Where were you on this date in 1970?

[Elwood P Dowd]

Unfortunately for me, I was drafted and serving my first day in the US Army at the ripe old age of 23. Thought I had avoided it with the lottery, but luck was not on my side.

Are times worse today? Yes, economically and politically they are ten times worse. Despite all of the shit going on back in the day, I would rather be 23 then than 23 today.

The future is THAT BAD!

[Drunken Irishman]

I'm about 23 and I wouldn't say the future is bad at all...

I feel better today than I did when I graduated high school a few years ago.

[madmax]

2. High School - a few years ago?

I think not. Show me your papers ;)

[Drunken Irishman]

4. LOL

When I graduated, Bush was still president. :scared:

[madmax]

11. oh yeah, which Bush? lol

[Drunken Irishman]

13. >:(

[madmax]

14. Just as I suspected

:hug: Either way - I love your posts. They're always interesting, informative, or just plain funny. :toast:

[aikoaiko]

121. whoops, wrong spot.

[Elwood P Dowd]

8. In 1970 my father was supporting a wife and 4 kids making about $600.00 a month.

He had no credit cards and almost no debt except for the small mortgage payment on their home. Union jobs were paying good money, and even high school graduates from poor families could find a job paying a living wage. The rich paid twice the taxes they pay today, and there were only about 200 corporate lobbyists in Washington compared to 30,000 today. Fox News did not exist, and Rush Limbaugh was a draft-dodging fat kid in college about to flunk out.

[Drunken Irishman]

12. But that's not my era...

So it's hard for me to say it's worse now than it was when I graduated, you know?

[depakid]

43. Indeed it's not

You won't have the benefit of cheap petroleum inputs or news outlets in America that had a semblance of ethics- where dishonesty was decried, not rewarded.

This quite aside from the myriad social problems associate with high and rising measures of inequality of wealth and income.

[Eryemil]

65. Funny, from the point of view of a young gay man I can't help but notice how much more hospitable

place the world has become since 1970. It's all about perspective. One of my friends just married his boyfriend of five years a week ago here in Vancouver.

[suncrafter]

36. I agree...

I'm with you. The futures so bright - I gotta were shades. :)

[tavalon]

52. And learn grammar and spelling

Since you're looking to the future. It'll help, really.

[reggie the dog]

74. grammar and spelling are so overrated

[EmeraldCityGrl]

101. +10

Especially overrated when the lack there of is pointed out to hurt someone's feelings.

[tavalon]

50. That's because you're drunk

At least that's what your username implies.

[tavalon]

51. dupe

[Lorien]

79. ......

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

OK, now every post of yours suddenly has some context.

[madmax]

1. I was 21 and remember the time..

I agree with you that this is much worse.

[robdogbucky]

131. Was 20

had been classified 4F, so wasn't worried, but was starting to see the real cost of the VN war coming home in the form of my cousin, who had served in the USN over there. He was painfully alcoholic and was here in the Bay Area trying to put his life together with the G.I. bill. A few years earlier one of my childhood heroes became our town's first casualty as he served Special Forces and was killed in a rice paddie. I never got over that.

California had a tumultuous couple of years with 1969 having seen the Manson Family do its deeds in Benedict Canyon and Reagan as governor and many kids coming through on their way to the war. By '70 Manson, et al were in lockup awaiting trial. There was Kent State in the spring and the resultant havoc across the land, including the bombings of Park Station in Golden Gate Park and the AMRC at UW in Madison, WI. Then in August there was the aborted attempt of escape from the Marin Courthouse on behalf of George Jackson's allies, which was a dismal failure and resulted in the deaths of most of the attackers and hostages taken in and attempt to demand the release of Jackson and others in Quentin. Two weeks later, Jackson was gunned down inside Quentin in an alleged escape attempt. It was a very violent time for those that had guns. Even though there were guns in the hands of many, it just didn't seem as all-pervasive and dangerous as it is now.

The only health issues we had to worry about were the crabs and the clap. No AIDS yet. One could still hitchhike across the country without much problem, as I had done about a dozen times between '67-'70. I would not risk it nowadays. Squalor Bomblight came on the CBS News each night and ended the broadcast with the body count we all knew was ridiculously low, always 500 Cong dead, 2 USA wounded type of thing, so the media, repeating the Pentagon's prop, did do some of what they all do all the time now. We at least had live journalists in the war zones reporting live action as it happened. One was left with the divergent views presented by them vs the body count figures, etc.

