Doge

So anybody continued a personal sport (cycling, running, non-school sponsored) in the service academies?

gorn1120

I haven't dug through the forms very thoroughly, but it's nice to see a Military-oriented thread! I won't be deploying anytime soon but I will gladly pitch in to support those who are.

5/20 yrs.

gorn1120

A lot of services have a single team for most major sports. I considered training to apply for the Navy Marathon Team.

Doge

We looked up a few of the AF Academy grads on the Military cycling team and my son raced [against] them a few times this summer. He got some good encouragement and advice post race.

motosonic

I'm a Marine Veteran and a road cyclist. I do a lot of rides with Ride2Recovery (now Project Hero) and many charity rides out here on the East Coast. I take every chance I can to help out my brothers, wounded or not.

aplcr0331

We've had some Academy guys on USMES. One, now a pilot, is still active on our elite team. It's possible.

We have active duty folks, vets and wounded warriors on the team.

cadillacmike68

This is a good thread.

After 5 trips to funland, I was done, got retired in Jan 2014. Max years of service. My last trip, they actually had bikes for free issue. What a POS, but at least I got to ride around the sandbox instead of just walking or driving. Man I missed my Pro Mk V almost as much as I missed my Cadillacs.

qcpmsame 

Fair winds and following seas Mike, hope that retirement is good to you. Thanks for your protection of our freedoms and the sacrifices made by you and your family.

Bill

Doge

Picking out those who serve at a National Anthem is pretty easy (they were told not to remove helmets).
I know its nothing like what you guys experienced on the ground, nor do I want it to be. Anyway proud military dad video from last weekend. Parade and hill climb championship rocking the AF socks (not collegiate, so not in usafa kit).

SethAZ 

I deployed in 2014 to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and I actually mailed my road bike down there. I got in something like a dozen or 15 rides in while I was there. I never rode in any of the sensitive areas, but it's a naval base that's been there since 1903 or so, and I rode all over that. There's a hill there with 200-300 feet of climb that doesn't sound like much, but at its steepest point my Garmin reported a 23% grade. I only rode that once, because with the cassette I had on there (I think it was my 13-25) and the 34t chainring it was absolutely brutal and just about killed my knees.

There was one abandoned camp called Camp X-Ray that I rode past quite a few times. It's where they kept detainees for several months back in like 2002. It's at the end of a long road, and that was essentially the turn-around point.

I wish I'd ridden more there. I mailed my bike back at the end of the deployment in 2015. I unpacked it and never touched it again until this past August, when I made it rideable and started cycling again. I believe I still hold one or two KOMs on Guantanamo, and there are a couple I should have been able to take but didn't.

qcpmsame 

@SethAZ, home from Gitmo huh?, Welcome back to the world, belatedly, and to cycling as well. Not as bad as a tour on Diego Garcia I hear, they do say that DG is where, "The Men are Men, and the sheep are scared."

Bill

SethAZ 

GTMO is a wierd deployment, because it's not a combat deployment, but it's serious as a heart attack, and stressfull as can be, especially with the eyes of the world watching our every move down there. And you can't leave the base, which isn't actually that big. I had opportunities that one wouldn't have on a deployment to a combat zone - for example, we could drink (with crushing penalties for any alcohol-related incident), and I was able to become scuba certified and got in quite a few dives (mostly on weekends, but did some night dives during the week and caught some lobsters with my hands). So it was very stressful during the week, then on weekends I was doing some cool stuff I've never done before, and so stress levels were this constant up/down sawtooth pattern for nine months, and then suddenly I came home and all of it, both the stress as well as the anti-stress of doing cool things like scuba diving, were suddenly gone. I kind of fell into a funk for some time, and just didn't touch my bike at all for two years. Only started riding again this August. Wished I'd picked back up my cycling as soon as I got home, and maybe it would have made the transition back go a little easier. I didn't though, so now I'm working hard to make up for lost time.

Thanks for being a Marine!

Hellgate

Great thread. I served 20 years and one day in the Army Reserves, then Army Guard. Storm, two trips to Iraq, and five hurricane missions. Loved pretty much every minute of it. Going on eight years retired. I shipped my GT Zaskar to Liberty and road around Z Lake in 06-07. Only go bracketed once!

aplcr0331

Thanks for your service!






I've mentioned this group a couple of time, I'm a member. They have a cycling club, triathlon, endurance and adaptive cycling clubs. We get incredible discounts on everything from Pearl Izumi clothing to a new bike deal not quite formally announced, Shimano and Knight Wheels. Discounts on clothes, nutrition, you name it.


Have a look, usmes.org


Right now they are having their annual training camp in Tucson, I went last year and it was amazing. We get race reimbursement and even reimbursement on larger fondo rides as well.

motosonic

I love that this thread is finally coming to life.

