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Dennis1209

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I've noticed there's a number of military veterans here on Worthy. I thought it might be fun and interesting to share some military experiences and things that happened that are still in our memories. We will avoid all the gory stuff and things that we only talk with God about. Personally, I have so many memories I don't know where to start... 

At Travis Air Force Base in California I was about to board a Boeing 707 jet for my overseas deployment to Viet Nam. It was night time but the tarmac was well lit. Approaching the jet I looked at it and thought, "you gots to be kidding me". The paint on it was falling off all over the place, and aft of the engines, underneath the wings and both sides of the fuselage, was completely black from the jet exhaust. An airliner I had never heard of, Seaboard World; came back on another airline I never heard of, Tiger Airlines? I didn't have to worry about my tour, because I didn't think I was even going to make it there  :D

It was a very long flight and landed twice for fuel, total time from departure to arrival was about 28 hours. I couldn't sleep during the flight at all, all wound up in anticipation of the unknown. Rapidly descending the pilot announced we've entered Viet Nam airspace and will be landing in a few minutes. Looking out the window it appeared something was being shot up at us, I though, "Oh Boy", here we go... Later on I realized it was flares the military used to light up a combat zone; and they would become one of my favorite 'toys' to play with. As soon as we landed I was not thinking straight from lack of sleep and nervousness, then a thought suddenly occurred to me, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, I'M 19 YEARS OLD". I left California on August 20th and this is the next day, the 21st. Then I thought... Is this yesterday or tomorrow where I'm at, did we cross the date line, did I miss my birthday, oh who cares, I have more to worry about than that anyway.

One of the very first things that happened after getting off the plane, we were given a bologna sack sandwich, one HUGE orange pill along with two great big chalky white horse pills and a half pint of orange juice to wash them down. We we never told what those pill were for until much later when we had to start talking those big white chalky white pills weekly [malaria pills]. Any pill hangs up in the back of my throat and I never took one again, I got lucky. 

 

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Thank you for your service! And thank you for sharing your story! God bless you! 

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4 hours ago, DustyRoad said:

Believe it or not, I did well during the time I spent in the U.S. Army. I kept my nose clean and occupied myself with the task at hand, finding solace in my orders. I'm happy to contribute so I'd like to offer one of my experiences on guard duty with you all.

My unit was deployed in the field and we were occupying an isolated area. I along with others in my section had set up our communication sites and because procedure required that we dig foxholes and establish a defensive perimeter, Headquarters relied upon my platoon's positions to cover a wide area. The M-60 gunner of each section were assigned positions and so I found myself standing in one of those foxholes wearing night vision goggles (hint: don't look at the Moon) along with my M-60 submachine gun. Since I happened to be the soldier in the unit who wore a classified code book around his neck (I never parted ways with it until properly relieved) I also happened to be the guy who supplied all of the NCOs as well as the officers with passwords and things of that nature. So, Specialist DustyRoad was the one who always knew the proper password. Remember that! ;)

Before sundown one day I spotted two men encroaching upon my perimeter. "Halt!," I cried out. One of the men was a major general (two stars) while the other fellow looked like a colonel. Oh joy.

I informed the men to maintain their position and issued the challenge, waiting for them to furnish the password. Of course the general blurted out the wrong password. This just couldn't happen any other way, now could it? 

Sighing inwardly whilst accepting that I was dead meat, I didn't permit either man to approach a step further. I issued the challenge one last time and when the general supplied yet another incorrect password, I informed them that I would inform my commanding officer right away.  I raised the TOC (tactical operations center) on the radio and informed my CO of the situation at hand, who replied that he was on the way. I figured that I might get away with an Article 15 by settling matters this way...

Because Specialist DustyRoad knows the password and even his commanding officer was aware of that fact! He's the one who assigned me to keep that book in the first place, hehe. He would spare me from loss of rank to be sure … but I was dreading his arrival just the same. I even wanted to laugh out loud at the cruelty of it all but decided remaining stone-faced was the way for me to go that evening. :thumbsup:  

My commander patted me on the shoulder and told me to stand down when he appeared. Relieved of my weapon I immediately snapped to attention and furnished a salute to the general was probably going to dispose of me posthaste.