LA was a crazy scene with reds (secanol)available on the street everywhere, in rolls of 3, very cheap. They were like a plague on the community and were a problem in the Bay Area as well. I saw Bill Graham get so incensed at some kid passed out in the Carousel Ballroom one night at Market and Van Ness, that he threw the unconscious kid out on the sidewalk with a sign taped to his back, "Kick me, I'm stupid and on reds." The acid had improved greatly by then, with blotters and windowpanes replacing wedges, flats, barrels and caps. LA was supplied by a consortium known as the Exchangers that kept cheap kilos of Mex pot coming in by the ton. Sinsemilla was still an experiment. Our dead servicemen were conduits for Ollie North and George HW Bush's heroin from the Golden Triangle being delivered to Travis AFB in Fairfield via body bags. If anyone saw the movie a couple of years ago w/Denzel, "American Gangster," it was the most accurate and realistic portrayal of how all that went down that I have ever seen.

The Bay Area held the Panthers, who were based in Oakland and initially were simply trying to get hot lunches to ghetto kids, yet were perceived by America as some ominous violent beast, waiting to spring. Out of where? To do what? My dog, the fear that was rampant. I agree posters with Huey holding an Uzi did not sell well in Alameda.

Institutions were in great flux, as was our society as a whole, coping with the VN War, Civil Rights revolution, the sexual revolution, Womens' Liberation, the Cold War and all it brought, initial creeps of inflation and the havoc it caused. People were dropping out left and right, folks were divorcing more, running away to Canada, changing their identities to start new lives, etc. Nixon's Project Intercept had only diverted the heroin trade from Mexico to SE Asia, with no change in the cannabis markets that anyone could see.

I know this screed is drug-centric in the main, but that is where my head was at in October, 1970.

Things are really different now in many ways, not so bad in some and much worse in others. I would say we lost a great sense of community, probably brought on by the planned divide and conquer strategies of those in both parties, relying on fear and ignorance to govern. We lived then under the perceived cloud of nuclear annihilation 24/7, or so we were told. That threat is now on the back burner of everyone's consciousness. Terrorists have replaced the Communists as the enemy du jour. The STDs were not deadly like they are now. The communications technology revolution is the most impactful change in our lives that I can see. Computers/internet are still rapidly changing the way we live, yet the main elements of life's dilemmas have not changed much.


Just my dos centavos


robdogbucky

[nosmokes]

3. I was 10, but '70 was a lousy time to get the greeting from our uncle.

thanks for your duty.

[eugeneliberal]

102. I was 12...

...and boy crazy!

[Greybnk48]

5. I was 22 and 5 months pregnant with my first child.

My husband was serving his fourth year in the Coast Guard, having joined to avoid the Army. I went with him the whole time, first to Alaska and then to southern New Jersey. At least then you could get a job. But Vietnam and the draft was a nightmare.

[madokie]

6. I'd been home from Vietnam a week now

bug nuts and wild as a man can be and stay out of jail.

[pinboy3niner]

24. In an Army hospital in San Francisco

Being treated for wounds received in February.

:hi:

(ed. because I answered for the wrong year. :( )

[madokie]

81. I'm happy that you've made it this far

far enough to join us here in the DU world
Welcome home and thanks for having my back all those years ago
brothers we are and always will be, brothers

[pinboy3niner]

94. I'm glad you made it, too, madokie

What a long, strange trip it's been...

Welcome home, brother!

Love & Peace,
pinboy3niner

:patriot:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. October 27, 1970...

That's a long way back for me...

I was two years away from having my last child...

I was 26 years old, I think. I was just a housewife, taking care of my home, my husband, and my oldest daughter...

I think that was the year we rented a bigger, much nicer house...But honestly, I cannot remember clearly now...

[nofurylike]

9. well, i'm a lesbian who was coming out then, so for me it is so

much better now, personally, that it is like being on another planet!!!

but still, i have also seen repukes trash our planet probably beyond repair, so it is a whole 'nother planet in that way too. and one where all life is threatened, so ...


i am sorry about that lottery, Elwood P Dowd. thank you for surviving.


peace and solidarity

[the redcoat]

10. I was just starting my

18-year long preparation for birth in '88.

