VoyForums

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:00:50 01/06/11 Thu
Author: Jim Ledbetter (Angry)
Subject: A soldiers complaint against US Army treatment/

This might be a bit long but perhaps it will make me feel better when it is finished.
I went thru basic at Fort Ord,CA, then thru Signal school at Fort Grodan, Ga. Within five months of going in I was on a troop ship going to Okinawa. When I arrived there my company (105th Signat Det.) could not be found. When it was located 2 weeks later I was on a military prop job heading for Thailand. I lived there for a year in a rat infested hut. While there I made PFC. Coming back to the states I went to Fort Benning, Ga. I was there 4 months and was sent to Fort Lewis,Wa. with the 41st Signal Btn. I was with them when they were loaded on a troop ship to QuiNhon, Viet Nam. I was with the Cable Platoon. When the 1st Air Cav went into the An Khe highlands my platoon with in with them. I lived there in my cozy dirt hole for three months and a lot of unpleasant stuff happened. When I went back to QuiHnon I knew something in me had changed.
When my 3 year enlistment was up I was a SP4. After two tours overseas in hell I could make no rank. I was discharged at the Oakland Army base, CA.I got a set of dress greens to wear, but no rank patches, unit patches, awards. etc. My uniform was as slick as the first day I was issued one in the Army.
Currently I am at the VA being treated for PTSD, diabetes and a couple of other things. If my mother had not saved my letters to her telling her about all the fighting that was going on around me I would have received almost no benefits.
The Army had no record of me being in combat records. Thanks Mom for keeping those letters. I finally found out what awards I had received. I applied for them and they were given to me in a big ceremony (Ya right) when the mail man showed up with a brown envelope. I am still trying to get 2 other awards I am entitled to.
I have the feeling that after all I went thru for the service in 3 years that when my time was up they just open the door and said "Get out". Not even a kiss or a cigarette.
All I got on my uniform that day was some spit at the Oakland bus terminal from a war protester.
OK, pity party is over - thanks for listening.

GOD bless our service men and women,

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.