Tag: self-doubt

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Basic Training in The Military Can be Interesting and Quite a Rude Awakening

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I have had a drastic drop in subscribers recently. From 2-24-21 to 3-1-21 I have only had 7 new subscribers, when I averaged over 20 a day.

Am I doing something wrong? Are you not happy with something I am writing? Please let me know. The whole purpose of this site is to reach out to my fellow veterans and give them hope.

Please make comments in the comment area below.

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I am going to share some more excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. with you today. They are from different parts of my military career.

In Basic Training, back in my day, we still had draftees. we had two in my platoon. They were not happy campers. The rest of us who enlisted finally told them to shut up and serve.

One of the draftees wouldn’t stop. He was a Native American. He was a good sized drink of water. Looked kind of like a linebacker.

The drill sergeant finally had enough of his whining and told him to straighten up and serve his country proudly. The Native American told him where to go.

The drill sergeant then told him to come into his room at the end of the barracks. It was pretty quiet for a while, and then all hell broke loose from that room. You could hear crashing of things, grunts of pain; cursing, and screaming.

Then it got very quiet again. We all figured that our drill sergeant had been beaten up, because he was 5’9′ and couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds. The Native American was 6 foot tall and around 200 pounds.

The door slowly came open and out staggered our drill sergeant. He looked like he had hit by a truck, but he was still standing. We all rushed to look in his room and there was the Native American out cold on the floor.

We had nothing but respect for our drill sergeant after that. Even the native american respected him.

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While I was deployed to South Korea, they gave us a thing called R&R. (Rest and recuperation.)

It was a week of going to Tokyo, Japan. All paid with free room and board. My very first vacation.

A buddy and I got there and settled down. The next day we went touring the area. We saw Japanese flower gardens. Pagodas, and lots of shopping areas. We were awestruck. Nothing like this back in the states!

Later in the week, we decided to venture into a bar that could be considered a disco bar later on in the states. We sat down and had a couple of beers.

Then an announcer who spoke English came on and announced that there was a belly dancer coming out to dance for us.

He went on to say that they were having a contest. The contest was to see who could hold onto the belly dancer’s hips the longest while she shimmied.

The dancer came out. She was beautiful and a caucasian girl. She started dancing around the circle of tables. At each table she would stop and invite a soldier to try to hold on to her. There were many who tried, but none that could hold on very long.

Then she came to my table. I had way too much the drink by that time and accepted the challenge. I put my hands on her hips and she began to shimmy. I kept a hold of her until she had to stop to rest.

I had won the contest. Then the announcer said what the prize was. YOU GET FREE DRINKS FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING!

Just what I didn’t need!! I also looked at my hands and they were full of blisters. The pain was setting in. What did I do about it? Had several more beers. I do not recall the rest of the evening. My buddy must have gotten me back to our hotel.

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More excerpts coming in my next post.

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How are things going for you.

Was your basic training interesting, or a nightmare?

Did you have time off when you were deployed, or did you sleep in a trench?

Some good things and some very bad things right?

Fear not!

There are ver 11,580 fellow veterans here who have your back.

BUT! If you can not cope with our world today, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never, ever, take on this world alone.

1-800-272-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.

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Finding Out That You are being Deployed to a War Zone, Can be Overwhelming

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Tons of news this weekend. Enjoy!

Biden gets his first Middle East airstrikes out of the way.

Got a lot of backlash for doing this.

Air Force contractor steals 2,500 pages of secret documents.

REALLY???

The Air Force is using virtual reality to fight its suicide epidemic.

There are 22 veterans who take their own lives every day!!!

How letters from home carried this Medal of Honor recipient through his deployments.

I think this is extremely important. I remember how few letters I got, and how it hurt.

52 years ago, this airman threw himself on a burning flare to save his crew.

Such devotion to his fellow warriors.

Air Force considers allowing airmen to attend funerals without charging leave.

Good move.

Rural Veterans Not Receiving Vaccine is a Concern.

Marines are getting their hands on a brand new rifle optic.

The Pentagon delayed promoting female generals over fears of Trump’s reaction.

Bad move

Female airmen at Kirtland Air Force Base finally get body armor that fits.

Got to keep those ladies happy.

The US is deploying nearly 5,000 active-duty troops to vaccinate America for COVID-19.

So proud of them.

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This is another excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the Trenches of Life.

After I came back to the states from South Korea, I only had a few months left in the military. I was stationed at FT. Bragg, NC. I kept marking my calendar daily for the countdown.

With just one month left, we all had a rude awakening. We were all ordered out to formation. A Colonel came out to talk to us. he said, “This is not a drill. We are being sent to the Bay of Pigs for military action.”

There was shocked looks on many of the soldiers eyes.

He went on to say, “You have one half hour to pack your gear and report back here to be deported to the airport.”

I only had 30 days left and this is happening to me?

I ran home and packed. Got back to the formation, and we were driven to the airport in buses. It was incredibly quiet on the bus. The men were too stunned to talk.

We got to the airport and they loaded us on the plane. Once we were all in, the engine started up and began to taxi.

The plane got to the take off area, and revved up its engines. It was taking off. I was petrified! I was a 20 year old kid and heading to war.

Suddenly the plane stopped, and the pilot said, “We just now got a message that President Kennedy has aborted the maneuver. We are heading back to the terminal.”

There was an eruption inside the plane as the guys all started screaming and crying in happiness.

I was that close to go to war, and I am so glad it all worked out.

(Actual excerpt from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: IN an Out of the trenches of Life.)

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Were you deployed and put in harm’s way? Do you still have problems from doing that?

Be strong, because there are over 11, 570 fellow veterans here who have you back. Many were deployed just like you.

However, if the burdens are too heavy, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

They have highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never take on this, not so friendly, world alone!

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.

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Losing a Buddy in the Military is hard, at best, to Accept

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A day late again. Sorry about that. I am still struggling with pain after my surgery. I see the doctor tomorrow.

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I see some interesting things developing in our country. This weekend Donald Trump will be speaking at a huge gathering. This is his first public speech since he left office. Should be extremely insightive.

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Today I am going to share an excerpt of my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

I am leaping ahead here to my time deployed to South Korea. I have many stories about there in my book.

One of the pluses of joining the military was that I was able to sign up under the buddy plan. There were two other guys I enlisted with. We all went to high school together.

We had basic training together. We had Signal Corp training, and we were sent to Korea together. When we got there we were scattered to three different locations. Our training was needed at several spots.

Did I face the loss of a friend while deployed? Yes I did. One of the other friends never made it back to the states alive. He contracted some ugly virus, and died in Korea.

I took it very hard, but not to the point of PTSD. Back then they never heard of PTSD. They labeled mental stress as “Shell Shock.”

I did lose another buddy while in Korea. He got extremely drunk one night. As he came back to Camp Red Cloud from the village, he was wavering and struggling to stay on his feet. He accidently feel into a “Honey Bucket,” and suffocated. (A honey bucket in Korea is the name of a waste ditch that human waste is dropped into to fertilize their crops.)

It was a horrible death. I that was also very hard on me.

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I will be sharing excerpts from, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life, from time to time, to let you get the feel of the book.

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Checking in on you now my friend. Did you lose a buddy in the military? Was it extremely hard to accept it. Did it cause you to have PTSD?

You are not alone!! There are over 11,570 fellow veterans here on this site, that have you back.

Many have been where you have been.

If there is no way you are able to handle things right now, GET HELP!!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

DO NOT take in this not so friendly world alone.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

__________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all….never, ever, give up!

___________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know about it.