It was a total success, by the way.

[FreeState]

15. I had been in my Mom's stomach for 8 months:) n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

16. I was 24, living in San Francisco,

protesting the war. Back then we thought we could change the world.

[Elwood P Dowd]

18. I protested the war, and I was in the Army stationed in Washington, DC.

Had to be real careful during those April/May protest back in 1971, but I managed to get through it without being exposed.......could only go over there on the weekends in civies (sp?). Some of my buddies had wigs.

[Blue_In_AK]

27. I'm glad you did that.

I knew some anti-war soldiers out on the West Coast, too. I wonder if the outcry against the current adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan would have been a lot louder if we still had the draft? I imagine things would have gone a lot differently.

[reggie the dog]

75. you can, and did

the green movment, womens liberation, black power, aim, latino rights, gay rights.... you did LOTS to change the world! protest and you can still change the world!!!!

[OHdem10]

17. From about 1947 to the 70s were the most prosperous years

in our history.

The Income Gap was the lowest in history. You, know
the gap between Rich and Poor.

Big bosses made about 20 times the worker in the plant.
Now they can make over 500 times whant the worker earns.

You did not have to feel locked into a job, there were
other jobs you could go to.

Guess what, we were a mfg based economy and there were
more unions.

FDR had laid a good plan which provided broad prosperity
for over 30 years.

[jberryhill]

19. Hearing news of the joint US/Soviet space cooperation agreement

...that eventually led to the Apollo-Soyuz missions.

I was totally enthralled by the space program.

[HubertHeaver]

20. I was in South Carolina preparing to go to Thailand for my

second SEA tour. The year before I was in South Viet Nam.

[LawnLover]

21. I say it was worse then

I was in high school and politically active then. We had the illegal war in Vietnam, which had killed THOUSANDS of soldiers, we had riots on campuses and in the streets, with our own troops shooting students, we had a paranoid president who was hell bent on destroying the left and his political enemies and was a flat-out crook to boot, we had just gone through two assassinations (Kennedy and King), there was a huge racial divide in the country, with rampant racism and discrimination everywhere, it was rare and extremely difficult for a woman to have a career other than housewife, and homosexuality was only spoken about in derisive whispers...

What we're going through now doesn't even compare to that bullshit. What we're going through now is a blip on the radar.

[Elwood P Dowd]

23. I don't think you understand that the middle class is being wiped out!

The poor are getting poorer. The gap between the rich and everyone else is greater than ever. Jobs have been shipped out of the country by the millions in the name of Free Trade. The corps now own the US Supreme Court. The corps now own the media. They own 100% of the repuke party and enough Dems to get what they want. That wasn't the case in 1970. Everything gained in recent years will eventually go away.

[LawnLover]

80. Big business

has always controlled this country. Who are you kidding?

Banks have held this country hostage for just about ever. We had the robber barons in the 19th century, went through a devastating depression—what happened to the middle class then?

You act as if anything has really changed. It hasn't. We go through cycles, and we'll go through yet another one.

We lost over 58,000 soldiers in Vietnam. That alone is enough to define the devastation of that era.

So don't pretend that things are worse now. This isn't even close.

[unpossibles]

22. about 1.5 months shy of being born nt

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

25. Swimming around in some guys scrotum waiting for him to get lucky.

Lucky for him... the lottery missed him :)

[pipi_k]

71. hahhhahaha!!! actually though...

only half of you was swimming around in that scrotum

the other half was napping in an ovarian hammock waiting for the hormonal doorbell to ring.


:7

[some guy]

104. but . . . but . . .

I was only twelve.

;(

[WestSeattle2]

124. LOL! Well, thanks for that visual.....

[Occulus]

26. Half of me was in my momma's ovaries

:D

[BlueIris]

88. That's just what I was going to post. I was like...um, hanging out with my other

potential half-siblings?

