BBA
climber
OF
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Nov 11, 2012 - 03:39pm PT
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Branch of Service: Army
Years of Service: 6
Where you Basic trained: Ft Ord, AIT Ft Holabird (neither of which exist today - Ft Ord is a Campus and holabird is a Mall)
Where you were stationed: Ft Holabird, Taipei, Ft Bragg, Bien Hoa, Ft Shafter
If in a war where? the Nam
I'm ambivalent about my service.
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toadgas
Trad climber
los angeles
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Nov 11, 2012 - 03:41pm PT
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Major Steve Blake MBE (Retd)
25 Yrs - Int Corps retired 2004
Trained: Ashford Kent, JSPI RAF Wyton, Navy Yard Washington DC, Fort Lewis, and a lot of other places.........
First Gulf War, Sierra Leone, Kosovo, YADDA YADDA, and a lot of other small places and little wars
Sat out the second GW at Fort Huachuca.
Peace,
Steve
Sierra Leone? that place sounds worse than frikkin Somalia!
I heard they got roving "cannibal generals" there who get high on meth and dress in drag queen outfits and EAT YOU after they kill you!
thanks, all you VETS!
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Evel
Trad climber
Nedsterdam CO
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Nov 11, 2012 - 03:51pm PT
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Mix
Sgt. USMC
7 yrs
University of Parris Island,SC
2nd Force Reconnaissance Co.,2/6 STA
Stone Bay,NC Quantico,VA
Beirut,Lebanon Columbia,SA
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Nov 11, 2012 - 05:42pm PT
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Thanks!
To both of you.
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Nov 11, 2012 - 05:51pm PT
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"They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them."
"Lest we forget"
For the Fallen
Lawrence Binyon 1914
So giving.....
Susan
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Ron Anderson
Trad climber
USA Moundhouse Nev. and land o da SLEDS!
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Nov 11, 2012 - 05:56pm PT
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To My Uncle Red, US NAVY WW11, inteligence Div
My Uncle Bill, US NAVY,WW11, Elec, Enterprise and other ships, Purple heart among other awards. And my uncle Gene, also US NAVY, WW11 aboard battle ships. SALUTE Sirs...See you all some day.
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dogtown
Trad climber
Cheyenne, Wyoming and Marshall Islands atoll.
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Nov 11, 2012 - 06:28pm PT
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U.S. Army, 1st of the 9th air mobile Crew chef
1970-73
Fort Ord, California
Vietnam, Central highlands
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Guangzhou
Trad climber
Asia, Indonesia, East Java
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Nov 11, 2012 - 06:55pm PT
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Not sure this is good OPSEC, but here goes. Wink Wink
Okay.. here's the way to do this
Name:
Emmanuel Lacoste
Branch of Service:
U.S. Army, Infantry.
Years of Service:
5 years
Where you Basic trained:
Georgia, Benning
Where you were stationed:
Germany, 1-4 Infantry.
KY/TN 101 Airbone.
If in a war where?Bold Text
No real wars, spent a long time wearing a blue hat in Haiti. Main mission was protecting the new president.
We must never forget the sacrifices made by those who served.Bold Text
I agree, but just as important, many were sacrifice who didn't officially serve. Some were just at the wrong place when problems started, others took it on themselves to do their part to end the war. (French Resistance comes to mind.)
Thank you Soldiers!
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Nov 13, 2012 - 12:22am PT
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I'm all for appreciating what veterans go through, and support them getting the best treatment from our system when they return from war. Still...
Maybe it’s time to get more real about the military and veteran’s day. We’ve been trained by our culture to idolize soldiers. Somehow we’re supposed to tell ourselves that they are our greatest citizens. We’re never supposed to call for cuts in military spending, even as we shut off funds to the poor and helpless within our borders.
Of course when a government wants to recruit people to risk death and dismemberment in foreign lands that propose little or no threat to country, they have to pay them lip service. These soldiers are also used as a political shield so the questionable reasons for war are not questioned. Somehow we weren’t supporting our troops if we called for them to return from a lame and useless war in Iraq. The troops, of course, aren’t allowed to call for their own return. We have to do it!
Very few people join the military for self-less sacrificing service to our country, and our country is in zero danger of invasion by other lands. Once someone joins the military they may have an opportunity for heroic action for the sake of others, or also for the most depraved insults to human life and dignity. Many of the worst crimes against humanity in history have been committed by soldiers, sometimes at the request of superiors and politicians, but sometimes by the fog of war which corrupts the better angels of individuals.
So my heart goes out to those people who gone in the military and suffered death, injury or trauma thinking it was for a good cause, whether it was or not. I salute those soldiers who have done heroic deeds that saved comrades, or even better, innocent civilians.
