On 2010-08-30, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:58:10 -0500, Karl Townsend
wrote:


Gunner, 56, who can still boogie on a board, or rollerblade around town

?? I thought you served in Nam. You're too young.

Karl


Think again. I went in when I was 17. The birth cert said I was 20.

Mom and Dad were big anti-war people. They wouldnt sign. So I took an
alternative route. I was 6' 3" and had been cutting pulp wood for a few
years as a side job..so I was big enough.

Shrug

I wanted OUT of the little town I graduated highschool from. And growing
up poor..there was no college on my horizon. Just small town jobs that
didnt pay the bills. And I wanted to get married. Beautiful little girl,
we loved each other very much. And I DIDNT want to be a pulp cutter!!!

So I pulled a name off a tombstone, got a birth cert..joined up. Thought
I was going to be a wireman...that got.."changed for the good of the
service".....

2 weeks before my DROS date..I got called in from the bush and the CO
and a chaplin were waiting for me

The lady I was going home to marry, had been killed by a drunk driver.

So I went home and buried her, instead of marrying her..and went back to
taking long walks in the woods and meeting interesting people..

Shug..by that time..the war was winding down, not a lot of people wanted
to go to Vietnam, least of all the second time. Reinlisted, was back in
country in less than 2 weeks. 9 days as I recall..

I think I had "viking funeral" beating on the walls in the back of my
skull. I wasnt wrapped all that tight..hummm...or maybe wrapped extra
tight..,..the second time around.
Went, saw, did My "actual" MOS was 11B-4..so they had need of my
skills and Id picked up speaking some gook from my 'hoi the first time
around, could eat nuc mam with the best of em. Did some interesting
Stuff for the guys with the Swedish Ks and the bush jackets the first
time I was there..the *******s...and they were more than happy to see me
the second time around. Put me right back to work. Got my 'hoi back too.

Shrug...just another warm body in the Green Machine. Got a ding in the
head 3 months after I was SUPPOSED to go home in 73..hell...after nearly
everyone else had already gone home,..my 'hoi dragged me 5 clicks to an
Arvin firebase, got a free helicopter someplace where they plugged up
the holes, got another free ride to Honsu Japan and some skull surgery
where they took out the metal and plugged the holes in my skull, then on
to Letterman, where I was finally able to walk and see again. Took
medical leave..grabbed a MARS flight and did a walkabout of Britian,
parts of Europe, Finland to see my Old Country relations, , the border
nations..parts of Russia..shrug...came home, became an outlaw
biker..bailed out in less than a month, ....out before I did something
stupid and criminal, went to Africa as a "security guard" for 6months
on a reference from a spook Id known..didnt care for that at ALL, came
home again... put on my birth persona and went to work in the oil fields
as a lovable harmless fuzzball ...the rest is history. Some good, some
bad. Became a cop, quit being a cop, did lots of Stuff since then. Old
history. Shrug.

I got out of Letterman at the age of 90 or so. Europe brought me down to
being a nice young man..shrug..and Ive gotten older naturally since
then. Well..there was Africa..but...I was mostly "Young"

Im going to celebrate my 90th..twice!!! WHEEE!!!

So you have a DD-214?

i