[tomg]

28. I was 21, beginning

what was a long and complicated Conscientious Objection case ( possible serious time - I won two years later). For me, this is a crucial question. The fight for equality for women and for the GLBT community were just beginning, and at the time the New Left were not exactly bastions of enlightenment (Stonewall was only the year before). The environmental movement, at least in terms of a real public presence, was just starting. As much as I hated Johnson then, there was the Great Society and a greater committment to social justice. There was real polarization, but there were equally real attempts to communicate. I remember the assassinations of Kennedy, Malcolm, King, and Kennedy. There were not just protests in the streets - there were serious riots. With that said, there was still the sense that we were slowly, if terribly painfully, moving forward.

That, to me, is the difference. The LGBT community is better off now than then; women are better off now than then; we are more environmentally aware on an individual basis now than then. But we are not moving forward. In terms of further social and economic justice, forget it. We are in danger of having all gains wiped out and wiped out in such a way that we will not get them back - basic workers rights, social security, equal rights gains, environmental safeguards. Fox News, Citizens United, the absolute and total domination of international corporations in evey aspect of our political and personal lives, the utter corruption of the electoral process, the buying of the Supreme Court.

Back in the day, it was a serious family fight over the good of the country. This is out and out class warfare and the international corporate powers are hammering us.

[Confusious]

29. In oklahoma

Still recovering from being born a year earlier.

[eridani]

30. 24, getting ready to go to grad school. n/t

[Sherman A1]

31. In High School at the time

probably complaining about the cafeteria food or the homework.

[Daphne08]

32. I was in college having the time of my life.

But I lost two high school friends in Vietnam the next year, and I still think of them often.

The economy and the culture of this country has changed so much since 1970. I'm not sure people who are young today realize just how much it's changed.

Yes, America has seen its best days... that's my perspective anyway. I don't like saying it either.

[Warren DeMontague]

33. I was probably being freaked out by a Syd and Marty Krofft tv show.

Make it stop, Mom!

[csziggy]

34. First year of college with a roommate from hell

But a great dorm room that overlooked the edge of the Gulf at Tampa Bay near the Sunshine Skyway.

I was a very naive eighteen year old.

[suncrafter]

35. Glimmering

I was glimmering in my father's eye. (Born July 4th 1971)

[Hissyspit]

37. No. 1 song when you were born:

"It's Too Late/I Feel The Earth Move" by Carole King.

[sakabatou]

38. Nowhere. I wasn't born until over 16 years later.

[McCamy Taylor]

39. 6th grade. But I knew people getting drafted. It was bad. Guys would do anything to keep from going,

Cut off toes. Marry women with small children and adopt them. Go to college forever and ever. Go to Canada. Fake mental illness.

[Voice for Peace]

42. I was in Canada with my boyfriend who had been drafted.

It was an amazing time of life, hard in so many ways but full of wonders.

[madrchsod]

40. married and working...

[Sancho]

41. I was A-1, but didn't get drafted

So I went to college, supported Jimmy Carter in my first election when I could vote in 1972....

[old mark]

44. EPD, I also was 23, in the Army, stationed at Fort Bragg in the 82nd Airborne.

I beat the draft by enlisting, and by this time in 1970 I had less than 4 months left to go before I got out.
Would I go back? Hell, no...I would never want to be young again - that was a terrible time for me, and there was enough hate and real political violence then-even more than now-but there was a relatively fair news media, not the array of GOP paid whores we have currently.

Then again, given the state of US politics, I am very glad to have no kids...I think our future over the long term looks bleak.


mark

[Madam Mossfern]

45. I was in grad school for my MFA

21 years old, working as a waitress at a cafe in Greenwich Village, going to various protest rallies, getting tear gassed, visiting friends who lived on communes, a couple of disastrous romantic relationships. I pity my children because they didn't have the experiences that I did (thank goodness!) I actually thought that I could make a difference, and I'd like to think that I did.

[Lasher]

46. I had been drafted too, and was in Seoul, South Korea at the time.

Counting the days until my discharge on 6DEC70. When I got out it took me 2 months to find a decent job, with good medical benefits and a pension plan. I wish today's vets had the same chance.

[DangerousRhythm]

47. I wasn't even a gleam in either parent's eye...

I was nowhere, everywhere... somewhere? Ok, I didn't exist yet. :D

[kentuck]

48. I was 22 yrs old...

and had just gotten out of service this same month, after serving two tours in Vietnam. I was busy trying to get my shit together.

