Military Braggarts

[The Gadfly]

C Co.1st Bn 4th Marines Infantry Fire Team Leader Northern I Corps, Leatherneck Square, C2 Bridge, Dong Ha, Dong Ha, Camp Evans, Phu Bai, Nam Hoi. I was not a hero. Besides the being there medals, I received the Combat Action Ribbon. And you? I suppose you have no problem with the term pissy ass grunts. If you were not a grunt, I guess you wouldn't.
And what war did you participate in and with what unit. When it comes to those posing as USMC Vietnam Combat Vets, we out them with questions others would not understand.

A person states he was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines in Vietnam at Dak To. Is he a poser? If yes, then explain why? If no explain why?

This still going on? Ok Stinger, I'll play. Answer to your question is, either a poser, or can't remember what branch he served in. I'm no expert on operations down in II Corps, but western Kontum province was an Army (and ARVN) AO, and at the time you were up in Quang Tri province, the area near Dak To was where the 173rd ABN was, before they went over to Binh Dinh; they had a big fight there with the NVA in late '67. The area had a reputation of being pretty hot (not surprising, considering where it is).While we're playing trivia, what/where was "Highway 9"?

Just for the record, I've never met anyone who was actually a grunt in Vietnam who thinks he is/was a hero, including some with decorations that say otherwise. Remembering being scared half to death on many occasions has a way of making a man feel like a survivor, not a hero. I served with some who really were heroes...and most of them are dead.

I take it from this you are saying he is a military braggart. I sorta figured this topic would pull a few in.....

No, actually. I think he's probably real. I'm not sure where all the Marine units were, since I was Army; (there were Marines operating in the area he describes at the places he states) but if he served in the areas he mentioned, the question I asked is an easy one.

 

[daveman]

To paint the members of the Greatest Generation with one broad brush is just silly.

Right, ginscpy?

The moron ginscpy does that all the time, he has a hard on for WW2 and talks about it all the time while shitting on the Veterans of other conflicts, even though the pussy himself has never served a damn day.

I like slam-dunk wins like in WW2.

416,800 of our military died in WWII.

Calling it a slam-dunk cheapens their sacrifice. Perhaps you should just STFU.

 

[Salt Jones]

Every run across Military Braggarts? You know... the ones who lie about their "service" and what they have done, gained, earned? You the ones who somehow are in ever battle, saved everyone and killed everything in site? Wounded but have no scars, advanced skills that are never used? The pissant grunts who somehow turn into officers but have no stripes?


I am wondering what you think of the people who do this?

It's a free country. They trip themselves up eventually and then face the shame and derision from the group they long to be among.

 

[Peach]

I know Vets that are a bit lonely, and we talk of day to day things; they seem to enjoy the little "extras" the VA Dom. doesn't provide. I know my daddy was on the Colorado in WWII when she was hit, and served in Korea and Vietnam. I know the names of many of the ships he served on, and a few years ago, emailed a shipmate of his until that man's death.

I never filled out the form to get his full Navy record, don't have a birth certificate, and why look at more things that will make me cry? I'm glad this was posted, it reminds me to get a trip to visit some Vets in hospitals scheduled.

I am in touch with my sister & brother in law frequently, only she is disabled (non combat related.)

Now we have a new generation of maimed Vets, we did not need another one.

 

[syrenn]

Every run across Military Braggarts? You know... the ones who lie about their "service" and what they have done, gained, earned? You the ones who somehow are in ever battle, saved everyone and killed everything in site? Wounded but have no scars, advanced skills that are never used? The pissant grunts who somehow turn into officers but have no stripes?


I am wondering what you think of the people who do this?

It's a free country. They trip themselves up eventually and then face the shame and derision from the group they long to be among.

I agree... they are free to make up as grandiose a story as they want. They usually do....

 

[whitehall]

It's a time honored tradition to embellish a war story. I hate to say it but posters who were never in the Military should excuse themselves from participating in this discussion.

 

[The Gadfly]

It's a time honored tradition to embellish a war story. I hate to say it but posters who were never in the Military should excuse themselves from participating in this discussion.

True enough, Whitehall; much like hunting and fishing stories, every war story gets a little better with age, the number of retellings, and the amount of alcohol being consumed at the time. The action gets bigger and badder, the enemy becomes more numerous, the situation becomes tougher, and we become a lot braver, until, in the glow of the moment, we were ten feet tall and bulletproof...it's our compensation for all those other moments, when we remember we really were just the lucky ones among a bunch of miserable, scared young guys, trying to do a nasty job and keep ourselves and each other alive a long way from home. Here's to the memories of our long-lost youth, which will always be brighter, more romantic and more adventurous than it ever really was.

