I'm going to let y'all in on a little secret, I was National Guard. I'm also a combat vet, go figure. My ole man was Army, he was killed on 7 Sept 69 while in Viet Nam. He was 28, with the 1st Air Cav 15th Med Bn. on a Medevac chopper he was the door gunner. He was awarded the Silver Star and had several Air Medals with the V device he also had 2 Purple Hearts.
There was nothing more I wanted then to be like my Dad! So when I got old enough to join I told my mother, she blew a gasket! She begged me to join the guard, she figured I would never see combat. So I kept my promise. While with the guard I became known as Sgt. Mother F@#$er, because I could see the writing on the wall. I stayed in hot water because of my old school ways and BS I pulled. I knew one day we would be deploying and made sure I did everything I could to prepare myself and the troops in my charge. I have seen some stupid s*** and not just from the guard. Some of the worst from active duty officers. In the unit that was in our small town, the people were mostly from the country and tuff. Most of the NCOs were prior service when I first entered, Viet Nam and Korean War vets. We learned a lot from those folks, they would let you know right fast while doing training if it was BS. The main thing was to stay alive! What our guardsmen lacked in discipline they made up in ingenuity. They always seemed to get the mission accomplished no matter what. One of the worst things about the guard its politically driven, retention, budgets and BS. I'm very proud of the brothers I served with, you could not ask for any more dedicated and brave group. They would die for one another, some did.
On the other hand, when it came to my boys entering service I told them if they was going to do it, do it all the way. Get the best training they could, one is in the Navy the other is a Marine. But before you bash the guard think about all the ones that didn't come back from OIF. Do a little research check it out.
There was nothing more I wanted then to be like my Dad! So when I got old enough to join I told my mother, she blew a gasket! She begged me to join the guard, she figured I would never see combat. So I kept my promise. While with the guard I became known as Sgt. Mother F@#$er, because I could see the writing on the wall. I stayed in hot water because of my old school ways and BS I pulled. I knew one day we would be deploying and made sure I did everything I could to prepare myself and the troops in my charge. I have seen some stupid s*** and not just from the guard. Some of the worst from active duty officers. In the unit that was in our small town, the people were mostly from the country and tuff. Most of the NCOs were prior service when I first entered, Viet Nam and Korean War vets. We learned a lot from those folks, they would let you know right fast while doing training if it was BS. The main thing was to stay alive! What our guardsmen lacked in discipline they made up in ingenuity. They always seemed to get the mission accomplished no matter what. One of the worst things about the guard its politically driven, retention, budgets and BS. I'm very proud of the brothers I served with, you could not ask for any more dedicated and brave group. They would die for one another, some did.
On the other hand, when it came to my boys entering service I told them if they was going to do it, do it all the way. Get the best training they could, one is in the Navy the other is a Marine. But before you bash the guard think about all the ones that didn't come back from OIF. Do a little research check it out.
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