"Good job, soldier!," the general said to me as he and the entourage left for the TOC. "That's how you're supposed to do it!"

You had me thinking that you shot at a general and colonel when you wrote "issued the challenge" and "the general supplied yet another incorrect password" ;  then you got kicked out of the service, and that's why you were now here on Worthy. You and Dennis have a real knack for storytelling. Funny and entertaining stuff for sure.   I was asked to read the Psalms by a military vet with failing eyesight; I would spend many days doing this. I did not really enjoy the Psalms at the time but it helped me later.

Did you consider writing a small book, maybe: "funny stories from the combat zone -or Grace under  Fire"( maybe include you are born of God and maybe include a Psalm after each story and a verse from Christ. The World English Bible is free to download  and free to copy; there are a couple of other public domain Bibles also as you know.)Authentic funny stuff sells well. I am sure one publisher will take it. We need your stories in these contentious times.

One of the best selling books  ever I heard was Chicken Soup for the Soul(Not recommending it). I haven't read it -I think  it's a compilation of "other peoples" inspirational stories by two authors; but it seems they had to ask 110 publishers before one agreed to publish.

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A typical day would start off by having to be at the Mess Hall by 4:00 A.M. to get our only hot meal of the day. We were issued two boxes of "C Rations" to sustain us for the rest of the day. I'm here to tell ya, if you've never ate any military C rations, you're lucky. 

I was stationed at a place called, Plantation, Viet Nam. I was a crew chief and M-60 machine gun door gunner on a UH-1C Huey assault helicopter, our platoon was called the "Sidewinders'. After breakfast we would have to walk down to the flight line and prepare the UH-1C assault gunship for its mission. Load the ammo for the mini guns and M-60 machine guns, load and insert the rockets and make sure we were ready to fire up when the pilots arrived to do their pre flight. I was a crew chief and M-60 door gunner. We would then lift off to our destination about an hours flight time to a place called Tay Ninh. This is where we waited to be called for aerial combat and support missions.

Long stretches of boredom were the norm waiting to be called upon. Well, everyone is getting hungry, so it's time to try and choke down some C rations [keep in mind I'm a newbie]. Those rations are extra nasty if you try to gag them down cold. There are many ways to heat these rations up, but the fastest and most efficient is the following. One of the pilots fires up the helicopter, and each in turn puts on his nomex gloves, grabs a pair of pliers and grabs the can by the lip, puts it directly behind the T53-L-13 turbine engine exhaust at flight idle, opens the can and starts gagging it down. Do you see where this is heading :D

Finally it's my turn and I do the same thing BUT; I like mine a little extra hot. Spent the next hour cleaning beanies & weenies off me and the aircraft. The military law of pressurized vessels and explosions surfaced its ugly head to wear food. When we got back that evening or late as night, depending on what involvement we had that day; our day was just beginning. If fired, all our weapons had to be cleaned and lubricated, preventive maintenance and oil samples / inspections performed. If we took any hits or damage, that had to be repaired or replaced immediately to return to service. 

Next chat: What M-60 machine gun fired brass does to a helicopter tail rotor from the left side.

P.S. The Tay Ninh International Air Port sign is a joke. The runway is only a thousand feet long and constructed of PSP.

 

Tay Ninh.jpg

117th Assault UH-1C.jpg

Edited by Dennis1209
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16 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I've noticed there's a number of military veterans here on Worthy. I thought it might be fun and interesting to share some military experiences and things that happened that are still in our memories. We will avoid all the gory stuff and things that we only talk with God about. Personally, I have so many memories I don't know where to start... 

