all i could do to keep from choking him.

[Lloyd Smale]

was at the doctor waiting while my wife was in for an appointment. is marquette mi the biggest town un the up and a college town and the only blue county in the up. a guy was there that just had a knee replacement and felt it necessary to tell me. he said hes had 6 operations and nobody he knows has had more. told him try 19 cause you just met that guy. he asked how i was hurt and i told him in the service. he asked how and i said thats personal. then the chatterbox asked me if it was in nam and i told him no. than he blew away. said he had a high draft number and was in college at the time so he avoided the draft, then looking right at a vet said him and his buddy decided no way theyd go and had arrangements made to go to canada if he got drafted. he said it like he was proud. my wife was proud of me. i just shook my head walked out and went a waited in the truck.if i knew i could have got away with it he would have been back in surgery tomorrow!! what a flipping coward. while he was partying at college men his age were actually being men!!

[Land_Owner]

...and for that very important (to me) reason (not the chatterbox part), I have kept my US Coast Guard enlistment close to my vest.  I don't mind talking with other Vets and friends, but I consider it "stolen valor" to make more of my service, half way around the world out of combat harm's way in a fast growing to adulthood environment while safely expanding my World View.

Ain't no way to spin my service experience as 'equal' to those who fought in Vietnam, just because I served the same dates and times that they served. Combat Vets have a special place in my head and heart. You can't see it to tell us apart, but I KNOW, and that is what makes it important.

Thank you for your service lloyd.  I did get the late '70's blowback from the General Public through high dollar neighborhood signs in yards, "Sailors and Dogs Keep Off of the Grass" which said nothing about not pissing in their unlighted, no closed circut or recorded TV, and unlocked vehicle gas tanks.

Their engines probably ran better through the octane I added those wobbly nights returning from some bar. Portsmouth, VA, where the Madrona berthed, was for ever over shadowed by the US Navy's Norfolk (no ****), VA, Naval Station a few miles up the road. Talk about devoid of women...for the first time ever, the CG recruited, trained, and filled its on base field positions with women, simultaneously throughout my dates of enlistment. Girls I had seen in Basic Training in New Jersey were PCS to Base Guard Duty positions in Portsmouth (and throughout the Nation). They had a lot of nice girls (ref. To ZZ Top).

[Lloyd Smale]

were you there when they built the cg base in portsmouth. i was there for 6months on the taney when they first opened it. the enlisted club was 2 12 wide tralers they tor one wall off of and grafted them together. when it rained they had at least a half dozen buckets where it leaked. wasnt crap for girls there other than a civy barmaid and the line was long of guys hitting on her. off base the girls in the bars hated anyone with short hair so it was a 6 month drought for me and a 2 year sentence for the permanent billets and the guys on the 2 327s docked there. its the main reason i signed up to get the hell out of there. but then if i would have stayed i wouldnt be the bionic man with enough metal in me to build a harley

...and for that very important (to me) reason (not the chatterbox part), I have kept my US Coast Guard enlistment close to my vest.  I don't mind talking with other Vets and friends, but I consider it "stolen valor" to make more of my service, half way around the world out of combat harm's way in a fast growing to adulthood environment while safely expanding my World View.

Ain't no way to spin my service experience as 'equal' to those who fought in Vietnam, just because I served the same dates and times that they served. Combat Vets have a special place in my head and heart. You can't see it to tell us apart, but I KNOW, and that is what makes it important.

Thank you for your service lloyd.  I did get the late '70's blowback from the General Public through high dollar neighborhood signs in yards, "Sailors and Dogs Keep Off of the Grass" which said nothing about not pissing in their unlighted, no closed circut or recorded TV, and unlocked vehicle gas tanks.

Their engines probably ran better through the octane I added those wobbly nights returning from some bar. Portsmouth, VA, where the Madrona berthed, was for ever over shadowed by the US Navy's Norfolk (no ****), VA, Naval Station a few miles up the road. Talk about devoid of women...for the first time ever, the CG recruited, trained, and filled its on base field positions with women, simultaneously throughout my dates of enlistment. Girls I had seen in Basic Training in New Jersey were PCS to Base Guard Duty positions in Portsmouth (and throughout the Nation). They had a lot of nice girls (ref. To ZZ Top).