Free national fishing license for combat vets?

[tbomn]

Yup you are right, Kilgore and Thinking are the same guy.....Remember "Big Brother" does have eyes....

I hope that I've never said anything that came across as disrespectful to any of our veterans. I respect them all. Merely serving -- giving up two or more years of your life, and putting up with the demands and hassles of service life -- deserves respect.

However, it's always been tough for me to accept the idea that all service in Vietnam was equal. I was NOT out in the jungle every day humping a sixty-pound pack in 120-degree heat and hugging the ground when bullets and shrapnel were flying. Most of the time, I slept in a cot under mosquito netting, with an electric fan to cool me off (except when the generator didn't work), and cold pop or beer available. Most of the time, I ate hot meals in a mess hall.

I served in the headquarters unit of the Vietnam war's most highly decorated artillery battalion. I served with men who went through the entire Khe Sanh siege, and who fought the Tet battles in Quang Tri City and Hue. I served with the only Army Air Defense soldier in American history to be awarded the Medal of Honor. A MAC-V adviser attached to one of our batteries, and lost in the same action is one of the 50 or so men who were captured alive in South Vietnam and remain missing and unaccounted for. So yes, I served with a combat unit that was in the thick of battle at times. But I personally didn't have to do those things. We took some rocket and mortar fire on the base that got close at times, and I spent part of my tour riding shotgun for truck drivers, usually riding on top of several tons of artillery ammunition, not a good place to be if your truck runs over a mine ... that was my little bit.

I've never been able to consider myself in the same league as, say, a fellow I later served with in the Army Reserve. He went to Nam as an infantry private. His plane took fire coming into the landing strip, and he exited the plane under firing and shooting back. He was in nonstop combat for the next four days and nights, was wounded several times but kept fighting without food or rest, and by the end of the week his company had taken 90% casualties, and he was its commander. In those four days, he was promoted from private to Captain via battlefield commission, and for his bravery and battlefield leadership he was awarded a DSC. After getting out of the hospital, he fought in more battles, won more Purple Hearts and a Silver Star. He would have stayed in the Army and probably made at least Colonel if he hadn't gotten caught in bed with a general's daughter, and gotten into fisticuffs with the general. They threw him out of the Army for that. He then enlisted in the Army Reserve and worked his way up to sergeant. When he got too old for the Reserve, he joined the National Guard.

These are the kind of guys I served with. They were some example to follow, let me tell you! I just can't put myself in the same league as them. Maybe I would have done the same things if circumstances demanded it, but circumstances didn't demand such things of me, and I didn't have to do the things they did, endure what they did, or make the sacrifices they did. All I can do is thank God our country had them, and plenty more like them.

The people who said back then America didn't have heroes anymore didn't know what they were talking about. Now we have another generation, doing similar things in Iraq and Afghanistan, filling the boots worn by the generations that came before them, and filling them very well even though they're very large boots.

When they come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, or wherever else duty sent them, let's let them know we appreciate them. There is no need to ask them how or why they did these things. It's enough to let them know, that we know, they did them and we understand what it meant to do them.

Oh I see what's going on ... "Thinking" is a poster ... that flew over my head at first ... just got around to reading the rest of this thread. I have a suspicion who "Thinking" and "Kilgore" is (I agree it's the same guy) but I'm not gonna say.

I could've saved myself a long-winded post admitting that I was a REMF ...

[bobwhy]

The only time a soldier/sailor gets a free fishing trip is while home on leave. And that is probably not in all states. They have to purchase a fishing/hunting license but do get to get a resident license for the state they are stationed in.
Bob Y.
WBSA Member

[hgmeyer]

Don,

Like I said... You know where I was... I'm not alone in my sentiments... I appreciated everybody that did their job to make mine a little easier or safer...

[bigfish1965]

Maybe I don't understand because I never served, but where would the combat soldier, pilot, submariner and tank operator have been without his support network? Where is the tank driver without a mechanic to make sure he doesn't break down in the middle of a fight to be an easy target?
Where would the foot soldier be without someone to make his food, tend his wounds and make sure his mail got home every week so his family knew he was still alive?Maybe the payroll clerk didn't have bullets whizzing past his ear but you sure knew if he wasn't around. Maybe the clerks didn't have to dodge mortar, but I'll bet anyone with half a brain kept those guys as friends cause you never knew when new boots would be needed.

Besides, licenses are issued by the state and not federally if I am not mistaken. Have you ever seen all 50 states agree on anything?

I served 25 years in the Navy, sub force, anyone who thinks it is a pleasure cruise has never been on one. No one knows that they are gonna come home (USS SAN FRAN for example). Not just anyone serves on a sub, you earn that distinction. I spent a lot of time underway "projecting US seapower" that I plan on making up for hunting and fishing now. Really makes me wonder if defending the "freedom" of the selfish louts like thinking (not) really meant a lot. I coulda been home, talking about things I don't know about to my likewise, small minded friends.
PS - Never got a free license to fish anywhere I was stationed, but I could fish in Minnesota for free while on leave.

Hi. At the risk of being ******** I will have to say that from what I have read you can almost tell the people that for whatever reason were never in the service. Its easy to talk er type when you dont now what you are talking about. service should be mandatory period.