[LeftishBrit]

49. In primary school...

One of the most crucial things to my political development, and one of the things that would end in a strong negative impact on my country, had just happened, though I think I only became aware of it a couple of years later: Margaret Thatcher had become the British Education Secretary. I came to hate her when she was still in this post, and have never wavered in my hatred!

[tavalon]

53. I was less than two years away from my mother dying

I was seven years old and I don't remember much except that my mom was dating some guy and talking about marriage and I didn't want to give up my privileged position as the only child of a divorced but doting mom.

[AwakeAtLast]

54. I was 9 months old

and my sister is 2 months away from being born. Yep, we're Irish twins.

I've never known life without her, for better or worse.

Dad was a high school teacher, Mom was exhausted (see above ;) )

I think life was fairly serene until Dad decided to go back to farming with his brother in 1979. He didn't know that was a bad year to do that. Life on the farm was great but we didn't have a lot of money. At the time that was fine, but for my sister's and my future, it didn't help much.

One good thing is that I do have a good backup plan if our economy tanks to the breaking point - I'll go back to live on the family farm!

[hobbit709]

55. On leave en route between Keesler AFB and McClellan AFB.

[Xicano]

56. I was 4 yrs old

and being baby sited by a young woman who baby sited most of us kids who lived on the same street, and, she kept all us kids in separate cardboard boxes with our own toys and snacks and to where we could watch tv, but, not able to play (and make noise I assume) with the other kids.

[live love laugh]

57. Jumping rope. nt

[LWolf]

58. I was in 6th grade at Dixie Canyon Elementary School

in Sherman Oaks, CA. Learning to sing Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the school choir for a large, multi-school tv performance in December; doing my homework with my friend next door after school while 93 KHJ played "Cecilia," "Spirit in the Sky," "I'll Be There," "American Woman," "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Whole Lotta Love," "Who'll Stop the Rain," and a whole lotta others; riding my horse on the weekends, and getting to the ranch during the week whenever I could; listening to my friends at school gush over The Partridge Family and Bobby Sherman; and singing along with my friends out at the ranch while the ranch hands played "Alice's Restaurant" on their guitar while we waited for horses to be done eating.

[Connie_Corleone]

59. I wasn't even thought of yet. Still a year away.

[ecstatic]

60. Half of me was in

an egg in South America.

[Solly Mack]

61. Living in Atlanta. Excited about trick or treating....

and growing up in the shadow of 9 mighty oaks.

[surrealAmerican]

62. I was in second grade.

I remember we had a lot of bomb scares that year, where they would evacuate the school and each class would roam the neighborhood for a place to stay. My class was lucky: our teacher lived only a few blocks away. We would stay in her garage.

[Bluenorthwest]

63. So Elwood, when did you become clairvoiant?

Or is it Harvey that can predict the future? Do you claim your visions of the future are from Goddy God? Is it an anti-equality, Christian sort of end times you promote in your dogmas?
Anyone who claims to khow the future is a liar and usually they have very bad intent. Are you like the usuals?

[HughMoran]

68. On every single issue

You find a way to throw out negative thought waves that seem to miss the point completely.

[Lost4words]

64. I was planing a move north to Canada!

the lottery was good to me, never held a gun for anybodys fucking government or phony wars! And for that I thank GOD.

the 23 year olds today have little chance IMO.

[LuckyLib]

66. 21 years old, a college graduate, in my first job. A secretary making $400/mo.

The guy washing the windows in my building? $900 per mo. My first real awareness of job discrimination.:mad:

[HughMoran]

67. I just want to be 23 again

Same reason you see the future as "bad" - you're 40 years closer to dying - lol. :P

[TicketyBoo]

114. I would NOT want to be 23 again!

I would not want to go through losing my parents again. My father died a slow lingering death, a victim of Alzheimer's. He spent the last three years of his life bedridden and in a nursing home.

I was a 19-year-old newlywed in 1970.

My son is 23 years old now, and even though he has the college degree I was not fortunate enough to obtain, I fear that his life will be harder than mine has been. When did the middle class give up on the next generation having a better life than they had?

That Supreme Court decision was the nail in the coffin of my hope.

Sorry to sound so grim, but I feel bleak. I'm here to breathe some life back into that hope, or maybe it's just commiseration that I'm seeking.

