How do you answer?

[panthersix]

The best answer I ever heard was when a friend of mine told his son: "The reason I went to Viet-Nam was so I'd have a good answer when you asked me, 'Daddy, what did you do in the war?'""

Amen Brother! My kids know exactly what Veteran's Day and Memorial Day are really about, and that they're not just some freakin banking holiday or day off from school to sleep in and goof off.

[Jim]

The best answer I ever heard was when a friend of mine told his son: "The reason I went to Viet-Nam was so I'd have a good answer when you asked me, 'Daddy, what did you do in the war?'""

Ranger Jim, hope I'm not getting out of my lane here, but that reason is precisely why I've decided to enlist. To paraphrase Colonel Lewis Millet ""I believe in freedom. I've fought in three wars, and volunteered for all of them, because I believed as a free man, that it was my duty to help those under the attack of tyranny. Just as simple as that."

:D

You aren't out of your lane at all. Many years ago I had the good fortune to drive for (then) LTC Millett. I was a PV2 just out of BCT, while awaiting AIT to begin. Best three week education a man could ask for. After I retired, I ran into him when we were dedicating the Vietnamese Ranger Memorial in Arlington Cemetery, we invited Lew to be the keynote speaker. He got a kick out of introducing me as his former driver.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/vietna ... morial.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As an aside, we placed a wreath at the memorial today, as we have for many years.

[Jim]

Ranger Jim,
That really is something special, I hope I've the good fortune to learn from a soldier like that at some point (that is to say, once I've enlisted, I'm learning from soldiers like that right now). Thank you for the education on that little piece of history. I'd known Colonel Millett had completed Ranger training, but I hadn't known about his role in Recondo School or the Vietnamese Rangers.
I also was unaware of the memorial for Vietnamese Rangers, good on you all to have dedicated it.

Well, I'd like to think that's why you are here on ArmyRanger.com. Never, never quit!

[Jim]

I just found this Lew Millett was the first advisor to the Vietnamese Rangers. I knew Lew for too many years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9H7XplkI54

[CharlieRanger1FFV]

Thanks for posting, Jim.


RLTW!!!

[Jim]

This is too interesting a thread not to bump it! What are your thoughts?

[fatboy]

I grew up reading books about guys like you Jim, Lefty, and Gary Dolan. Books about Six Silent Men, and Charlie's Rangers, books about the 1st BDE LRRPS. Hearing rumors of places like Grenada and Panama. I watched Desert Shield and Desert Storm on TV. Knowing that there were guys like that were out there, I had to try to be a apart of it.

I joined in a time of peace, and it was peaceful. I was planning on doing my time, then moving on because I never really found what I was looking for.

That world changed on 9/11/01. I was about a year away from getting out, and I couldn't do it. There was no way I could leave my family, knowing that they were going to war without me. So I waited and waited; waiting on the time that I would get called to go. On 4 June 2002, I took the oath of re-enlistment From Ranger Dave Manges. Because Iraq was coming and I wasn't leaving my family.

So for me, it boils down to family. Blood related and closer. I went for them, and would go again for them.