rck

I was watching a bit of football on TV last night and during an a media break noticed a clip from the police action in RVN. As I was there, this sort of thing usually catches my eye so I kept watching. It ended up being an ad for retirement products. At this point I'm thinking that this is a bit odd as it wasn't that long ago albeit the guy in the ad certainly looked to be of retirement age. Then it occured to me that not only am I retired but that on 01/11 I will have been out of the army for 40 years!

DnvrFox

And I have been out of the USAF almost 47 years. I don't now how they have managed without me!!

ka0use

no disrespect intended, but i don't think those who died there, or left a piece of their bodies/minds there, would consider it a 'police action'. same goes for korea.

was out 36 years last october, wondering where the time went, and thinking how young today's troops look. woof.

stapfam

I visit a lot of customers and in my trade of Motor parts supply-The people I deal with have a certain amount of Maturity about them. You don't get many teenagers that know much about a 44ton truck and even less that want to. But I have been seeing these same people for 30 odd years. I reckon it is about time they were put out to grass so I can have an easier time--Old people get cranky.

And my forces action was somewhere that even the British know very little about-- I was sent to Malaya for a policing action and not long after was invalided out with damaged knees. I was lucky as the rest of my mates were sent to Aden and 7 out of 9 did not survive their first tour.

jtaylor2

They managed because I went in when you got out......not sure what they did four years later though.

Artkansas 

And somehow I was in protest marches back then and I'm still in protest marches. The retirement plan for protesting is lousy so I guess I won't be able to stop soon.

JanMM

And no benefits for those of us who were conscientious objectors and performed two years of alternative service during 'Nam. Not complaining - working as a hospital orderly helped direct me toward a nursing career.

12bar

I retired the first of the year and got out of the army 38 years ago, the funny thing is I still don't feel "old"

rnorris

Too young to have served or avoided serving in the Vietnam War, but old enough to remember hiding under our school desks and the Cuban Missile crisis, Eisenhower, JFK, and more. It's starting to feel weird to think that I was alive back then (and riding a bicycle)

volosong

What I still find difficult to accept was when my really "cool", efficient, warship I was assigned to was decommissioned ... and eventually scrapped/dismantled. "What the ...", I thought. That was a really good ship. It was almost brand-new when I was part of the crew. Some country could have used it. It's only been 39 years since I got out, (I think), ... and I don't feel "old" either. Must be something about this cycling thing.

Kingofbeers

I don't feel old either. The last 43 years have gone by in a blink - wonderful wife and many thousands of miles on my bikes have something to do with that. When I watch the guy in the ad walking patrol, I can almost feel the mud pulling on my boots. Returning in Dec '68 after 14 months with the Big Red One seems like yesterday, as do the memories. I still call it the Vietnam War, though. I'm used to people wincing at that.

Artkansas 

I can't forget the cuban missile crisis. I lived in just south of Tampa Bay and there was a 3 day long convoy rolling between my home and my school.

They never made us hide under our desks. That was pure propaganda. They knew that if the bombs flew, that we were toast. Where we lived was ground zero for an atomic free for all. Why worry us?

doctor j

Old is fine. Given that this thread involves militaria as well as cycling, consider the 1911 (maybe even older than Denver Fox), the 30.06, and the B-52. All are old, designed without the help of a computer () and still going strong.

DnvrFox

And I was designed without the use of a computer, and I am still goimg strong!!

B. Carfree

It seems to depend on what you were able to make of it. C.O. also worked out pretty well for my uncle. He was sent to Nome, Alaska for his conscientious objector service. While there, he got his pilot's license, which led to some spending money and a career, and met his wife. Of course, if he would have had it his way, he would have just stayed in college until the fighting was over. People like him were the reason most colleges forced students to take a degree after they had earned a certain number of units. Nowadays, the cost will force students to take their degrees.

rck

No offense taken. The police action comment was just a reflection of cynisism on my part. Although if I remember correctly an "undeclared" war is, according to the strict letter of the law, not a war at all and as in Korea, the war in RVN was never declared.

Thinking about some of the comments re: hiding under desks, JFK, etc which I clearly remember as well, it all seems a bit surreal. Think I'll go out for a bike ride a much more immediate reality.

DnvrFox

Think of the Vietnam war as an extension of the Gulf of Tonkin incident (which, it appears now, to have never happened).

leob1

I missed the draft by about 18 months, my number was 65. I have always felt that I missed something because I wasn't drafted. At the same time I have always been very thankful...