[mkultra]

69. i was a two month old fetus

[mwb970]

70. Ohio State, senior year.

Good times!

[oldhippie]

72. Signal Officer Basic Course - Ft Gordon, GA

nt

[pipi_k]

73. One week past my 18th birthday, caring for my 1 month old son n/t

[Taverner]

76. 4 months old and wondering where the warm wet womb went

[Iggo]

83. Cold.

So cold.

[sufrommich]

77. I was in Mr. Hill's 8th grade math class ,failing to understand

much of the math being taught.I got a D and was sent back to remedial math the next semester. My math skills never improved.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

78. I was 26, a vet, in college, protesting that other lost war.

But, I agree that for today's generation has a bleak future.

[Iggo]

82. I was busy being 9. (n/t)

[Codeine]

84. I was eight months old

and living in Colton, CA.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

85. In high school.

Junior year, age 15. I started school a year early.

The summer of '70 I went to Summer school for High school students at Rice University for six weeks. That was fun. I found out why I hate tennis. It's too damned hot, you have to chase the ball and all I wanted to do was lie on the edge of the court by the fence and pass out.

Wondering if I'd ever have dates or get married, because smart girls didn't have dates unless they were the cheerleader type that made A's. And you couldn't ask a boy out on a date because that was being pushy and forward. BIG No no.

[Liquorice]

86. I was waiting around to be born. It would be about another week and a 1/2. nt

[ScreamingMeemie]

87. I was four months old.

[nadinbrzezinski]

89. Kindergarden

[Smarmie Doofus]

90. 11th grade in catholic HS in White Plains, NY and real....

... miserable.

But I was reading and thinking a lot and optimistic that things were going to improve significantly.

[Lyric]

91. Hanging out in Mom's ovary.

I wouldn't be born for another eight years and eight months.

[aikoaiko]

123. .

.

[proud2BlibKansan]

92. I was a senior in high school

Probably at a football game. And going to Vietnam War protests on Sundays.

[REP]

93. I was 5, so probably Brookside Day School then home to 6220 Oak

How I can remember shit from 40 years ago like that baffles even me.

[kwassa]

95. Freshman in art school, with future Talking Heads and other to be famous people

Me, not so much.

Gus Van Sant was a sophomore, as was Mary Boone.

[and-justice-for-all]

96. I did not exist...

born in 74

[neverforget]

97. About 3 months old in the womb

[Xicano]

98. I think this pic was taken 1 or 2 yrs before.

This picture should be either 1968 or 1969. This would be me, my sister and one of our cousins. LOL Check out my sister's hair! Ha ha!! :D

[scarletwoman]

99. Probably stoned and wondering "Where am I?"

:hippie:

[Skittles]

100. 13, Bicester (pronounced "Bister") England

I'm the girl

It was much easier for young folk in the 70's - economically at least, it was much easier

[Xicano]

103. Love the photo Skittles. :)

I bet all the boys in the neighborhood were chasing you. :D

Lets see you were 13 yrs old then, so, that should make you only about 9 yrs older than myself.

Hmmmmm.....sounds like dinner to me. Ha ha!! :)



Peace,
Xicano

[Skittles]

106. you must have missed this one, a Skittles Classic!

YEE HAW!

[pinboy3niner]

108. WOW! Who knew Skittles is such a HOTTIE?

With all the ass-kickings, who had a chance to know, INDEED? :rofl:

[Skittles]

109. I was a sergeant when this pic was taken

with no makeup and no hair coloring. yes SIR!!! :D

[pinboy3niner]

110. If I had sergeants who looked like that, I would have re-upped in a heartbeat

Yes, INDEED! :)

:thumbsup:

[Skittles]

111. well I didn't re-up

because I got orders to go to Langley AFB to be a secretary for a general. FUCK THAT!!! :o

[pinboy3niner]

112. My docs told me that, medically, I couldn't stay in the Army...

...but if I really wanted to stay in, they'd fudge the medical reports so I could. But I couldn't stay in the Infantry, and I couldn't go back to VN. My answer was the same as yours, so they retired me for partial disability. I'd made Captain in the hospital after I was wounded, so it wasn't a bad deal.

