We All Have bad Moments in Serving. We Do Not Need to Face Them Alone

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A short bit of news sn then a story or two from my service time.

It’s time the US military finally bans troops from joining extremist groups.

The Air Force may change its height standard to hire more enlisted aviators.
The Air Force may soon change its outdated height requirements to hire more career enlisted aviators, particularly women.
Marine Corps releases pregnant Marine physical training handbook.

DARPA is developing an air-launched drone missile that fires air-to-air missiles.

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I have hundreds of stories from my days in the military. What follows is just one of them that will be in my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life.

While in basic training I was doing my firing range testing. This 18 year old kid have never held a rifle before. The loud noise of all those rifles going off were deafening.

It was my turn to shoot. The instructor showed me how to get down on the ground and wrap my arm around the sling. He then spread my feet behind me, and said, “Open fire!”

I started shooting, and the targets were falling down. I didn’t miss one of them. The instructor was amazed and said, “Didn’t you tell me you had never held a rifle before?”

“Yes sir,”I said.

He had me step back to let the next group of men to fire. This went on for a while, and finally everyone had had a chance to shoot.

The Head sergeant then read of the names of those who was able to shot in the second round, and he had the rest go to another range. I was one of those who stayed. I couldn’t believe it. I was able to be in the second round of shooting?

They moved the targets back another 50 yards, and we commenced to shot again. I hit every target. I was getting used to my rifle. At the end of the second round, they called out the group for the third round. I was chosen again!!

The third round was much harder, they put the target at 100 yards.

My instructor then told me about “kentucky windage.” That is where you aim a little high to allow the wind to bring down your bullet.

I missed one target there, but I had enough to make it to the final round.

The final round was 150 yards. That is one and a half football fields.

Again my instructor showed me how to allow for a little more windage. there were on six of us shooting now.

I only missed two shots the whole round. They gathered us together to let us know how the last group did.

They named one guy that won the whole thing. He had only missed one the whole day.

To my shock they named me second. I had only missed three all day.

They told me I was an expert shooter, and this was from a kid that had never held a rifle before.

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Time to check in….

How are you doing? Do you remember your basic training days. Was it a good experience?

Did you get some troubled times during basic? How about the rest of your time in the service? Not so good?

Not to worry my friend. There are over 11,500 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If you are overwhelmed with nightmares and painful memories, GET HELP!!

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

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

Do not try to take on this 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

I Need More Veteran Friends

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful.  We just past 3,630 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in 2016. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Help us to make it to 4,000.  Could you be the one that puts us over the top? Just need 370 by the end of December.Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

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Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It will be reaching out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides every day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics.  

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If you follow Twitter, join me by following @heavenencounter. Many veterans are starting to follow and we hope to have many more to share thoughts and ideas with. You can also connect with me on Facebook by putting my name in the search area. A third place to connect is: 

 

www.rallypoint.com/join/spc-douglas-bolton

It is a new social network just for veterans. 

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I have been away for a little while due to some ailments. I am back and should be posting regularly again.

I have grown a ton of new military followers on Twitter and a new social network I joined a year ago called RallyPoint. It is a rare social networking that it is only military people that join it. If you want to join just us my link to check it out.

 

www.rallypoint.com/join/spc-douglas-bolton

 

It has men and women from all branches of the military, all MOS, all ranks, and all ages.

I have connected with 2,400 veterans in a very short time, and have become close friends with many of them. If you are a veteran, I highly recommend this new social network just for veterans.

If you are feeling forgotten, and alone, as a veteran, please stay strong. I am here to support you. Please make a comment at the end of this post, so I can share thoughts with you. You are a valuable person of self worth. Don’t let the dark side sway you into thinking you are useless.

Always Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

Veterans Deserve Benefits From Injuries on Duty

Thanks to all of you who have been joining us here. The response has been wonderful.  We just past 3,500 new subscribers. That is a huge increase in 2016. We only had 1,000 a year ago. Help us to make it to 4,000.  Could you be the one that puts us over the top? Our goal for the end of this year is 5,000.

Help us continue to grow by subscribing today if you haven’t already. Just click on the icon right after the title of this post to do that.

____________________________________________________________

Doug Bolton, the founder of the blog, Signs of Hope, which is at www.dailysignsofhope.com, has written a new book, “Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.” It will be reaching out the many military and veterans who may be battling anxiety, fear, depression, addictions, rejections, and the many other usual suspects. There are 22 military connected suicides every day. That is almost one every hour. Doug wants to help stop those statistics.  

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If you follow Twitter, join me by following @heavenencounter. Many veterans are starting to follow and we hope to have many more to share thoughts and ideas with.

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It has been quite a summer for me so far. I spent six days in the hospital; two months in incredible pain, and now daily trips to and infusion center to have antibiotic pumped into me.

What this is all about is that I have an infection on my spine. It was hard to move, breath, and even walk when the infection was at its highest moments.

I am doing better now. The pain has subsided. I can walk better now. I can take longer walks each day.

I am a veteran, and I wondered what I would be going through right now if I didn’t have insurance and could only use the military doctors and hospitals.

I am not a person who wants disability, to just to draw money from the government, but I was told be a high ranking retired military person, that if I have had a disability from the military then I deserve what ever compensation I have coming for serving my country.

The following aliment is not related to my current infection, but is for an example of how you can receive what you deserve for harm you acquired while you were actually serving your country.

I went into the military in 1959. I did the proper training and was selected to be in the ASA. (Army Security Agency.) My duties when I was deployed to Korea, was to monitor all transactions over the airways  searching for breaches of security.

My daily run was up to Hill 468. A high mound with a flatten area at the top. The only equipment that was up there was a radio/teletype machine, that you had to listen to every second of your shift. Many times I had twelve hour shifts.

Even when the frequency shifted and you had to dial it back in you had to have the ear phones on. The noise was horrible quite often.

The results of this left my ears ringing and hearing loss came along as well.

I got out of the service and managed to live with my handicap of hearing loss until about thirty years ago, when the loss had become profound. That is when I was told I should apply for compensation since the loss occurred during time served.

I did apply, but the military quickly denied my plea because of the length of time I waited to apply. They felt it was a age related loss.

I have appealed the findings and I will have to share with you later what the outcome will be.

I am sorry if I strung you along with this story, but I am reaching out to all of those veterans who deserve compensation of one kind or another and have let it pass. I am wanting this blog to be a go to place to find out how you get receive what you earned.

Each post from now on will have updates as to how my appeal is going, and how I am doing on a second appeal for a back injury I received when I was thrown for a jeep.

Stay strong my fellow veterans. Be proud of your service. You did your share to protect our country and no one can take that away from you!

+Be sure to subscribe to this blog by clicking on the icon right after the title to make sure you will get updated information on disability benefits, and discussions of other military related topics.

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!