Happy Veterans Day

This Veterans Day I wanted to say thanks to some of the people I crossed paths with in the Army way back when. These are folks that weren’t in my unit. They are just little memories that stuck with me. I know I’m leaving stuff out. It was along time ago. Faded memories…

Thanks:
– To the cooks at so many bases and middle-of-nowhere’s who were always waiting with a smile when we rolled up in the middle of the night and treated us so well. I don’t know if you know what a hot meal and your hospitality meant.
– To the cook at Friedberg that sent me back out to the field with hot pizza for my guys when it was freezing cold outside.
– To the Air Force cooks at Dhahran Air Base that could see we were exhausted and waltzed us pass the line of dozens of officers to feed us steaks.
– To the supply guy that gave us new clean BDU’s and a case of MRE’s even though he wasn’t supposed to.
– To the off-duty German MP who flagged us down and helped us search for the Air Force guy that had run his Porsche down through the woods.
– To the Norwegian soldiers we got drunk with and sang blues and 80’s metal all night in Nijmegen. Heineken baby!
– To the Canadian soldiers that backed us up when soldiers from another country got obnoxious in that bar. Take off eh.
– To the German soldier who dressed down the girl in that club that hated on us for being American soldiers.
– To the Saudi MP’s who invited us to dinner. Most of us couldn’t speak the same language yet you still made us feel welcome.
– To the mechanic that always took the extra time to make sure my HMMWV was always running at +100%. You worked late and scavenged what you needed even outside channels to make sure I always had the best running vehicle in the unit. I’m pretty sure you even went into your own pocket a few times to make it so.
– To the personnel clerk who got me assigned near home when I rotated stateside.
– To the I don’t know who from the chopper crew that stuck a fifth of JD in my ruck.
– To the Vietnam vet who paid for my meal at the airport. I’ve no words.
– To the NCO that snuck us out the back door and took the dressing down from the base commander for that little off-base uh…”incident”.
– To the Air Force guys at Ramstein Air Base that invited us over to their barracks for a party when our mission was delayed and we had nothing to do.
– To the Navy guys whose ship had hit a mine in the Gulf. I can still see you guys sitting in the tiny NCO club in Bahrain with bandages on your head. It was an honor to share a drink with you.
– To the female Chinook pilot who maneuvered that beast under multiple power lines and set us down safely. I didn’t know those things could do that.
– To the A-10 pilot who buzzed my tower after I mooned him. Well played sir!