Bookoodinkydow: How did you come up with that moniker? That's a good one. My lottery number was 279 or 297, one or the other. All I cared about was that it was over 100.
Why did you enlist in the Army? When I was a teenager I read James Jones' trilogy about WWII (From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Some Can Whistle). They convin…
Bookoodinkydow: How did you come up with that moniker? That's a good one. My lottery number was 279 or 297, one or the other. All I cared about was that it was over 100.
Why did you enlist in the Army? When I was a teenager I read James Jones' trilogy about WWII (From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Some Can Whistle). They convinced me never to join the military. I don't like people telling me what to do or running my life. Fighting and or dying for country had nothing to do with my attitude. I just don't like being ordered around. I'm not a team player. LOL.
I'm glad you survived the war. Did you fly in the Hueys? I've always loved those choppers. My boss in Brazil, the stunt pilot David Jones, was the pilot and aerial coordinator for the helicopter scenes in "Apocalypse Now". That was supposedly about your outfit.
While the spelling is incorrect, “Bookoodinkydow” in Vietnamese, roughly means “very crazy”. I enlisted in the Army for several reasons; My father (an Irish immigrant) was in the American army during WWII. He was very patriotic. He was an American and never an Irish-American. He inspired me to serve. Going against-the-grain has been a lifelong trait and joining the military during an unpopular war is just one example. I suffered from too much testosterone and needed the extreme adventure that the Army provided (this is no longer a problem). My family had no money for college.
I spent a lot of quality time with my brothers traveling in a Huey. My time in Vietnam was the scariest and yet the most memorable part in my life. What I did was strictly out of service to our country. I’m sad that that country no longer exists. What a waste. Merry Christmas!
Bookoodinkydow: Thanks for the explanations. The Vietnamese "very crazy" is hilarious. My Dad's two younger brothers joined the US Navy. One served on the carrier USS Constellation (an unlucky ship) and the other on a small destroyer escort. Neither saw war. They were in the the Navy during the lull between Korea and Vietnam.
My Dad's friends were drafted and went to Korea. Some didn't come back. Dad was given a deferment because Mom was pregnant with me.
Dad had two friends in high school. These two friends joined the military reserves so that they could drink cheap beer at Ft. Snelling in Minneapolis even though they were underage.
The Korean War started and the two youngsters were called up and sent into the war. One was killed and the other had his leg blown off.
"A high price to pay for cheap beer." My Dad said.
Testosterone is strong. We've both had our adventures and thrills. Mine was in the Amazon working for six months on a movie as the aircraft mechanic. The dirt runway built by the movie company was a joke. It was a real sphincter tightener. Two planes crashed but not on the airstrip. Thrills of aviation like yours in the Hueys.
It does all seem like a waste. The country we knew is gone.
Fighting and dying for country is not a noble thing. It's really dumb! The government has no right to ask that of anyone, either. Wars are never about anything but money and power and no one should sacrifice his life for that.
Frans Duncan: I would have been willing to fight with the militias or Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. I also would have fought for the Confederacy when Lincoln's armies invaded the South.
Bookoodinkydow: How did you come up with that moniker? That's a good one. My lottery number was 279 or 297, one or the other. All I cared about was that it was over 100.
Why did you enlist in the Army? When I was a teenager I read James Jones' trilogy about WWII (From Here to Eternity, The Thin Red Line, and Some Can Whistle). They convinced me never to join the military. I don't like people telling me what to do or running my life. Fighting and or dying for country had nothing to do with my attitude. I just don't like being ordered around. I'm not a team player. LOL.
I'm glad you survived the war. Did you fly in the Hueys? I've always loved those choppers. My boss in Brazil, the stunt pilot David Jones, was the pilot and aerial coordinator for the helicopter scenes in "Apocalypse Now". That was supposedly about your outfit.
While the spelling is incorrect, “Bookoodinkydow” in Vietnamese, roughly means “very crazy”. I enlisted in the Army for several reasons; My father (an Irish immigrant) was in the American army during WWII. He was very patriotic. He was an American and never an Irish-American. He inspired me to serve. Going against-the-grain has been a lifelong trait and joining the military during an unpopular war is just one example. I suffered from too much testosterone and needed the extreme adventure that the Army provided (this is no longer a problem). My family had no money for college.
I spent a lot of quality time with my brothers traveling in a Huey. My time in Vietnam was the scariest and yet the most memorable part in my life. What I did was strictly out of service to our country. I’m sad that that country no longer exists. What a waste. Merry Christmas!
Bookoodinkydow: Thanks for the explanations. The Vietnamese "very crazy" is hilarious. My Dad's two younger brothers joined the US Navy. One served on the carrier USS Constellation (an unlucky ship) and the other on a small destroyer escort. Neither saw war. They were in the the Navy during the lull between Korea and Vietnam.
My Dad's friends were drafted and went to Korea. Some didn't come back. Dad was given a deferment because Mom was pregnant with me.
Dad had two friends in high school. These two friends joined the military reserves so that they could drink cheap beer at Ft. Snelling in Minneapolis even though they were underage.
The Korean War started and the two youngsters were called up and sent into the war. One was killed and the other had his leg blown off.
"A high price to pay for cheap beer." My Dad said.
Testosterone is strong. We've both had our adventures and thrills. Mine was in the Amazon working for six months on a movie as the aircraft mechanic. The dirt runway built by the movie company was a joke. It was a real sphincter tightener. Two planes crashed but not on the airstrip. Thrills of aviation like yours in the Hueys.
It does all seem like a waste. The country we knew is gone.
Merry Christmas!
Fighting and dying for country is not a noble thing. It's really dumb! The government has no right to ask that of anyone, either. Wars are never about anything but money and power and no one should sacrifice his life for that.
Frans Duncan: I would have been willing to fight with the militias or Continental Army in the Revolutionary War. I also would have fought for the Confederacy when Lincoln's armies invaded the South.
Wasn't it Patton that said that no one ever won a war by dying for their country?