Besides, all my pay had piled up at 10% interest in the Army's 'Soldiers' Deposit' program while I was out in the field in VN, so I went out and bought a brand-new E-type Jaguar for cash before I even got out of the hospital. I'd very nearly died, and I didn't expect to be around for that long, so I went for it. I know the Jag sounds like a lot, but the total cost then--brand-new-- was $ 6,100.

While I was in the hospital I got to know a WAC officer who was in charge of guest housing at the Presidio. And when my mom and her sister and my cousin came to visit me and see SF, my friend put them up in General Officers' Quarters.

The few women I was fortunate to know in the Army were the BEST. My other favorite was the nurse who literally saved my life at an evac hospital in VN...

[TicketyBoo]

118. My sister

worked as a switchboard operator at the Presidio, and before that worked the switchboard at the VA Hospital in San Francisco. I think in 1970, she was still working at the hospital, but I'm not certain when she went from the hospital to the Presidio. I know by 1972 she was working at the Presidio.

[pinboy3niner]

119. That's pretty cool, TicketyBoo

The notion that she and I were there at the same time.

I also get a kick out of hearing from some here who were anti-war protesters then in SF. I remember that, when I was an in-patient at Letterman, we had anti-war protests at the gates. And, while I was on the inside, some fellow DUers may have been on the outside--placing flowers in he rifles of the National Guard troops standing guard.

Funny how that long-ago war still haunts us--and connects us.

Love & Peace,
pinboy3niner

[saigon68]

116. A perfect 10

K & R

[Xicano]

130. My Goodness Skittles!! You are definitely a hottie!!

Oh yeah! Looks like dinner for sure and looking to end that evening starting with a nice massage in a candle lit room. ;)

Wow! :D



Peace,
Xicano

[LeftishBrit]

132. I live not that far away from Bicester now!

[readmoreoften]

105. I was a fetus.

[Richard Steele]

107. I was 18 months old, and just starting to grasp the whole "reading" thing.

Lucky me, eh?"

[B Calm]

113. At sea coming back to the states from a 6 month deployment in the Med

[pinboy3niner]

115. Thanks for serving

You probably were as conflicted as most of us were.

[unhappycamper]

117. I had just finished up tour #2 in Vietnam and was in Germany.

What a change that was! Nobody was shooting at you, Frauleins and great beer.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[pinboy3niner]

120. And garrison BS

Many VN vets had difficulties dealing with their assignments after their war zone experience.

After your two tours, you must have felt some blowback reaction.

:hi:

[unhappycamper]

128. I remember being astounded about the lack of people shooting at you.

Strangely enough, I ended up starting and running the 1^st Infantry Division MARS station in Wuerzburg. Garrison BS was not an issue.

[pinboy3niner]

129. Good for you, brother

Garrison BS wasn't an issue for me, either, as I was hospitalized for a long time until the Army gave me a partial disability retirement.

I made a couple of MARS calls in-country. I was used to saying, "over" on the radio, but the time delay with MARS was a bitch. Still,it was great to be able to call home and talk to my mom.

It took me 16 years to get used to not getting shot at. Even back in the U.S., I couldn't escape the feeling of being threatened until then. I never felt I'd been affected by the war--until I discovered how profoundly I'd been affected, psychologically.

In the end, what resonated with me was the epilogue from 'Platoon.' Especially the part where Chris says:

Those of us who DID make it have an obligation to BUILD again...to teach to others what we know. And to try, with what's left of OUR lives, to find the MEANING, and GOODNESS, to this life.

Welcome home, brother. I'm glad you made it.

:patriot:

[aikoaiko]

122. I was 2 yrs 2 days old and didn't understand the concept of future yet.

But I am told I was happy.

[WestSeattle2]

125. Falling head over heels in love with my 4th grade teacher

[Ichingcarpenter]

126. Protesting the War in DC and going

to Virginia Community College.

Taking classes on Black history which they made mandatory
after DC almost burned down, plus the other usual bullshit courses
in order to transfer to somewhere in the West Coast.

The courses on Black History are the only ones I remember
except the classes on Logic which they demanded as part
of my Freshman year.... My number hadn't come up for Nam
yet but it did later, but that another story and time.

[pinboy3niner]

127. THAT untold story must be a doozy

I'd love to hear it, when you're ready....