Veterans Day photo

[wavedog]

Since it’s Veterans Day and I am home ill and confined to quarters and am having a semi lucid moment, here are two photos from back in the day.
That kind of surfacing was fun. Those three guys are myself on the left and two friends. We were part of the hot running E-5 club which meant we didn’t sleep more than two to three hours a day for months at a time.
 Tip of the spear!

[Neil]

Thank you for your service from a fellow vet at the other end of the spear.

[Bulldog9]

Thanks to all who served, are serving and are yet to serve.  A buddy of mine sent me this today from 2003. This was taken right before we drove a tank over and buried all the weapons we 'collected' from a Fedayeen Brigade in Najaf... Fun times! Living in that MOP gear for almost a month, I can still smell it..... <shudder>





Proud day promoting my daughter to 0-3 in the US Army Air Corps (umm, I mean Air Force) back in 2012. She is out now, and a proud mom of 2, but she is my favorite Veteran ;-). In a really cool moment, she was an F-16 Maintenance Supervisor (Fightin Fujins out of Hill AFB), and her unit's jets provided CAS for me and my guys in Iraq on one of my deployments. Loved watching those 500lb bundles of love drop on the bad guys.

[jumpmaster]

If I can remember how to do it, attached is a photo of me (with the SAW/"machine gun") and a couple of other team members on a break during a road trip in Iraq in 2004.  The guy in the blue shirt was an American freelance journalist who travelled with us in exchange for his service as a translator when needed.  We were at a roadside ice cream shop in Tikrit, Saddam's home town, which accounts for the fairly sullen expressions on other customers' faces in the background.

[Bulldog9]

If I can remember how to do it, attached is a photo of me (with the SAW/"machine gun") and a couple of other team members on a break during a road trip in Iraq in 2004.  The guy in the blue shirt was an American freelance journalist who travelled with us in exchange for his service as a translator when needed.  We were at a roadside ice cream shop in Tikrit, Saddam's home town, which accounts for the fairly sullen expressions on other customers' faces in the background.

A CSM with a SAW..... RESPECT!

[LowRyter]

 

[Wildroamer]

Thank you, vets!
Awesome pics and stories!
Dad was in Navy Air Cadet program stateside during Korean War. Many other relatives served, including a couple of uncles in WWII.
You guys are an impressive group of people, without a doubt.
 

[Guzzistajohn]

I wasn't in the service but the old man was. An Iowa kid sent to boot camp in Helena, Mt. defeated the Nazi's at Mt. LaDefensa Italy, wounded in the 4th month of a 6 month constant battle at Anzio, Italy. and sent home on the Queen Mary and then to Springfield, Mo. to O'rielley Military Hospital for recovery. Hollywood made a movie the "resembles" the story, "The Devil's Brigade" https://www.history.com/news/wwii-devils-brigade-honored-by-congress#:~:text=The%20amazing%20assault%20inspired%20the,high%20atop%20the%20Italia

[jumpmaster]

A CSM with a SAW..... RESPECT!

Good eye on catching the rank.  I was there early-on, before it got too ugly with IEDs, etc. I traveled around most of the country with a small team (generally 4 -  6 total, including translater) & I 'd occasionally overhear a gate-guard's comments about my SAW as we pulled into a compound we were visiting.  Probably the most heavily-armed CSM in the country during most of our travels, & I got the SAW because I was usually the most experienced on the teams with weapons, + I was usually the lowest ranking guy on the team.  Lowest rank usually = heaviest load!

[Murray]

Saw was called the minimi (mini-mi) we were still in the process of going over to 5.56 in the mid 90's the MAG58 (Bravo 240?) although never has a need to go near one outside on a 3 month stint in the small arms bay. Good thing with the amount of shooting we did (once every two years) the safest place was the middle of the target.