Veteran’s Day – A Soldier’s Story

In thanking the members of CCTP who are also Veterans of America’s Armed Forces, I asked if any members had a particular story from their time in the service that they’d like to share.  I received this reply from Mike:

I didn’t choose the honor either, I didn’t have the option, they chose it for me. It didn’t seem like all that much of an honor to have SBD or KP or dumpster watch at night, sleeping in the  mud under a tree, in a driving rain that lasted for days didn’t really make me feel all that honorable either. The pay was much less than honorable, $72.15 a month, before taxes. Yes, even people who made less than $1000 per year had to pay taxes way back then. Seem’s like most of the honor comes after you get home??? Oh well, maybe not so much.

My family first arrived on these shores in the mid 1600’s, and have been involved in just about every major conflict and a lot of minor ones before this nation was created and since. My Dad was infantry, by choice, in WW2, landed on Normandy Beach, was in all 5 major battles in europe, has more metal in him than most new car’s, and just past his 99th birthday on his way to becoming a Centaur. I knew I just couldn’t make it across that Canadian Border humping all that weight. Did I do it for the Honor?   Not mine, I was doing just fine working in a steel mill.

Would I do it again?? Hell Yes, In a heartbeat. It was good for me, it made me grow up and become cognizant of the world around me and BLA, BLA, BLA, and besides, the Military gets to play with all the newest and neatest toys.

Do I think we should reinstitute the draft? Yes. It was seldom a good thing at the time for individuals, but it was great for the nation as a whole. Instead of a bunch of simpering eyebrow pinned fools running around with their names tattooed on their foreheads you had guys come back with a sense of responsibility and more than a little bit of an idea about how things worked in the real and unreal worlds in which we all co-exist.

Thank you Mike for your service, and God Bless You!