the commander in chief of those that fought the American revolution. The rest is history. All those who have since served in the armed forces reinforce the value system of America's founding fathers and are both the descendants and the legacy of those who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Veterans have always been a big part of the American backbone, and deserve our appreciation not only today but every day.

Thanks to those that serve and to those that have served in the past.


Very well stated, Sir.
 
They are not forgotten.


The least we can do is remember. Maybe by remembering we can share our experiences with those of the next generation and they can make better decisions for themselves and those to follow.

Sitting here, thinking about all of those who didn't make it back and having many, mixed feelings.................

Thank you all for serving and thank you all for remembering.
 
strongly suspect I have already posted in this thread but thank you again!

In my lifetime I have seen the loss of the last of our veterans from many wars, always a sad thing. A visit to the military cemetary at Port Hudson where my father and many friends are buried hammered home a brutal truth, most of the stones in the newer area are for people who served in Desert Storm and later. Time flies and we will soon lose the last of our vets from World War II. Seems like most are gone from Korea and Nam too, dead far too young. A sobering thing to walk through a military cemetary, everybody should do it sometime.

Thank You to all that served and Thank You to all that are serving!

Hu
 
Now that V-Day is over, I'll tell one.... I was a submarine sailor. As happens now and then, we received orders to go to test depth for a while. When we were nearing test depth, something went very wrong in the reactor room and the reactor shut down!

There we were, going down, and the only light is from the battery operated emergency lights. The decks on a sub are floating decks. That means that they ride on pins so the hull can expand and contract with the pressure without affecting the decks.

At the time this happened, almost all the chiefs were in their lounge room called the goat locker. Pretty quick, the hull compressed and started buckling the floors and walls. All the chiefs got stuck in their goat locker, so it was up to the regular crew to deal with everything.

We approached crush depth, and then passed it. Two hundred feet past crush depth, they finally got the reactor back on line and we headed up. Truly a scary feeling knowing you are going to die, and can't do a blame thing about it. Just have to stand around and wait for it. The only consolation we had was that we knew that once the hull gave, we would be gone so fast that we wouldn't even know the hull gave out.

Oh yeah, we eventually freed the goats from their locker. For some reason they complained that it took WAY longer than it should have! heh, heh.

Neil:

Thanks for sharing this. I'm a Navy veteran myself, 7 years, Spruance-class Destroyers. I was a Data Systems Technician onboard the USS Briscoe (DD-977) during the spring of 1986, when, as a member of the Sixth Fleet, we were deployed to Libya to thwart Muammar Gaddafi's famed "Line of Death" that violated international waters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_death#1986

I can personally attest to the hair-raising experience when "GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS -- THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!" is sounded throughout the ship, as the USS Briscoe was one of the first three ships to cross Gaddafi's "Line of Death" -- pushing it back, and being attacked by Libya's Navy the whole time. I can still remember the sonic booms of the Harpoon and Sea Sparrow missile systems, as their missiles left the tubes at -- and breaking -- the speed of sound, vibrating the entire ship. The 5-inch, 54-caliber gun mounts, fore and aft, were a-blazing the entire time. These are sounds I hear in my head to this day -- unforgettable! Ah, the pictures I have in my photo album as well -- as I look through these, I get teary-eyed.

I hope that all our veterans here on AZB enjoy *their* day with their families and friends, taking solace in the fact that what they did for their country will not be forgotten!

Happy Veterans' Day to all!
-Sean
Served USN, 1983 - 1990.
Data Systems Technician, ASROC Rover, and ASROC Guard, USS Briscoe (DD-977) and USS Coontz (DDG-40). "Use of deadly force is authorized."
 

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Neil:

Thanks for sharing this. I'm a Navy veteran myself, 7 years, Spruance-class Destroyers. I was a Data Systems Technician onboard the USS Briscoe (DD-977) during the spring of 1986, when, as a member of the Sixth Fleet, we were deployed to Libya to thwart Muammar Gaddafi's famed "Line of Death" that violated international waters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_of_death#1986

I can personally attest to the hair-raising experience when "GENERAL QUARTERS, GENERAL QUARTERS -- THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!" is sounded throughout the ship, as the USS Briscoe was one of the first three ships to cross Gaddafi's "Line of Death" -- pushing it back, and being attacked by Libya's Navy the whole time. I can still remember the sonic booms of the Harpoon and Sea Sparrow missile systems, as their missiles left the tubes at -- and breaking -- the speed of sound, vibrating the entire ship. The 5-inch, 54-caliber gun mounts, fore and aft, were a-blazing the entire time. These are sounds I hear in my head to this day -- unforgettable! Ah, the pictures I have in my photo album as well -- as I look through these, I get teary-eyed.

I hope that all our veterans here on AZB enjoy *their* day with their families and friends, taking solace in the fact that what they did for their country will not be forgotten!

Happy Veterans' Day to all!
-Sean
Served USN, 1983 - 1990.
Data Systems Technician, ASROC Rover, and ASROC Guard, USS Briscoe (DD-977) and USS Coontz (DDG-40). "Use of deadly force is authorized."

Oh, I love that jacket. Look at your cute Popeye on the pocket! :cool:
 
I think if I hadn't been out of high school only 6 months, and didn't yet smoke-that I wouldn't have made it through basic training...alive.

Remember? Take a break! Smoke em if you got em. If you don't got em, bum em..cause if one of you MFs is gonna smoke, you all gonna smoke!

I became a smoker before basic training was over.

That's interesting. I didn't smoke before I went to bootcamp either. That's when I caught the habit. Took a quarter of a century to get off of them. :angry: GD free cigs in the C Rations didn't help either, nor the non-taxed cigs at the PX.....
 
Combat Engineers

My photos of when I was in 68-69 show some skinny kid who didnt know his .....from the ground. How people like me survived I'll never know. Had nightmares for twenty years.
 
That's interesting. I didn't smoke before I went to bootcamp either. That's when I caught the habit. Took a quarter of a century to get off of them. :angry: GD free cigs in the C Rations didn't help either, nor the non-taxed cigs at the PX.....

DI: "I had better not see any butts on the ground, if I do, everyone is on their hands and knees policing the whole area." Same with shaving. "Did you shave today soldier?" I didn't even have hair on my face. Hell, I still don't need to shave every day and next year its medicare.
 
US Air Force 1988-1992. My wife is still active duty Air Force and will retire next October after 24 years.
 

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God Bless all the Veterans.

My time was done starting as a teenager at 18,
1965-1968 USN Flight Crew P3 Orion
1967-1968 Vietnam

Father 1941-1944 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles D-Day invasion

My two Brothers US Army 1966-68 (reservists)

Sister USN, her husband USN both retired
Their daughter Army still active, served in IRAQ two years ago

Uncles served in WWII and Korea.

God Bless all our veterans.
 
US Eight Army Korea 1965-1966, 502 Admin Ft. Hood, TX 1964 -1966. Lots of great memories.
Later
 
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