To all of my service brothers and sisters, check out project Hero www.projecthero.org

It's a non profit organization that helps disabled vets like myself recover through cycling and it's changed my life. It's really worth a look if you are interested in cycling. Or if you know a disabled vet that needs help.

edball

If you have a local Blue Star Mothers organization in your state, they will assist with care packages if need be. (At least they do in Ohio).
Contacting the State Department of Veterans Affairs/Sevices may get you a point of contact as well.

EdBall

SethAZ 

Just got back again, this time Afghanistan. Sadly this thread sees so little use that my reply about my previous deployment four years ago is actually on the same page. Oh well. Been back a week, pulled the Lynskey out and rode it a couple times already. Feels good to be back in the saddle again.

motosonic

Welcome back, brother.

LAJ

Welcome back, @SethAZ.

I'm sorry this thread has slowed down, but this is a good day to acknowledge all of your commitment.

Thank you

tagaproject6

Whatever happened to the OP???

BigJonny

Hey all,

This thread has to stay alive. . . we owe it to our platoon team member that made the ultimate sacrifice.

I was assigned to the MACV-SOG unit in1969, straight out of college (I was in the ROTC) and after training at the 75th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia and Fort Sherman, Panama. Eleven months later I was mustered out after suffering shrapnel fragment wounds when one of the explosive charges I set was hit by a charlie bullet before I could get clear. I lost many a good men while in the triangle, near Doc To Province.

I was lucky that I was able to make a normal life and pursue my career, for my family and me; others that came back never did or could.

So guys, let's keep this post going. . . we owe our guys that much.

BTW, here is my latest restoration. . . a 1984 Motobécane Mirage Sport.

j.

Paul Heckmann

Thanks to all of your for your service. Greatly appreciated.

My brother John, KIA Paksong, Laos, Dec 1972. US Army Ranger and Special Forces, HALO, Jungle Warfare, Para-Military Branch, Joint Laison Detachment 4802 Laos, Commando/Raider Officer Royal Laotion forces and Thai irregulars.

RIP Brother

RiceAWay

I'm VFW from Vietnam and quite frankly I don't think that there was anything that I either wanted or had room for. I don't even know if they have access to social media these days but they didn't then because I was out of Military maybe 3 years before I helped build the Pacific Coast Hub of the Internet.

RiceAWay

When my tour at the war was over they flew me and another Air Force, a 2nd Lt., to Okinawa to catch a commercial flight back to the states. There was only room for the two of us because the rest of the plane was filled to overflowing with Army and man were they glad to be on the way home. We landed at LAX and in those days it was like a bus station and you could go anywhere. So we were told by an Army officer that there were protestors at the airport and to ignore them. We exited the aircraft and turned right to head for baggage to get our duffle bags. I had an overnight bag and I held it in my left hand in between us and the protestors who were pushing in closer and closer and screaming names at us. "Baby Killers" was prominent since I have later learned that was because of John McCain who as a POW signed a statement to that effect. And Nancy Sinatra made it public all over the world.

We were walking along in a group trying to ignore all of this when some punk leaned over and spit on my dress blues. I was sort of shocked for a second and looked at that loogy on the uniform of my country and they hit him with a right hook. Pretty obvious that it broke his jaw and he went down like a sack of flour and didn't move. Down the way a little, two cops came running over plainly to grab me. They skidded to a halt and looked around. I was surrounded by a bunch of Army that had just spent 9 months in combat and they were pissed as hell. The cops looked at them and me and walked over and picked up that pile of garbage and took him off. The entire crowd had turned dead silent. I guess they thought that their freedom of speech gave them the ability to do anything they liked to anyone else. We turned and continued walking down to baggage claim only now I was completely surrounded by Army. The one to my right said, "You flyboys are alright". That was worth more to me than a medal.

It was an ugly, hopeless and useless war and we had no business being there. But a soldier does what he is ordered and without regret.

My father-in-law was a gunners mate on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. He was sacked out when the All Hands was sounded. By the time he got to the deck the Arizona had been hit and was already listing and about to capsize. Joe Smith was his name. He scrambled up the deck and managed to jump to a destroyer that was next to his. The Arizona was going to take that one over as well so he jumped from ship to ship until he got to one with an open gun emplacement and with a lot of shouting he got that gun in action and while it didn't do much good there were a lot of Zeros that returned with bullet holes in them. After the war he returned to his home, wife and kids in Oregon. He became a Baptist Minister and started working his way south and started 27 churches every one of which is still going. You might say he saw the light.

Paul Heckmann

It was a really bad time. I always wondered what would have happened if the President of South Vietnam hadnt been assassinated. McNamara's plan to withdraw our troops might have been implemented. Then JFK was assassinated and that was that. Without control of Laos, Vietnam was truly indefensible