Thank You For Your Service

Veteran benefits and perks have been on my mind recently prompted by a letter from my ex wife. We parted ways in 1993 with her leaving me the two youngest to raise. I never cut off contact but rarely initiated contact.

Recently I received a letter from her saying since I’m eligible to be buried in a national cemetery, could she be buried beside me? She is feeling her mortality and her spendthrift ways have left her broke, alone, and with few prospects. Well, the answer is, NO, as I have made other arrangements.

She brought up the extent of veteran benefits I’m entitled to. “Free Money”. Fuck that!

I’ve financed two homes with VA guaranteed loans. I’ve attended college on the GI Bill. I’ve instructed my kids that, when the day comes, to drop me on the steps of a VA Hospital with my DD 214 stuffed in my pocket. I’ve assured them I won’t care.

Here is my reasoning. I served three years in the peacetime army. Other than a few sporting moments on the East German border, my biggest danger was racial strife (and there was a ton of it) on the kaserne and in the barracks. I went in healthy and came out healthy. 

Why, 50+ years later, does my country owe me a damn thing?

Others were not as fortunate. My youngest son is medically retired on a 90% permanent disability. He is one of thousands. Why should I siphon off funds from those in true need?

OK, I get it. Others may not have the same opinion. That is fine, and I don’t judge them. I choose to take a different road.

Maybe I do judge them just a little. While I pay my American Legion dues every year, I haven’t been inside one in years because of the entitlement bullshit that goes on.

As always, YMMV.

Wish I Was There

Three cheers for all the Veterans in D.C. today. Wish I could be there with them.

As I don’t have TV, don’t know if they are broadcasting anything. Zero online by MSNBC. Google news has a few links.

Read a few accounts of “riot police” and Swat teams deployed. Doubt if many of the Veterans are intimidated.

Interesting times!

What Is Memorial Day?

Memorial Day means something more to me than camping and barbeques. It is a day I reflect on my heritage and  why I can live the life I have.

I have fifty eight first cousins. Many have passed. Many have married into other families, have had children of their own, and now grandchildren. The number of Veterans is large; more than I know. More than a few have been wounded, or died, in the service of their country.

Name a war, Revolution, Civil, Spanish American, Indian, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and our linage has been there. Many more, including myself, served between these conflicts. None of us makes a big deal about our service; it is part of who we are. We damn well remember, however, and always honor flag and country.

I always honor our woman folk, who kept the homes going, worried and prayed for their men folk (and now daughters and nieces) who were away in harms way. When the men came home, they were there to deal with the mental and physical problems the men brought home. Strong women!

What, and who, I am wouldn’t exist without them and what they accomplished. Old, but very true cliché; All gave some, some gave all.

WW II Vets - We Need to Remember Them

Quiet couple. He served in combat. She served on the home front. After the war, quietly lived useful and productive lives.  

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_22142641/100-year-old-wwii-vet-flew-at-guadalcanal?nstrack=sid:2585932|met:0000300|cat:0|order:9&%2F%3Fsource=dailyme

Customer Service

Rodeo contestants are unique group who put in unimaginable hours.

The owner of the car dealerships I worked at for many years was a former bull rider. We had many customers who were involved in professional rodeos. We went out of our way to accommodate them. Sometimes, this became interesting.

A repeat customer was a young Wyoming bull rider. As a committed Christian, he took his young wife and three children with him. They traveled in a crew cab pickup with a self contained camper. One night on his way to a rodeo he stopped by and they traded in their ¾ ton Ford for a one ton dually crew cab Ford. As part of the deal, we needed to move their self contained camper from the trade to the new vehicle.

Since he didn’t have camper jacks, we opened the shop and backed in the trade to one of the hoists. We were able to remove the camper by lifting it with the hoist and pull the trade out of the way. The problem now became backing the dually under the camper. Much less clearance and a much larger turning radius made for very tight squeeze. By now it was two hours after closing. The owner, another salesman, the customers, and I were still at the dealership. The other salesman, AKA, was by far the best driver in the group and was finally able to maneuver the dually into place. The camper was lowered and bolted down by the customer. While this was going on, the rest of us were transferring the contents of the trade to the dually. AKA maneuvered the dually out of the bay, the customer drove off, and the rest of us went home. The customers still had a seven hour drive in front of them.

Strange as it may seem, in our world, this was a normal transaction. Whatever the hour, whatever the situation, we dealt with it. The old Jackie Cooper axiom, “Winners do what losers won’t”, was a “core value” with us.

From where I look, the only place you can always find that commitment is in our professional military. Good reason to hire a recently discharged vet. They know how to work.

Frugal or Cheap???

Dirty Al, former Blanket Head, Charter Boat Captain, bail bondsman, repossession agent, and the best car salesman I’ve ever known, has been having some hard years. Major health problems, family problems, financial problems, friends dying and an ugly and unfounded accusation in a local unsolved crime have taken their toll. During it all, he has remained upbeat and has never quit. He is also cheap. I’ve accused him of still having his third grade lunch money.

Within a month he should receive a tidy sum of money; enough to last him whatever years he has left. He has decided to put a new windshield in his thirty year old Geo Metro and paint one fender with a spray paint can. He asked me if I think using two cans is extravagant. I told him not if he didn’t use masking tape but masking tape plus two cans is extravagant.

This is a lame post. So much of the news and HOPEANDCHANGE is depressing, I need to find something upbeat and humorous. I’m so happy for Dirty Al. We go back a long ways and have always had each other’s backs.

For older Dirty Al Post go to:

http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=dirty+al

http://wellseasonedfool.blogspot.com/search?q=dirty+al&updated-max=2009-01-24T23%3A34%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=20

Close Call - PTSD

Just missed going on the NICS background lists as mentally incompetent thanks to the smiling lady at the Veterans Administration. At the urging of friends, applied for and was approved for VA medical care. It is not something that I need or want to use now. In the future, who knows? Can’t hurt to get it set up, right?

Said lady was screening me as part of the process to set me up with a primary care facility and primary care person. Lots of questions. Inoculations, medical history, surgeries, etc. and then the Post Trauma Stress Disorder screen. Four simple questions. Having been a salesman most of my life, I can spot setup questions as fast as they are uttered along with the body language and voice tones of the questioner. Me, admit to PTSD? No way, but she almost got me. Then the sex questions. “Was I every subjected to…………”? Answer, “Yes”. “Have you suffered trauma because of this”. Answer, “No, the trauma was suffered by the person making the unwelcome advances”. End of questions. Thanks to the senior Senator from New York (a gutless asshole who has never once put his personal safety on the line, who wants to disarm you and me while he is licensed CCW) most vets can be barred from purchasing firearms just by answering four generic questions the wrong way. If I am wrong about this, please correct me.

I was treated well at the VA Hospital. The process was fast, well structured, and the personal comportment of the staff I encounter was very professional.

As to PTSD, I know some veterans have been emotionally devastated by their service experience. In no way do I not respect their experiences. The majority are, I believe, like me. I was an asshole when I went into the Army. The Army didn’t cause that. When I got out I was the same, only with some stress added.

Greatest Generation Inspiration

Greatest generation member Al Vella going for his daily walk. He walks well but uses the walker to rest and to help when his left leg gives out; a leg injured D Day at Normandy where he was a Combat Engineer. His mind is still sharp and his handshake firm.

Complaining to myself about my pains as I do my daily 45 minutes seems silly as I pass Al plodding along. What a debt we owe him and the men and women like him.