OT: The last Honor Flight from Ocala

Why is it the "last" Honor Flight?

Gunner

I'm offended that more people don't respect and honor the many men and women who served their country. Far to many seem to think it is OK to belittle the old man limping and bent, instead of taking the time to learn that he watched friends die and was wounded himself. Or the Veteran who couldn't handle all of the deaths he saw and now sets in a VA ward reliving those days every hour in his mind.

There are far too many of us who were there and saw that..and did that...who are still in our right minds (gibble snerk!) and carry wounds delivered by our opponents...who dont sit in wheel chairs reliving those years, months, weeks, days and hours and minutes and seconds...(gibbble snerk!) to worry too much about the poor guys who couldnt handle it. We do what we can for them, when we can...but our lives take precedence over theirs, quite frankly.

For the overwhelming majority of us and those other poor bastards who heard the sound of gunfire/grenades/mines/incoming/outgoing arty etc etc...we got on with our lives, raising our families, taking care of our responsibilities. Actually.,...while I respect and give great regards to those who mentally turned toes up...I give far far more respect and regards to those that bought the farm,....or some acreage and got on with either being dead...or back in the World.

On Memorial Day..and Veterans Day...when Im out and about at the various events and services..its for the boys who gave it all..and not for the ones who came home.

Thats just me. Shrug

Gunner

That's very kind of those folks, to honor the people who helped preserve our freedom. I like that, and I really should do more. . Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

. . "Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message news:BYSdnQl8y7tjdgPMnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com...

I just got home a little while ago from the last Honor Flight from Ocala. For those who aren't familiar with honor Flight, it is a grass roots program that provided a free flight to Washington D.C. for W.W.II Veterans. A chartered 737-800 took 55 veterans, and their caretakers to visit the War memorial, Arlington and other sites. The flight left at daybreak, and returned about 9:15 tonight. There were a couple hundred people waiting to greet them upon their return. Most were in wheelchairs, due to their advanced age. We had an honor guard, a band and fireworks. Chicago is the only city to have sent more Veterans to D.C. under this program. There are a little over 55,000 Veterans in Marion County, Florida. There will be some flights from 'The Villages' in the future, but tonight was the sixth and final flight from Ocala.

Monday at 10:00 AM we will have our annual Memorial Day program at out Veteran's Park. We lose a little over 200 Veterans every quarter. They are recognized by the reading of their name and branch of service while a drummer drums and a bell is rung after each name is read.

If this offends anyone? Tough luck.

I'm not a veteran, but count me as +1 to those sentiments, Gunner and Mikey. I know it's a trite saying, but Thank you for your service.

Last from Ocala. Six flights of 55 Veterans, each flight = 330 W.W. II Veterans who took the trip. They took everyone who signed up in Ocala. Some Veterans were too sick, or just not interested in a round trip from Ocala to D.C. and back in about 14 hours. It's more than some wanted to endure.

Flights will continue from another place, about 30-35 miles from Ocala, but still in Marion County.

The words of a true believer.. Larry's too dim to see that "gummer's words" were copy/pasted or otherwise plagiarised as his own.. just another one of his bottom-feeder parasite habits to attempt to reinforce his wannabe fantasies/delusional lies.

AFAIK, the reasons for the Veterans Administration to refuse treatment* to a veteran is if the vet was discharged with a Bad Conduct or Dishonorable Discharge.

If gummer served at all, records of service would exist. If his service was honorable, he could get treatment at any VA facility (provided that service was more than 180 days) and be eligible for various other benefits.

The DD form 214 is created at the time of induction into the military. The vet is issued the updated version of the form at discharge or release from active duty. It doesn't matter where a vet has served, the form is available from numerous government sources. There may be omissions, but they don't disappear record centers.

Fingerprinting is part of military service induction, so unless gummer was also using someone elses' fingerprints, any military service could be proven.

FWIW, I already know:

*VA medical center treatment doesn't include dental, unless dental problems were service connected, in most cases.

Ah! Gotcha.

Or the veteran is rated 100% disabled - any cause.

Richard fired this volley in news:5L-dnQnTn9XcawLMnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

That's not _necessarily_ true, unless he kept his own copies. One of the major records-storage facilities burned down, losing virtually all the paper data stored there.

'pends on when you served, too. I kept all my paper, and the VA could not 'find' my records until I submitted copies. Then they magically appeared in some federal storage unit.

The VA has treated me very well in all respects; they just aren't very efficient or effective at tracking info. They do give good, conscentious care.

LLoyd

That was on July 12th, 1973. Gunner could not have completed his second tour by then -- if he actually completed two tours, as he says.

