Just met a Vet I haven't seen in 25 years...

I am amazed, here I am in NE, and I run into a Vet I haven't seen in 25 years.

We were in one of the local stores, and were in the same checkout line. It took a minute, but we finally realized we were known to each other.

While waiting to check out, we started an anti-bush tirade, and EVERYBODY else in the line agreed! We're talking some 9-10 people.

Anyway.....long story short, we checked out and spent 20 min's or so talking, we had a small crowd around us asking ?'s. When I stated that bush was in the process of cutting VA benefits, people got PISSED; it was like they hadn't heard.

In any case...great to see a fellow vet; and get the added bonus of a few new bush haters.

:hi: :bounce:

When we went to protest the war my dad ran in to a friend of his that he hadnt seen in a while. Was this guy in like your company or something or did you meet him after the war?

when I was a SSG. It was like a welcome home party. He was in my Plt, an M-60 gunner, damn good too!

Just glad to see some of us still out there, and fighting the good fight...but in Nebraska? He was originally from GA.

Interesting stuff. Nice seeing old friends I bet. Thanks and a friendly hello :hi:

... look at them all and say, "awright, all of you Bush-haters, if you don't vote, if your friends don't vote, get yer asses out and register to vote, and show up on election day and vote the bastard out of office. Get everyone you know registered, and vote the bastard out."

That's the only way to end this creep's tenure.

Cheers.

I'm with you 100%!

BTW...I hold the record for being thrown out of a "Town Meeting" when Doug Bereuter was here: I called him "a lying SOB and a thief". He doesn't like me that's for sure, but I go back every time he's in town.

I'm really glad you were able to get in the bit about bush cutting vet benefits. And to get that many people disgusted with bush in Nebraska is no small feat!

Here's an equally strange story about vets meeting up with each other. My dad got a call from someone he had been in the service with. He arranged to visit with my dad in person a few weeks later. During that visit, the guest said, "There's one guy from our unit I wanted to get ahold of but was never able to find his address." My dad asked who it was and as it turns out, the guy whose address he could not find was just down the street. My dad took him down there and he had one more reunion, albeit an unexpected one!


Cher

that happens quite a bit. It is such a great thing when vets get together after years!

:hi:

It kind of makes you wonder about the fate thing and all. What are the odds?

straight out of the blue sky! Just like it was supposed to happen all along!

:bounce:

It is amazing...just travel around the country and listen to your radio. Once you leave the DC-MD-VA area, there just simply is little news anywhere. All you can get is bad music and Rush and the rest of the Clear Channel idiots. I'm looking into XMSR just to be able to listen to national and international news when on the road.

I live in New Jersey but I can get DC-metro stations at time.

that such stories are passed over as 'gloss'. Here we are at war, and this pinhead wants to cut VA benefits!

75% of our military strength is in Iraq, that 'easy' invasion. Now they are talking decades, after selling this sludge as days before 'democracy' took hold. No water, no power; no wonder these people are pissed.

Troops pay
cut

Veterans Benifits
cut

By: Bush

I'll have mine out tomorrow AM!

if they call you unpatriotic just show em those. You've told me about the medals youve got and have been humble about it :), you thanked your squad mates or who ever.

flash that I created called ARMY OF ONE : http://www.takebackthemedia.com/onearmy.html

We're going to go National in the near future on tv with this, we're taking donations to do it..

I'm a Veteran too so Bush is esp pissing me off - I NEED the VA so I'm taking it personal, but also, cutting COMBAT PAY WHILE they are in the field is way too much..

it's the families that suffer too..

was going to bring back the military. Yeah, just like Reagan, "I have an idea, let's re-commission USS Missouri"!

Bullets and beans...keep your troops paid, take care of those left at home and the widows and orphans of these conflicts.

I refused VA benefits because there are those that need them more. It should take 6 minutes to see a Health Care Pro in the VA, not 6 MONTHS.

That scoundrel bush has a hangnail, and the Naval Hospital comes to HIM!.

Sorry didn't mean to rant, but everytime I go to the Vet's home here in Norfolk, I leave with a sense of honor, duty, and a tear in my eye for those that gave so much so that we may live better lives.

They all despise Bush and everything he stands for. Not just the attacks on vets, but that sure didn't put them in a good modd, I'll tell you.

When I talk to these guys privately, only ONE believes that bush is a good president. And he was a cook in 'Nam, (no offense to cooks). There were times when his coffeee did more damage than airstrikes.

