Tonight we Dine in honor of a freind. He retired last month with 26 years of service. 13 of those months in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne Brigade(and somehow managed to avoid a Purple Heart). He's a great guy that would do anything for you and he will be missed. Espeacialy when we cook out...he's mean on the grill.
These times are bittersweet. When a guy retires the past and the present get together. Tonight I look forward to seeing people that I havn't seen in a long while, or since the last Retirement Dinner. On the other hand you have someone leaving that has been a part of something so long.
He turned 60...that's the maximum age you can stay to. As well going by your rank(E-6,E-7,E-8)you are allowed to stay so many years. The less your rank the less your years. When you max out either in age or years you "wet the bed". He had a break in service, i.e 4 years Active Duty, get out, and go back into the Reserves 8 years later. If it wasn't for turning 60 he could stay a couple of more years. When the war got underway they extended everyones time by a year or two, at least they did in the Army.
The National Guard, being a State Orginization in part has different rules. You can pretty much stay until your 60 regardless of rank. So if you know a guy who is a Sergeant/E-5 and is 55 years old that's the deal.
We got together and had a plaque made up for him. We used the place next to Clothing Sales at Fort Jackson. The price wasn't too bad, but, the service was to be desired. We wanted Jump Wings on one side, Combat Infantry Badge on the other with a 173rd patch centered. His rank on either side above the wings and CIB came to us later. Well we had words of wisdom on it. Crossed Rifles(For Infantry) with "Teach, Coach, Mentor" around them(he taught land navigation with a passion). The writing was too big and we couldn't place the 173rd patch in the center. I think(key word) we opted to put a Vietnam Service Ribbon there. The rank and ribbon is being put on by one of us. He will either laugh or cry.
It's not a formal thing, not a Unit function. It's just people that knew you getting together. Now, if your a Seargent Major or something they will have a big deal. Or, if your a full timer sometimes.
Well, it's pouring rain, thundering and I've sat in this chair long enough for first thing in the morning. Happy Blogging folks.
Appalachian Intellectual
These times are bittersweet. When a guy retires the past and the present get together. Tonight I look forward to seeing people that I havn't seen in a long while, or since the last Retirement Dinner. On the other hand you have someone leaving that has been a part of something so long.
He turned 60...that's the maximum age you can stay to. As well going by your rank(E-6,E-7,E-8)you are allowed to stay so many years. The less your rank the less your years. When you max out either in age or years you "wet the bed". He had a break in service, i.e 4 years Active Duty, get out, and go back into the Reserves 8 years later. If it wasn't for turning 60 he could stay a couple of more years. When the war got underway they extended everyones time by a year or two, at least they did in the Army.
The National Guard, being a State Orginization in part has different rules. You can pretty much stay until your 60 regardless of rank. So if you know a guy who is a Sergeant/E-5 and is 55 years old that's the deal.
We got together and had a plaque made up for him. We used the place next to Clothing Sales at Fort Jackson. The price wasn't too bad, but, the service was to be desired. We wanted Jump Wings on one side, Combat Infantry Badge on the other with a 173rd patch centered. His rank on either side above the wings and CIB came to us later. Well we had words of wisdom on it. Crossed Rifles(For Infantry) with "Teach, Coach, Mentor" around them(he taught land navigation with a passion). The writing was too big and we couldn't place the 173rd patch in the center. I think(key word) we opted to put a Vietnam Service Ribbon there. The rank and ribbon is being put on by one of us. He will either laugh or cry.
It's not a formal thing, not a Unit function. It's just people that knew you getting together. Now, if your a Seargent Major or something they will have a big deal. Or, if your a full timer sometimes.
Well, it's pouring rain, thundering and I've sat in this chair long enough for first thing in the morning. Happy Blogging folks.
Appalachian Intellectual
posted by Hill Billy Rave | Saturday, April 30, 2005
2 Comments:
A shadowbox, cool. I can clearly remember the first one I ever saw. It was about 1982 or so, in a car sales manager's office in Fairborn, OH. He was an ex-grunt and the box had a very dark wood frame, medium blue background with rank, all the ribbons and prominently displayed in the middle was his CIB. I thought it was about the neatest thing I'd seen in a while.
And your friend, will he laugh or cry? I'm betting you'll see some of both.
Different subject - I didn't realize there was another "Appalachian" here on blogspot. Honest to G*d, I thought I was being darned original when I first set my blog up. Hope you won't mind if I keep the name, even though you were first. I guess there's a least two of us who don't mind showing our heritage! :-)
Cheers!
My long lost brtother! This Blog was origanly called "Hill Billy Rave"...one of my ol' Ranger buddies thought the name was misleading to Flatlanner's, so I thought about it and changed it. I still think your origanal...AGT, reminds me of DBT. Travlin' Ed say's AI is like Artificial Intellegence. I'll give your Blog a go over.
His son had a shadow box made up for him.
Thanks for stopping in.
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