At Travis Air Force Base in California I was about to board a Boeing 707 jet for my overseas deployment to Viet Nam. It was night time but the tarmac was well lit. Approaching the jet I looked at it and thought, "you gots to be kidding me". The paint on it was falling off all over the place, and aft of the engines, underneath the wings and both sides of the fuselage, was completely black from the jet exhaust. An airliner I had never heard of, Seaboard World; came back on another airline I never heard of, Tiger Airlines? I didn't have to worry about my tour, because I didn't think I was even going to make it there  :D

It was a very long flight and landed twice for fuel, total time from departure to arrival was about 28 hours. I couldn't sleep during the flight at all, all wound up in anticipation of the unknown. Rapidly descending the pilot announced we've entered Viet Nam airspace and will be landing in a few minutes. Looking out the window it appeared something was being shot up at us, I though, "Oh Boy", here we go... Later on I realized it was flares the military used to light up a combat zone; and they would become one of my favorite 'toys' to play with. As soon as we landed I was not thinking straight from lack of sleep and nervousness, then a thought suddenly occurred to me, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY, I'M 19 YEARS OLD". I left California on August 20th and this is the next day, the 21st. Then I thought... Is this yesterday or tomorrow where I'm at, did we cross the date line, did I miss my birthday, oh who cares, I have more to worry about than that anyway.

One of the very first things that happened after getting off the plane, we were given a bologna sack sandwich, one HUGE orange pill along with two great big chalky white horse pills and a half pint of orange juice to wash them down. We we never told what those pill were for until much later when we had to start talking those big white chalky white pills weekly [malaria pills]. Any pill hangs up in the back of my throat and I never took one again, I got lucky. 

 

I was in the Navy in those days.   We deployed to the Middle East twice, GITMO once and to South America once.   

While deployed along the coast of Africa heading back and forth to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, we were issued the same orange pills you mentioned.   We also had to eat large salt tablets because of the oppressive desert heat.  When we had shore leave in parts of the Middle East we were told to avoid areas outside of certain cities that were occupied by Beduin folk.   They didn't care much for us 'unbelievers'.   I was enlisted in the Navy and found myself in the desert of Saudi Arabia doing guard duty with a member of the Saudi military.  Meanwhile a friend of mine enlisted in the Army and was assigned river boat duty in the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam.  Life is strange.

The Lord saved us from getting wacked by two, count 'em two, hurricanes while sailing home down the east coast of Africa toward the Cape of Good Hope.  As we sailed south, seas around us were mostly calm.  Everywhere else, both north and south of our track, was devastating storm and terrible seas.  It was so miraculous that our Captain, a declared atheist, admitted during an address to the crew that it nearly made him a believer in God.

I later learned that the man wasn't a career Navy man at all.  He was a CIA agent embedded in our command structure.  During our deployment to the Persian Gulf and western Indian Ocean he directed our ship and one other in an attempt to create an incident with the Russian Navy off the coast of Dijouti near the Horn of Africa.  This was attempted twice with both attempts failing.  I later learned the entire operation was being observed in a War Room in Japan.   I am very glad the Lord directed me to pray throughout the deployment for our safety.   To this day, I believe the operation failed because of Divine Providence.   Many good men would have died if it had succeeded as the waters at that time were infested with sharks and poisonous jelly fish so numerous you could almost walk to shore by stepping on their jelly-ish backs.

I am alive today along with many men because of the mercy and grace and direct intervention of God - in spite of the errant efforts of our own government to kill us all.   Praise God for His mercy.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

Edited by choir loft
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I am sure some vets will happen on this post. I would like to thank all military guys for their service. I still have my Red Friday badge but folk seem to have forgotten...

To all military people, known and unknown along with the support services: THANK YOU ALL.

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4 hours ago, choir loft said:

I was in the Navy in those days.   We deployed to the Middle East twice, GITMO once and to South America once.   

While deployed along the coast of Africa heading back and forth to the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, we were issued the same orange pills you mentioned.   We also had to eat large salt tablets because of the oppressive desert heat.  When we had shore leave in parts of the Middle East we were told to avoid areas outside of certain cities that were occupied by Beduin folk.   They didn't care much for us 'unbelievers'.   I was enlisted in the Navy and found myself in the desert of Saudi Arabia doing guard duty with a member of the Saudi military.  Meanwhile a friend of mine enlisted in the Army and was assigned river boat duty in the Mekong Delta in Viet Nam.  Life is strange.

