vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: Welcome to Hotel Vietnam
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/welcome-to-hotel-vietnam.html
Thursday, September 08, 2005. Welcome to Hotel Vietnam. I remember as our flight from Okinawa made its final approach into Danang, I could see flares off to the south and west of the airfield floating downward, rocking slowly . strange smoking lights falling from a black, black sky. They seemed so far away. On Okinawa, I somehow found my sister, Ginger, who was staying there with her Air Force husband on an "accompanied" tour. I remember walking in with my 2nd Lt. bars. Six months later I wou...I didn't ...
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: 38 years ago and today.
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/38-years-ago-and-today.html
Sunday, August 21, 2005. 38 years ago and today. Today, my wife, Pam, and I were fortunate to have some very nice friends come by to see our vinyard. When I was in RVN, I could never have imagined how or what it might take for me to eventually, someday, find happiness, but now I do. My life is so different from any I could have imagined 38 years ago when I was there "in country." I am so incredibly fortunate. War is such a lesson, a revelation, for those who survive the main event. On Standby at Phu Bai.
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: Somehow ... we kept on smiling.
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/somehow-we-kept-on-smiling.html
Sunday, August 21, 2005. Somehow . we kept on smiling. Somehow in the midst of it all, we could always smile. (Khe Sanh, summer '67). Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). On Standby at Phu Bai. End of a long day. 38 years ago and today. Somehow . we kept on smiling. Subscribe To This Blog.
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: Dream #1
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/dream-1.html
Wednesday, January 16, 2008. It's been 40 years since I was in Vietnam. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Subscribe To This Blog.
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: Officially arrived
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005/11/helo-vietnam.html
Tuesday, November 22, 2005. After collecting our bags, we were directed to a tin roofed hootch where we were identified and our orders checked. Our arrival in South Vietnam was now official. It was humid but cool. Having grown up in Florida, I was familiar with the humidity but others were obviously uncomfortable. We were directed to an area where we were told to wait for transportation to a place where we'd find some bunks and get some sleep. We were to report back at 0700 hours. Subscribe To This Blog.
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Sparrowhawk Standby: Monkey Mountain backdrop
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005/08/monkey-mountain-backdrop.html
Saturday, August 20, 2005. Mission weary at Marble Mountain (Monkey Mountain in the background) just south of Danang. The 2nd Lieutenant bars were followed by Captains. I never saw silver 1st Lieutenant bars because they needed more Captains. New in-country. Late spring, 1967. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). On Standby at Phu Bai. End of a long day. 38 years ago and today. Somehow . we kept on smiling. Subscribe To This Blog.
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: On Shoreleave in Alongapo
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-shoreleave-in-alongapo.html
Friday, January 02, 2009. On Shoreleave in Alongapo. When I arrived In-Country, HMM 164 was stationed on the barren dunes of MCAS. Marble Mountain. We flew missions from south of Danang to the northern reaches of South Vietnam including Dong Ha and Khe Sanh. During the late spring of 1967, we boarded an aircraft carrier with a straight wooden deck that was used in WWII and began flying missions off of the DMZ, but it was only for a short while. Alongapo was known by every sailor and marine who ever mille...
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: MARCAD James O. Atkinson, Jr.
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2007/02/marcad-james-o-atkinson.html
Sunday, February 18, 2007. MARCAD James O. Atkinson, Jr. Gary Shields, Doug Sanders, Larry Bancells and others. We were all bright, brash, very young, and none of us believed we would ever die. After a month or so, he emailed us that he was back in St. Pete and feeling better but that he was going to start chemo and radiation treatments soon. We didn't ask him, but it was apparent the Mexican treatments hadn't worked. Semper Fi, Jimmy. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Santa Ana Flat Hatting.
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: Iraq Conversation
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2006/07/iraq-conversation.html
Monday, July 17, 2006. The pictures in the news trigger memories of my own military experience. That’s the personal part. 8220;Say your color smoke, Redbud? You’re 1-8-0 from us! 8220;Roger, Redbud. White smoke. We’re inbound.”. I can hear the F-4 pilot key his mike and say calmly over the high-pitched whine of his engines that he’s a flight of two holding on the 2-7-0, Danang tacan, 1-9 miles, at level 1-5, and Landshark say, “Roger, BlueDog, hold your position.”. Tracers, nine o’clock.”. 8220;I got one!
vietnammusings.blogspot.com
Sparrowhawk Standby: August 2005
http://vietnammusings.blogspot.com/2005_08_01_archive.html
Tuesday, August 23, 2005. As my heart sank to the bottom of my miserable "civilian pansy ass" I realized that I had most likely made a very serious misjudgement and thought, as did the thirty or so other miserable humans on the bus with me, "What the fuck have I gotten myself into? As it turned out, those other guys would become lifelong friends, bound by the experiences we would share over the next 18 months learning to fly airplanes and helicopters as Marine. MARCAD Whitbeck, 1966. Links to this post.