 

[Moonglow]

I don't have any stories to embelish. I was a TOW missle system repair/maint. guy, then I went to being a admin specialists and finally was a power generation equipment repair/operations.
nothing ever happened but stealing unsecure vehicles to run to the class 9 building for the beverage package store. We had alot of beer and schnopps in the Army, not to mention the weed.

 

[whitehall]

It's a time honored tradition to embellish a war story. I hate to say it but posters who were never in the Military should excuse themselves from participating in this discussion.

True enough, Whitehall; much like hunting and fishing stories, every war story gets a little better with age, the number of retellings, and the amount of alcohol being consumed at the time. The action gets bigger and badder, the enemy becomes more numerous, the situation becomes tougher, and we become a lot braver, until, in the glow of the moment, we were ten feet tall and bulletproof...it's our compensation for all those other moments, when we remember we really were just the lucky ones among a bunch of miserable, scared young guys, trying to do a nasty job and keep ourselves and each other alive a long way from home. Here's to the memories of our long-lost youth, which will always be brighter, more romantic and more adventurous than it ever really was.

Amen gadfly. There is no stigma about never having seen combat and if marijuana abuse seems romantic to posters like moonglow then go for it. Marines have a special bond though. The movie FMJ only slightly exaggerated Boot Camp in the 60's. As I recall the movie set looked exactly like the 3rd Battalion MCRD Parris Island. For Marines Parris Island stories are almost exciting as war stories. The Drill Instructor gets meaner the longer the story is told.

 

[regent]

Mentioning war stories, and it occurred to me that I didn't hear many at the end of WWII. One reason I believe is because most of us had been in. Of my say fifteen close friends, 13 had seen service. I also realize that if we knew their units we knew their stories. The object seems to have been to forget the war, not because of the horrors, but because our stories would impress no one. The one that had any stories worth listening to was our friend, P..., P... had deserted one week after induction. For the entire war he had evaded FBI, military and civilian police and we listened to his stories with great interest. He was caught a couple of weeks after VJ day and spent two years in the pokey. But the rest of our stories, boring.

 

[geauxtohell]

Part of the issue is the bizarre turn this country has taken towards troop worship in the post 9/11 world.

It's almost like we as a nation are overcompensating for how poorly the Vietnam vets were treated.

 

[whitehall]

Mentioning war stories, and it occurred to me that I didn't hear many at the end of WWII. One reason I believe is because most of us had been in. Of my say fifteen close friends, 13 had seen service. I also realize that if we knew their units we knew their stories. The object seems to have been to forget the war, not because of the horrors, but because our stories would impress no one. The one that had any stories worth listening to was our friend, P..., P... had deserted one week after induction. For the entire war he had evaded FBI, military and civilian police and we listened to his stories with great interest. He was caught a couple of weeks after VJ day and spent two years in the pokey. But the rest of our stories, boring.

Never heard a WW2 war story? Maybe because you never bought a WW2 Vet a drink.

 

[MikeK]

Mentioning war stories, and it occurred to me that I didn't hear many at the end of WWII. One reason I believe is because most of us had been in. Of my say fifteen close friends, 13 had seen service. I also realize that if we knew their units we knew their stories. The object seems to have been to forget the war, not because of the horrors, but because our stories would impress no one. The one that had any stories worth listening to was our friend, P..., P... had deserted one week after induction. For the entire war he had evaded FBI, military and civilian police and we listened to his stories with great interest. He was caught a couple of weeks after VJ day and spent two years in the pokey. But the rest of our stories, boring.

Never heard a WW2 war story? Maybe because you never bought a WW2 Vet a drink.

I believe Regent is talking about his contemporaries, not his seniors. As he said, just about everybody was "in" during WW-II so there was nothing much to talk about in terms of war stories, because everyone was glad the all the stories had finally ended.

But in later years, after the memory wounds healed, I'm sure the younger generation heard some stories from those older vets, such as my father and two uncles, who told us things I'm sure they really had no wish to talk about in the years that closely followed that War, which the whole Country wanted to forget. They'd had enough.

 

[High_Gravity]

To paint the members of the Greatest Generation with one broad brush is just silly.

Right, ginscpy?

The moron ginscpy does that all the time, he has a hard on for WW2 and talks about it all the time while shitting on the Veterans of other conflicts, even though the pussy himself has never served a damn day.

I like slam-dunk wins like in WW2.

WW2 was hardly a "slam dunk" you ass licking cock sucking faggot, do you even know many men and women sacrificed their lives during that conflict? god you are such an ignorant fucking bastard.