The Lord saved us from getting wacked by two, count 'em two, hurricanes while sailing home down the east coast of Africa toward the Cape of Good Hope.  As we sailed south, seas around us were mostly calm.  Everywhere else, both north and south of our track, was devastating storm and terrible seas.  It was so miraculous that our Captain, a declared atheist, admitted during an address to the crew that it nearly made him a believer in God.

I later learned that the man wasn't a career Navy man at all.  He was a CIA agent embedded in our command structure.  During our deployment to the Persian Gulf and western Indian Ocean he directed our ship and one other in an attempt to create an incident with the Russian Navy off the coast of Dijouti near the Horn of Africa.  This was attempted twice with both attempts failing.  I later learned the entire operation was being observed in a War Room in Japan.   I am very glad the Lord directed me to pray throughout the deployment for our safety.   To this day, I believe the operation failed because of Divine Providence.   Many good men would have died if it had succeeded as the waters at that time were infested with sharks and poisonous jelly fish so numerous you could almost walk to shore by stepping on their jelly-ish backs.

I am alive today along with many men because of the mercy and grace and direct intervention of God - in spite of the errant efforts of our own government to kill us all.   Praise God for His mercy.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

Hey choir loft,

You've certainly had some experiences yourself. I had intended to write a few of my memorable and funny moments; and lead into that there are no atheists in a fox hole, or in my case whizzing along in the air at 140 Knots with no cover to duck behind. I had thought there were more veterans here on Worthy that might want to go down memory lane and talk about their experiences? Guess not, so I'll return to my shell of solitude on the subject. 

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5 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

Hey choir loft,

You've certainly had some experiences yourself. I had intended to write a few of my memorable and funny moments; and lead into that there are no atheists in a fox hole, or in my case whizzing along in the air at 140 Knots with no cover to duck behind. I had thought there were more veterans here on Worthy that might want to go down memory lane and talk about their experiences? Guess not, so I'll return to my shell of solitude on the subject. 


The Marine corps were largely up north, I corps, near the DMZ. I was in amtracks, amphibious,
would go  most terrains/water. As an untrained platoon Sgt, I worried a lot, extra hyper vigilant, unwanted responsibilities.
At the Dong Ha river, mortars and rockets showed up often enough to set your watches by.
I was always having to get the guys to fill more and more sand bags. A nearby hole to jump in.
Even in the Nam, I used my carpentry skills, and took used ammo crates and made a wooden square
fox hole with floor. No mud! Great, right.
God was with me even before He made Himself to dwell in me.
One night shouts of incoming got everybody grabbing rifles and manning the 50's, popping illuminations and jumping in our holes.
For whatever reason,*,  this night I jumped over my wood bunker and dived behind a close previous rocket crater to be with a buddy.
When morning came around and the sun came up, I was going around to check up on any casualties (none), when I passed by my
wood foxhole, I just stared for awhile and got down and looked close. Apparently, a rocket round hit right beside it,
caved it in squeezing the sides completely together, and was full of shrapnel holes and fragments.
Some dude snapped a shot of me staring at the hole, and I still have the picture.
  * God had a better plan for me. *




 

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On 10/13/2019 at 4:34 PM, Dennis1209 said:

Hey choir loft,

You've certainly had some experiences yourself. I had intended to write a few of my memorable and funny moments; and lead into that there are no atheists in a fox hole, or in my case whizzing along in the air at 140 Knots with no cover to duck behind. I had thought there were more veterans here on Worthy that might want to go down memory lane and talk about their experiences? Guess not, so I'll return to my shell of solitude on the subject. 

I suppose the fact that we survived those experiences many times as a result of divine providence is somewhat of a foreign experience to those who never found themselves at risk.  The riskiest thing most folks do in civilian life is to drive back and forth to work.