Always love your outlook Ras because you are a Vet. Ive enjoyed talking to you about the second world war. You told me that the guys on the frontline are the ones who came back against war and those who werent are more likely hawks, my grandfather Ive told you is a Korean vet and hates Bush with a venegance. Also I think my great uncle would do he was a WWII vet, and this isnt important but maybe it may interest you Ras, my uncle was originally in the 82nd airborne as a glider infantryman he became a truck driver though, still the 82nd thats cool.

in the military.That is not to say that there were, or are, units that are exemplary, but the 82nd did it all. Many of them went into the Bulge in WWII with no ammo, no weapons and clothes that were in tatters. They fought some of the best the Germans had, and didn't give up an inch.

One of my old units, (and I'll admit, when I was in it I couldn't stand it), was the 2Bn 2Inf. The 2/2 was the oldest unit that was still in commission. It was commissisoned in 1775, and finally flurled it's colors in 1985, I believe. It had faought in EVERY major engagement this country has been involved in. It won more than it lost, and the Battle Streamers made the Bn Colors weigh in at about 40#'s. I didn't like the unit at the time, but I shed a tear when I heard the colors had been retired. That unit had seen everything from Breeds Hill at the opening of the Revolution, to Viet Nam.

Funny how things come back...Ah, to be young and immortal once again.

May Peace break out across the world...it would be such a wonderful life.

I think my uncle was transfered by then but he was a truck driver. My uncle Bill who was a chaplain was at the bulge. I know a little about the 82nd, commanded by Ridgway on D-Day, and led by the young James Gavin in Market Garden, their mission was to take the bridge at Nimijgen.

nt

good story man.

jus wanted you to know I spent time in Omaha, 59/60

Those were good years at the Steak Houses.

Come, we scuba for lobsters

Someday I will make it out there again, we will enjoy the sun and I will finally get to meet one of the legends of DU!

I go through there occaisionally for the business I work for. I'm in Norfolk. PM me, maybe we can get together sometime!
:hi:

Bush is using and abusing the military.

finish his own service! AWOL/Deserter, makes no difference to me, he's punk.

For me the main point is that even in Nebraska you found a strong undercurrent of dislike of W. Why am I not surprised?

I know that everywhere I've gone since Sept 11, 2001, it's very easy to strike up casual conversation with total strangers and discover Bush is almost universally despised. Yeah, I see the "Support the Troops" bumper stickers also, but I think they mean "Support the troops, bring them home" much of the time.

I live in Kansas, and Hillary's booksigning was sold out (1200 tickets) the first day the book went on sale. When Susan MacDougal came for a booksigning, she got a standing ovation. Okay, so the peopole who go to the booksignings are already converted, but it still says a lot.

is reaching critical mass.

One of the great things about NE is the way the farmers meet up in little cafe's and discuss the prices of corn, soy, milk etc; eventually politics creeps in. Lately, politics is the MAIN talking point, and NO ONE thinks bush is worth a dog dropping. There is a kid that came home in a coffin just last week, people from miles around, many who never knew him, myself included, were there to say our final farewells.

Over the years, I have heard Taps far too many times, and it never fails to move me to tears. A few hours after the internment, I went back, as is my custom, and said a fond farewell to an soldier I had never known. I straightened the little flag, fixed the flowers, saluted and drove home feeling that this young man was a brave soldier thrown into harms way by a deserter.

Start collecting names and email addresses. Interested people need a nudge to get out and vote and good lists are the best way to start.

if not the only Dem in town. People are always asking me my opinion, and generally i win them over, at least for a bit. Those damn GOP roots are deep in these parts. Just ell them the truth, plant seeds, and have a thick skin.

:D

I had been thinking of going to the store all day, but had a million excuses, mow the lawn, pull weeds, clean the bathroom, etc., (and of course surf DU and TV); but I had thi ssudden urge to go later taht night, it was almost a compulsion at that point. All I went for was a carton of smokes, not a great necessity; just had that feeling that 'I had to go'.

Sure did make a mundane day into a thing to remember though.

:hi:

For people like us, info about Bush cuttin vet benefits is common knowledge, but most people have no idea. I saw Bowling for Columbine recently with a bunch of friends, and NONE of them knew about how the CIA trained Bin Laden, which amazed me, and these were pretty bright friends of mine, just slightly politically apathetic. The truth needs to be brought out, and I hope whoever gets the Dem nomination does so.

National Security issues need to be kept under wraps; it never ceases to amaze me at the failures of some of the CIA backed schemes; not to mention those from loose cannons like Ollie North and Poindexter!

Cuba, Panama, Iran/Iraq, bin-Laden, Colombia, Haiti...the list goes on and on.

The GOP runs on fear, fear of everything; this week it is the water supply, next week, who knows, asteroids?

We have not been attacked since 9-11; even though these idiots in the WH have done nothing to prevent a future attack. Like everything else, they HOPE nothing will happen, but they are praying that something does.

With the help they've given our enemies in the past, something will turn up.