Ed Huntress

Ed Huntress fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I don't know how old he is or when he served. I did one tour in RVN, got early-out (with reserve duty) of the service in '71, and my records were lost. But I kept copies of EVERYTHING they'd release to me, so I had enough to prove where I was stationed (which had an impact on what level of service I'd get from VA).

LLoyd

Gunner was born on Nov. 11, 1953. He was 17 when he enlisted, he says, under an assumed name that he picked up off of a "gravestone." That would have been late Spring or early Summer of 1971.

Then, he says, he served two tours in Vietnam. One assumes he went through basic training first, but, hey, we may not have heard that story yet. d8-)

Ed Huntress fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Refresh me. When did that last helicopter leave Saigon? Lloyd

There exists the possibility that some military records get destroyed or misplaced, but there are always some records somewhere that show an active duty person's presence.

Command and base HQs, and various other levels keep records.. so do recruiters, county seats, and numerous organizations.

What gummer can't find doesn't exist, or it's what he doesn't want to be found/known.

These mooks keep attempting to come to the rescue of gummer's exemplary reputation.. then they utter whiny complaints about how great this metalworking group was before the twisted political tirades overwhelmed the metalworking interest.

-- WB .........

LOL Gunner INSISTS that he has proof of his service, but hasn't any need for it.

"Id have to drive back to my Dads place in Michigan, and dig an old footlocker out of my piles of stuff to get the dd-214. Its not like I have a lot of use for it." (2005)

"Ayup. Id certainly need to get one. Gonna be in another name..but..shrug...doable. Assuming I wanted to open that can of worms again. So Ill just hang in there and let the Democrats pay my bills. Works for me!" (2009)

It's obvious that the locker with the invisible dd214 might as well be on the moon.

Years ago Gunner made excuses for not accepting offers of free legal help to straighten out the ah, confusion.

"It's also rather easy and straightforward to correct their service record afterward (see 10USC1551), especially so that the veteran can receive benefits to which he is entitled, such as VA health care. I once offered to represent Gunner and assist him in this, gratis, given his medical indigency. I also offered to hook him up with the reunion organization of the unit he says he served with, but, revealingly, neither offer was accepted.

This, along with his many inconsistent statements and apparent self-aggrandizing lies on a variety of subjects, caused me to conclude that Gunner is what is known as a "stolen valor" fraud, someone who claims military service and/or honors to which he is not, in fact, entitled. Others have accumulated and documented many of his apparently inconsistent or incredible claims, and the relevant posts are readily accessible through Google Groups."

That was ===============================================

Ill be 52 very shortly. I was in from 71-73. I WISH my training was a full year. Shrug..and I went in when I was 17.

I wasnt particularly happy with the VA in 1973....wasnt really happy with the VA in 84...never bothered to go back. No need to. Now Ive got leftards to take care of me, without any problems whatsoever.

Id have to drive back to my Dads place in Michigan, and dig an old footlocker out of my piles of stuff to get the dd-214. Its not like I have a lot of use for it.

===============================================

So enlisted in say May 1971, than 9 or ten weeks of basic training

-say first week in July. Than off to the War with one year completed in June 1972 and back for discharge. That (as the story goes) his girlfriend ditched him and he reenlisted and back again to 'Nam. Say September '72 for a one year tour makes it Sept. 1973.....

As an aside, the Americans started reducing their forces in Vietnam as early as 1971 when 5th Special Forces (the first U.S. Unit to be deployed to Vietnam) returned to the States. By the end of 1971 some

177,000, or 53 percent, of the Americans had departed.

Yes. Everywhere from 'We know you exist', to '100% service connected disability' affect your level of care. Still, Dental care is general only available if it is classified as service connected.

A local Veteran who died last year was not listed in the DOD database, yet I'd seen her VA medical card and taken her to countless appointments at the VA. Physical Therapy, pain doctor, mental health & other doctors. She was a total wreck, but couldn't fine non service connected disability, and SS had been pushing her paperwork off the table for over eight years. They won. She died. She was depressed, and may have overdosed on pain medication.

Basic was 8.6 weeks until Aug. '72 when it was reduced to 6.8 weeks, just prior to my basic training.

Yet I was told I was being sent to Vietnam in August, 1973, before they changed the orders to the research Cold Weather facility in Alaska. Entire companies were still being transferred to Vietnam at that time.

'Reduction in forces' doesn't stop the rotation of fresh troops.

The facility I was originally assigned to in Vietnam was overrun just weeks after I was to have arrived. The engineers there were reportedly all killed. Some things in life can't be explained.