Always a Corpsman

[olddoc1]

As many of you know this war has produced a lot of different kinds of wounded. I see a lot of Marines, Soldiers and National Guard around the Country as I travel with my wife. I wear my FMF cadeuce with pride. I am retired but I am still a Corpsman. When ever I see a service man in desert fatigues on base or off, I take time to thank him/her for their brave service and try to get them to talk a little. One day I saw a soldier in a bowling alley with his head down while some of his friends.brothers in arms were bowling. He looked a little depressed. As I went by I said,"soldier are you Ok or just sleeping?" He looked up at me for a moment, saw this strange old man in front of him and my cadeuce, He grinned, and said,"naw doc, just tired" If you see a Combat Serviceman who looks lonley, bewildered, depressed etc, take a minute to say hello. And if it seems real bad, contact some in authority to check it out further. A little friendliness these days goes a long way. I know most of you would do this to, but I wanted to start a discussion for what retirees can do. GBA and SEMPER FI

[Da-Chief]

John is right,
Look at what "Doc Pardue" does, day in and day out as well. We who have retired should still be standing the line helping out those who are fighting the fight.

Good post John,

HMC

[puckmedic]

I always spot USMC decals. Hell, I have one on my window and on my helemt as well. I also have a US Navy Retired window decal there. Many folks ask me what branch I was in. The Marines automatically know I was a DOC.

There is an old guy here in Jackson, a former POW of the Germans. I met him outside my tax guy's office. He told me stories of life as a POW back then. The movies made it look nice. In reality the German enlisted beat and robbed POWs daily. Said the movies later of POW life in Vietnam were more like what he experienced. He hasn't bought a German made product in his entire life and said he had no desire to ever kiss and make up with them.

The mental scars of our experiences, peace time and war follow us. For many of us we can put in a basket and shove it down. Our returning vets need our support. With so many National Gaurd units deployed there's hundreds near you. If you want to go and meet with them on drill week ends you can. In fact, many commanders welcome us retired docs. Just letting a guy talk helps him or her so m uch.

A lot of the guys I meet want to forget about it. My response is, you never will. If you vent it now, you won't have problems later. It's good to cry and let it come out easy. I rather that than have you blow a hole in your head next year when life gets too hard and the night mares won't go away.

I've heard incredible stories of bravery, fighting through injuries, one soldier stood on his good leg, leaned against a humvee and fired to keep the insurgents from returning fire. He fired long enough so that a guy could run out and pull two to saftey.

This guy lost his foot, but on that day "Doc all I needed was one good foot and one good arm" . Iasked about the physical pain and he said " Inever had time to worry about it, never felt it. I had two down and they needed me"

He got hit trying to go out there, when he realized he wasn't good to go, some one else stepped in. Now I don't know about you, but 2 down, a third hit on the way to them, I'm pretty sure the fourth guy was scared. He went and got 2 guys to safety and they both lived because of the other 2.

Talking to the guys and girls helps them, and it reinforces pride we have in them. I walked a lot taller that day after being in their presence.