But don’t ask me for blind adoration of the military, it’s actions, or use soldiers as a cover to gain support for the military. I don’t buy it. We need a worldwide transformation to make militaries irrelevant, smaller, and eventually unneeded. Our weapons get more and more powerful and we risk killing ALL of each other or being suppressed by robot drones from all knowing governments.
My heroes fight for peace.
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toadgas
Trad climber
los angeles
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Nov 13, 2012 - 04:40am PT
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^^^^^
ya forgot the dude who almost got eaten by drag queen cannibals in Liberia
.
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steveA
Trad climber
bedford,massachusetts
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Nov 13, 2012 - 05:14am PT
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Steve Arsenault
Army-Sgt.
1967-70
Vietnam -23 months-Central Highlands
2 purple hearts
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Nov 13, 2012 - 06:14am PT
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Good post Karl, but possibly not the best place for it.
Although, freedom of speech and all...
You probably bought the thread some added life.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Nov 13, 2012 - 07:53am PT
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I salute all those who serve in uniform with honor and integrity.
This weekend I went to NYC despite the iffy nature of a recovering disaster area to attend the memorial service of my friend Luce who, among many other fine efforts in life, served during WWII as an airplane mechanic with the Army Air Corps on Guam.
On the flight back yesterday I sat amidst a sea of DMAT personnel returning home after 2 weeks service to Sandy victims.
Although I get a little nervous about Homeland Security having a uniformed army these guys are in the business of saving lives and were to a man (and woman) obviously committed medical people. So lets not forget the service people (like the Coast Guard as well) who are less combat oriented.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Nov 13, 2012 - 08:35am PT
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2 yrs of service in the Army
One of the 1st in the Volunteer Army
Basic training - Fort Polk Louisiana
AIT - Ft. Rucker Alabama - Air Traffic Control
Viet Nam ERA veteran that spent my whole tour doing enroute control on a mountaintop in Southern South Korea (microwave relay station called Brooklyn Site) If any of you chopper pilots out there were stationed in Korea from 74 to 76, my callsign was Mike Sierra
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Roger Brown
climber
Oceano, California
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Nov 13, 2012 - 09:07am PT
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Gunners Mate First Class
Boot Camp San Diego
Gun School North Chicago
USS Lawrence-Destroyer-East Coast-Europe
USS Hull-Destroyer-Naval Gunfire Support-DMZ Vietnam
USS Benewah-River Assault Group One-Vietnam Delta
5 Years, 7 Months, 19 Days
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Nov 13, 2012 - 09:10am PT
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We’ve been trained by our culture to idolize soldiers. Somehow we’re supposed to tell ourselves that they are our greatest citizens.
Right on Karl. Anyone joining the US military in recent times knows EXACTLY what they're signing up to do. And I'm totally against it. Dont want to hear any nonsense about PTSD and how war wasn't as glorious as you'd hoped.
On the other hand, I can forgive people who joined out of patriotism, and claim to have been duped. But those who say they joined because they had no other option because the economy is bad - well, I wouldn't kill people for money, and none of them are as poor as their victims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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MikeL
climber
SANTA CLARA, CA
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Nov 13, 2012 - 09:42am PT
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One of my little sisters in Iraq:
I appreciate Karl's sentiments. Pain and suffering might seem stupid, but there's hardly any getting around it here in this plane of existence. Many things can be criticized; war and the services as extensions of the politic are among the many.
Veterans Day is also for veterans (as well as for civilians who think it's their duty to back the men and women who are sent into harm's way to do their bidding).
There is little that can be compared to the feelings of community, honor, and duty in a band of brothers and sisters in combat. War and the sense of death all around you brings a clarity about living that might only be approached in climbing, police and fire work, and maybe in critical health care. While you're in those situations, you can hate it, sure, but the experiences can leave a lasting mark on a person that frames the rest of his or her life. Many things are like that, and they are neither good nor bad.
By the way: there really are people who join up because they want to get involved for what they think are larger purposes than material needs. My sister did. Me . . . I wanted to see what I was made of.
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ydpl8s
Trad climber
Santa Monica, California
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Nov 13, 2012 - 09:56am PT
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I think the military was the perfect thing to get me to grow up. First they kicked my butt, then they gave me responsibility, that's just what a young man (or woman) needs. I'm not saying everybody has to get it that way, but it was the right thing at the right time for me.
Hmmm, I need to give my 22yr old son a call (although he's already more motivated than I was).
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coz
Mountain climber
Northern surly
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Nov 13, 2012 - 10:28am PT
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Thanks for the typical sanctimonious crap Karl.
This thread is to honor vets. Who do fight for peace and freedoms, the very ones u enjoy.
Shameful!
Thanks to my parents who served.
All the team guys I've train the last 25 years and to all those currently in uniform u are hero's and a grateful nation thanks you.
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