 

[whitehall]

Mentioning war stories, and it occurred to me that I didn't hear many at the end of WWII. One reason I believe is because most of us had been in. Of my say fifteen close friends, 13 had seen service. I also realize that if we knew their units we knew their stories. The object seems to have been to forget the war, not because of the horrors, but because our stories would impress no one. The one that had any stories worth listening to was our friend, P..., P... had deserted one week after induction. For the entire war he had evaded FBI, military and civilian police and we listened to his stories with great interest. He was caught a couple of weeks after VJ day and spent two years in the pokey. But the rest of our stories, boring.

Never heard a WW2 war story? Maybe because you never bought a WW2 Vet a drink.

I believe Regent is talking about his contemporaries, not his seniors. As he said, just about everybody was "in" during WW-II so there was nothing much to talk about in terms of war stories, because everyone was glad the all the stories had finally ended.

But in later years, after the memory wounds healed, I'm sure the younger generation heard some stories from those older vets, such as my father and two uncles, who told us things I'm sure they really had no wish to talk about in the years that closely followed that War, which the whole Country wanted to forget. They'd had enough.[/QUOTE


How the hell could the Country forget it (WW2) when Hollywood was cranking out WW2 movies movies for the next 70 years? How could you presume that WW2 Vets wanted to "forget it"? I joined a VFW a number of years ago and a few old timey WW2 Vets were still around and still glad to embellish a war story or two over a brewsky. The freaking world talks in cliches about things they only think they understand.

 

[MikeK]

How the hell could the Country forget it (WW2) when Hollywood was cranking out WW2 movies movies for the next 70 years? How could you presume that WW2 Vets wanted to "forget it"? I joined a VFW a number of years ago and a few old timey WW2 Vets were still around and still glad to embellish a war story or two over a brewsky. The freaking world talks in cliches about things they only think they understand.

The title of this thread refers to bragging, which simply was not common in the years immediately following WW-II. My recollection of those years is an atmosphere in which the destruction in Europe and the Pacific and the horrors that brought it about was not something any of the vets wanted to brag about. They knew the War was over and we had won but those who had spent years immersed in it wanted to hang up the uniforms and relax into the peace and quiet of civilian life. The whole country was in fact quite tired of it all.

I recall for the first few years after he came home my father had very little to say when we'd ask him questions about the War. He didn't really talk about any specifics or express his feelings about them until the "police action" in Korea began. Then he started talking about his experience on Guadalcanal -- and it certainly wasn't bragging. In fact the only WW-II movie I've ever seen which comes close to portraying things he described and embodying the feelings he'd expressed is The Thin Red Line. Most others, with the exception of the Band Of Brothers TV series, have been typical Hollywood hokum.

 

[westwall]

Every run across Military Braggarts? You know... the ones who lie about their "service" and what they have done, gained, earned? You the ones who somehow are in ever battle, saved everyone and killed everything in site? Wounded but have no scars, advanced skills that are never used? The pissant grunts who somehow turn into officers but have no stripes?


I am wondering what you think of the people who do this?

Those that act that way are invariably lying. I interrogate them, figure out what they really did and expose them to everyone who is around. I can't stand them.

 

[whitehall]

Talk to a couple of former Sailors who served on the same ship and you will get stories about liberty call and life aboard ship that will make your hair curl. Like I said, people who never served in the Military should excuse themselves from the discussion.

 

[old navy]

Talk to a couple of former Sailors who served on the same ship and you will get stories about liberty call and life aboard ship that will make your hair curl. Like I said, people who never served in the Military should excuse themselves from the discussion.

That's for sure.

 

[The Gadfly]

Part of the issue is the bizarre turn this country has taken towards troop worship in the post 9/11 world.

It's almost like we as a nation are overcompensating for how poorly the Vietnam vets were treated.

That's an interesting observation, Geaux, and I think there's some validity to that last sentence, particularly in the last 5-6 years. Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about that, and more to the point, I'm not sure how the vets from the current conflicts feel about it, either. I've had a few tell me privately that all the attention makes them a little uncomfortable (especially when well-meaning civilians ask them things like, "So how many terrorists did you kill?"). I guess the same goes for all the attention to us Vietnam vets lately; don't get me wrong, it's better than being cussed at, or being ignored and forgotten, but sometimes it's a bit much. It's kind of hard to go from feeling almost socially unacceptable in some quarters, to being treated like more than you think you are, without wondering why the people who want to put you on some pedestal now didn't offer so much as a kind word back then. I don't want to sound ungrateful, or too cynical, but it's just hard to think of yourself as anything special, when you've seen so many good men go to their graves without so much as a word of thanks; somehow, it just doesn't feel right.