Once, back in the day, I attempted to describe another scenario before a crowd of civilian church folk, my words were generally disapproved.  I was personally rejected. No one approached afterward to thank me or introduce themselves.  They all, with one exception, turned their backs upon me.  That experience permanently colored my opinion of Christians.  I never really got it straight in my mind about why they reacted as they did.   

Bear in mind that in those days military people were generally treated like second class citizens.  I know I was.  It wasn't like today where there is a modicum of respect and gratitude.  There was none of that at all in those days - even in church.   I got more respect from Communists in their own country than I got from Americans on my own soil.  That's another strange story - also a major deliverance by divine providence too.  As you can imagine, that story also flies over the heads of those non-vets I tell it too.

There is also the lingering suspicion of doubt among those that hear my testimony - simply because it is so foreign to common everyday experience.   I often wonder at my own memories.  Did they really happen like that after all?  Unfortunately they did.  

I am not lying, but people still act as though I am.    I have given up trying to persuade and excuse what happened especially where the Lord was involved to deliver me and those who were with me.  Far from home, the fellow next to me was more important than those idiots back in the states anyway.  I don't think they understand that either.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

Edited by choir loft
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52 minutes ago, choir loft said:

I suppose the fact that we survived those experiences many times as a result of divine providence is somewhat of a foreign experience to those who never found themselves at risk.  The riskiest thing most folks do in civilian life is to drive back and forth to work.

Once, back in the day, I attempted to describe another scenario before a crowd of civilian church folk, my words were generally disapproved.  I was personally rejected. No one approached afterward to thank me or introduce themselves.  They all, with one exception, turned their backs upon me.  That experience permanently colored my opinion of Christians.  I never really got it straight in my mind about why they reacted as they did.   

Bear in mind that in those days military people were generally treated like second class citizens.  I know I was.  It wasn't like today where there is a modicum of respect and gratitude.  There was none of that at all in those days - even in church.   I got more respect from Communists in their own country than I got from Americans on my own soil.  That's another strange story - also a major deliverance by divine providence too.  As you can imagine, that story also flies over the heads of those non-vets I tell it too.

There is also the lingering suspicion of doubt among those that hear my testimony - simply because it is so foreign to common everyday experience.   I often wonder at my own memories.  Did they really happen like that after all?  Unfortunately they did.  

I am not lying, but people still act as though I am.    I have given up trying to persuade and excuse what happened especially where the Lord was involved to deliver me and those who were with me.  Far from home, the fellow next to me was more important than those idiots back in the states anyway.  I don't think they understand that either.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

I generally seldom if ever talk about my military experiences to anyone. Even the infrequent occasions I would write home, what could I say? I intended to keep this thread upbeat and tell interesting war stories and fairy tales so to speak, and how the Lord protected us and what He did for us. Not to bring back bad memories and old wounds.

Yep, apparently and fortunately times and attitudes have changed toward our service personnel. Have a few bad memories myself in airports and in public proudly wearing my class A uniform. And in civilian attire on leave or off base, sticking out like a sore thumb with the [identifier] barely any hair, and my adopted and learned military demeanor and conduct were give away's. 

There's an old military idiom I know most have heard in passing, "War is Hell". No it's not, not even remotely close. The greatest generation [the WW II veterans and patriots] are all but gone now. The Viet Nam era generation is starting this historical cycle all over again. It breaks my heart that a person that gives his or her last measure of self; puts his or her life on the line and valiantly and courageously serves this country [military, police, firemen, disaster workers, etc.] and eventually dies, that doesn't know Christ Jesus as their own personal Savior. I amend that last sentence to include every precious human soul.

At my ripe old age I think I ponder on things too much. I've heard many testimonies about people whom faced sudden imminent immediate death and no way out, they were certain this was the end of their existence. Many claim their whole entire lives flashed before them in detail in a twinkling of an eye. I can believe that. Does the twinkling of an eye remind us of something? The thief on the cross next to Jesus didn't have much time to live, he certainly had no time to demonstrate he repented of his sins, yet he was saved by the Grace of God. I've wondered, in that final second before one meets his or her eternal fate, if they called out to Jesus sincerely to save them???

 

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