Question for the other Combat Vets,

[jeremy]

I guess, I'll ask, did YOU retire ?????

Nah....

I am the Guard now. Just on my Dwell Time 1 more year to go before I am thrown back into the deployment pool. I can retire I have my 20+ in, just not sure I am ready to leave them yet or not...

 

[SSGSAD]

Nah....

I am the Guard now. Just on my Dwell Time 1 more year to go before I am thrown back into the deployment pool. I can retire I have my 20+ in, just not sure I am ready to leave them yet or not...

TAKE YOUR TIME, USUALLY, once ret., it is VERY difficult to reenter .....

 

[lovemachine]

Man I am glad to hear I am not the only one...

About every 4-6 months I start wanting to be back in the Suck. I miss the random Mortars, Rockets, and the not knowing if this trip down this road will be my turn to find the IED again. The occasional zip or zing of a round near me. The whistle of an A-10 rolling in hot right before he burps a burst of flowers on someone. The gentle thump of Blackhawks, Chinooks, or Apaches fluttering around overhead. The whine and clatter of an M1 cruising nearby. The Troops in my Team/Squad/Platoon/ Company.

Some of the best people I have ever met in my life.

What do you mean by "my turn to find the IED again"?

 

[rooster]

I am on tour right now and I hope that when I get back I never miss this God forsaken place.

 

[OEF5]

Yes I too do miss it, I tried to do a deployment in Iraq and was told no by the INARNG. They said "you have been, we are going to send some MP's who have not been instead" It was a easyjob in the green zone doing garrison work. I would have been doing the same thing, traffic accident investigation, as I was doing at Atterbury.

Here is what I don't want anymore though, my Drill weeked that's a waste of two frickin days...I don't do anything....

 

[steve666]

I have missed friends I served with, I've missed the Corps, but never once have I missed Vietnam.

 

[JetGirl]

I miss the random Mortars, Rockets

I'm here for ya...I just need your address and Google Maps!

 

[WWalker]

I have missed friends I served with, I've missed the Corps, but never once have I missed Vietnam.

I'm with you, except I only have missed my buddies, never the Army or Viet Nam

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

I always wonder if I'm the only one. I miss it every now and then, but it used to be really bad. I miss my soldiers the most. It just felt like I mattered more, there. Out here, they get what they can get out of you and throw you away.

THIS ^ !!!!

Yes. There are moments.....but after being out over 20 years now they are farther and farther apart.

And this .

My heart still screams HELL YEAH , HOOAHH !!! but my ass says sit down stupid before you hurt yourself .

 

[badwolf.usmc]

Heading out to my first "real" deployment next month. I missed Iraq and now it looks like I'm going to miss Afghanistan as well since this deployment is for Africa.

 

[Booya]

My heart still screams HELL YEAH , HOOAHH !!! but my ass says sit down stupid before you hurt yourself . atriot

Thanks for that! I got a good laugh, sounds like me in a few years!

 

[IndyGunworks]

What do you mean by "my turn to find the IED again"?

There are some stretches of road that you KNOW you will be hit. Its not a matter of IF an ied will go off but a matter of WHEN. whose vehicle will get hit is anybodies guess. Its a huge adrenaline dump because the whole time you are just staring and staring trying to find it before it finds you, but more often than not, it finds you. More often than not its the fist vehicle that gets hit, so you rotate that spot out to keep one fire team from absorbing ALL the stress. Acording to my arcom i lead 63 combat patrols as the lead gun truck

I do miss the suck, but i ruptured my eardrums to many times i dont think i could get back in if i wanted to.

Plus, i still get some suck from the fire department. Big 2nd alarm fires where you work your ass off as hard as you can for a few hours straight, only to be exhausted w/ no sleep to go back out and do it again. NOTHING compared to the military though.

I think i miss it the most when i see that yet another soldier has been killed. It hits me real hard and i get a lonely feeling because i know the "suck" they were going through the weeks or months before they were killed. You feel bad, but at the same time you wish you could go back into the suck to try and do right by them. A challenging conversation when the wife asks you why you are in a funk. Still have not been able to explain to her ANY of those emotions. Its one of those things that until you have been there, you will never know what its like... some guys w/ 30 years in the military who have never been in the suck cannot even imagine the feelings, yet they will try and talk like they understand it. Makes it kinda easy to see who is bull****tin and who is legit.

 

[Hoosier8]

I have two nephews that were in Iraq and are now out on disability. I did not expect the answer I got when I asked them if they would go back if they could. The answer was affirmative.

 

[Glock19]

I miss it...not the politics, but the team feeling. Feeling of belonging...

 

[Kedric]

Like so many others, yes I do miss it. Also like most others, not the political BS, but the camaraderie, the sense of purpose or doing something important and making a difference, definitely the adrenaline rushes and the combat as well, at least for me. I met a lot of damn good people I had the honor and pleasure to fight beside and serve with.

 

[VN Vet]

My wife divorced me in 1987. I called the Navy. I wanted to get into the Sea Bees. The only position for Officers open at that time was for Weapon System Officers onboard a Destroyer. Since my Sea Duty was always on a Carrier, I didn't think I could take such a small ship. I didn't think I could pass the physical either. Agent Orange was already attacking my body at that time.

Yes I miss the Navy to this very day.

 

[repeter1977]

I have two nephews that were in Iraq and are now out on disability. I did not expect the answer I got when I asked them if they would go back if they could. The answer was affirmative.

From most of the injured that I had seen at Walter Reed, and my time in the Army, almost all of them, said that they would do it again, and wanted to get better to go back. We have a lot of Heroes in this nation still, and I am honored that I have been able to work with some myself. I am hoping that I will be well enough soon to get back into the Army again. Well, Im still in, but back out of the Warrior Transition Unit anyway and back to a real Army unit.

 

[Que]

Heading out to my first "real" deployment next month. I missed Iraq and now it looks like I'm going to miss Afghanistan as well since this deployment is for Africa.

Africa?! What country are you going to and to do what?

 

[tenring]

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[BE Mike]

If I hadn't been married and a father, I would have volunteered for another tour. Besides the moments of excitement, combat was the most I've ever really felt a part of something bigger, appreciated my fellow soldiers and the job they did and it was returned. I knew a guy who had been a cop, quit and got back in. He said, "Every time I heard a siren, I wanted to know what's going on!"