SwiftVets.com

[one more captins mast]

How about vietnam vets give examples where it was more than


a band/aid wound and all that was done was the medic and back

to the fire fight. Never a request for a medal nor any boo.hoo

boo.hoo, just back to work.
_________________
the strange mr aj

[Sgt-Keeper]

I dove into a paddy hole without my helmet on and found a rock with my head. Took 17 stitches to close that gash. I was med-evacacted by jeep to an aid station. Spent the night there, I remember the exact day and date. It was the day before Thanksgiving, 1965. I bought 6 cases of beer, warm Falstaff (it was all we had) gave 2 to a Huey jockey to fly me back to my unit. He flew me back but it was the following day, Thanksgiving, late afternoon, and the damage was already done. Some good hearted soul had sent Thanksgiving dinner to the men in the field. But, something had spoiled & no one noticed. Marines will eat anything. (no further comments necessary) The entire company had the screaming trots for the next day or two. Nope, no PH that time. Got mine later. This wound (gash) was "seared into my brain". JFK, I feel your pain! Wuss!
_________________
Fix the problem, not the blame.
USMC E5 Nam vet 65-66

[You GottaBeKidding]

Sgt-Keeper,

I guess your experience debunks what someone else posted on this board about PHs being given automatically for any medical treatment under the "right" circumstances.

[Grampa]

[Sgt-Keeper]

The two operative prerequisites are..."medical treatment", and "as a result of enemy action". We received many forms of cuts, bruses, scratches and other forms of body piercings (John stabbed his hand with his k-bar one time) but no PHs were awarded. We were under fire many times, mostly by the enemy, sometimes by our own, and no PHs. The two had to be combined. I only lost one man to a minor wound, booby trap, shrapnel in the butt. He came back when he turned 18. The rest are on the wall, and JFngK doesn't deserve to be within a mile of that monument to the brave men and women we served with.
_________________
Fix the problem, not the blame.
USMC E5 Nam vet 65-66

[Navy_Navy_Navy]

[Indianbaboon]

what's so frustrating is I have a good friend with only one butt cheek and half a foot (FAC) who still supports Kerry...he was out there for 4 years, even after both injuries

[ASPB]

[Indianbaboon]

he knows everything

he just says "well at least Kerry went to war and will support our troops"

when i coutner with kerry's recent votes against things like body armor and what not, he just says "damn you backed me into a corner..but i'm still voting kerry"

[Bob Chamberlain]

I was leg infantry. Out in the field, if the medic could handle it, he did. No PH, and I never heard anyone complain. If you got medevac'd, the PH was pretty much automatic. The only question I ever remember being asked was, "is this line of duty?", which I found a bit humorous. "Right, DH. I did this to myself while I was off duty." Like we were ever "off duty" out in the field. But we had a lot of REMF's back in the base camps who got the PH for things like banging their heads on a low door when "taking cover" from a rocket that went in a mile or two away. So, while Kerry was worse than most, he isn't the only guy to come out of Vietnam with a medal he really didn't earn. I guess the difference is whether you were trying to collect medals or whther you just didn't try to stop one.

[air_vet]

[Bob Chamberlain]

Very true. It was Kerry's film and his big hero act that got me motivated to do something like joining this forum. Maybe he can wangle himself another Purple Heart - for shootng himself in the foot.

[Indianbaboon]

Bob, if Kerry gets a PH for that, it would mean that he actually got one for what real men would consider an injury

bulletwound is several orders of magnitude greater than anything he ever got