Any Vietnam vets? Got a question.

I have not served, my hat goes off to those that have. Most of my contact with Vietnam Veterans is from uncles and scoutmaster's, some were in the army some in the marines. My father tried to enlist several times, was turned away because he had broken his neck as a kid.
The last time I visited with my uncle he showed up with a film canister, opened it, poured out half a dozen strange pieces of metal. They were pieces of the turbine on the helicopter after it was shot down, he said they were pouring out of the exhaust like a waterfall. He was drafted and was involved in a lot of bad stuff. He only talks about it once in a while, mostly over a beer or two, you can tell what he saw still haunts him to this day. My Dad had to take care of him after he came back, he says he's never been the same. Most of the stories are from the letters he sent home. Most of the time he is very laid back, but even at 70 he is incredibly quick, and until his eyesight started going was one of the best shots I've ever seen.
 
Yes, that was Sherwood, my other uncle (probably second cousin once removed), he was special forces and in Vietnam 68-69, he pasted two years ago from mesothilioma (shipyards). Luther was crazy in a good way, made his first wife mad enough she shot him. He was a lot of fun to hang out with, hunting, playing pool, fishing, he was a true outdoorsman, 70% of what was on his table came from his garden, hunting, and fishing.
 
USS Regulus (AF-57) conducted numerous in-port docking replenishments at Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau, An Thoi, and Da Nang during March-November 1966, May-July 1967, February-December 1968, October-December 1969, June-September 1970, and AprilJuly 1971
my dad's ship
 
I never served. I am eternally greatful to all who have no matter what role they performed.

My grandad served in WWII but I don't know anything about his service. Only a few tales of a troubled man years afterwards. As a tike, I found some stuff in a barn. To this day I still have his canteen pouch and 1911 mag pouches.

One Vietnam vet I know and became good friends with, helped me build a couple of bitching BMW airheads back in the day. We were bench racing in his shop one night late and drinking some red wine while cleaning some engine internals when something clicked. He spoke for the next two hours unfiltered and from the heart. I never spoke a word. Afterwards and in tears he gave me a huge hug and thanked me for letting him finally tell someone. I was speachless and just thanked him for his friendship and service.

I can't say thank you enough to everyone who has served our great country in any capacity .
 
What really grinds my gears is a liar, especially one that chooses to lie to my face. This past weekend I put some gears in a Jeep for a woman and her boyfriend proudly wears his Marine Corps Vietnam Vet hat.i let him go on to tell me several stories and I shared a few stories of my interactions with marines and funny things I’ve noticed about a few veterans I’ve met. I start talking about my previous experiences with people wanting to pretend the plot of a movie is what their service was. This dude proceeds to tell me a Carlos Hathcock story, saying he was MI before going recon and then did his 2nd enlistment as an avionics tech. He only served 6 years according to his Facebook but told me 8 to my face. Some terms I know have changed along with other things over the times, but his call for fire story was bullshit. You don’t ask someone to destroy an encampment so you can go point a to point b. Actually tactical sense you’d clover leaf around it so you can paint the picture to higher, you’d have to get a grid to reference to call for fire unless you use a method of marking, like smoke for a polar fire mission but they should have your front line trace, and a 3 man sniper team because they needed what they call a body guard because they didn’t want him to be tortured Bc he was MI. Guy supposedly was a gun smith and tried to talk guns but didn’t know wtf a set screw was, or pretty much anything at all mechanical. Needless to say dude is mid 60s and trying to impress people instead of just being himself. Sorry for my ranting in this thread, but man it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and it’s sort of relevant. And the icing on the cake was his 3 man team got in a close ambushed and he knife killed 3 dudes.....
 
I'm skeptical of anyone who tells me of their military service until they convince me otherwise.

That being said, there's a USMC Korean War Vet that comes into the gym every day on a walker and does a little bit of cardio on a sitting bike/arm thingy.

Super nice guy, always goes out of his way to talk to me.

I plan on going to his funeral when he passes.

But if I had to pick between which I can't stand more, the fakers or over zealous vets who never shut up about their service and constantly refer to everything in military terms and demand to be called by their old rank... Well. Fakers win. But the over zealous veterans are obnoxious as hell.

"Look Bob, I don't want to call you Sarge, or meet you at 1300 by your POV. Because we are both civilians now, that's 1pm, and it's your old ratty Camaro covered in 'Hooyah!' stickers."
 
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You would like my uncle, one Christmas he got the "taser" flashlight from his grandson, around the tree as people are opening presents, turns flashlight on, tests taser, then (without missing a beat) lays out grandson with taser! Wish I had a video.
 
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