Military Check In - Current and Prior Servicemembers
 

So what does everyone do and where have you been stationed at?


Name: Charles A.K.A. Chuck
Rank: TSgt (E-6)
Branch: Air Force
Job: 2A373 F-15E Crewchief
Years of Service: 17 years (Almost)


Assignments:
1. Soesterberg AB, The Netherlands July 92 - Nov 93 (Closed the base down)
2. Bitburg AB, Germany Nov 93 - Nov 94 (Closed the base down)
3. Spangdahlem AB, Germany Nov 94 - Aug 98 (Closed down the F-15 53rd FS)
4. Nellis AFB, Nellis Air Command, Las Vegas, NV Sep '98 - Present

After posting this up, we can see how small the Military community is getting. I have ran into several people that I have been stationed and deployed with via this post alone.

Name: Joseph A.K.A. Joe
Rank: ET3 (E4)
Branch: Navy
Job: Electronics Technician on Fast Attack Submarine
Years of Service: 6 1/2years


Assignments:
1. Submarine and Electronic Schools in Groton CT 91-92
2. USS Jefferson City SSN759 92-95 (New Construction boat took through the Panama Canal to San Diego)
3. Deep Submergence Rescue Unit San Diego 95-96 (limited duty, I ripped the tendon in my ankle)
4. USS Portsmouth SSN707 96-97
5. Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station San Diego 97-98 (Limited Duty again, I re-injured my ankle.)

I had surgery and then it collapsed back again, so they processed me for a Medical Discharge on Jan 4, 98. I think I would likely still be in if I did not injure my ankle. I am one who can also say that I made E5 2 times, never got busted and got out as an E4. I made it but lost the promotion due to the limited duty. I was not eligible. When I went back to full duty, I made it again, but once again lost it as I was back on limited duty again.

I am facing a MEB (Medical Evaluation Board) for an injury that I had 5 years ago that the USAF is still trying to correct.

Ed W. Freeman passed away on August 20, 2008.


Ed Freeman
You're an 18 or 19 year old kid. You're critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965. LZ Xray , Vietnam . Your Infantry Unit is outnumbered 8 - 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in.
You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you're not getting out. Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.




Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see a Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Ed Freeman is coming for you. He's not Medi-Vac, so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.




He's coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.
Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses.
And, he kept coming back...... 13 more times..... and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.




Medal of Honor Recipient Ed Freeman died last Wednesday at the age of 80, in Boise , ID ......May God rest his soul....

ET in the Navy 4yrs active, 2 reserve.

Anti-submarine warfare communications.

I was kinda a rarity as there was a brief period of 4yr ETs that had both comm and radar. (at the time the Navy was desparite for ETs)

Came in during the dead-broke Carter years and participated in the rebuilding that Regan provided. Part of which was being in the first crew (plank owner) of the newly formed Naval Communications Station, Jacksonville, FL. So if it's ever de-commissioned I get a plank from the quarterdeck.

Anyway one enlistment was enough for me...;)

US Navy, 1972 - 1976 Va 94, USS Coral Sea, 2 tours in the Tonkin golf, shore based at NAS Lemoore California, 17 years at NAS Moffat Field 1977 - 1994 14 years at FT Lewis WA 1994 - 2008, and still going.

MEB can go either way I went through 2 of them. First one I told them I wanted to go back and they let me. 2nd time they did not. My original injury was 3 years before the first one. You may have to jump through a bunch of hoops, but you can get put back on full duty. At the time you have in service, if they do discharge you they will medically retire you.

I have already had 2 MEB's and was returned to duty (RTD) after both of them, but this time if they give me the option of medically retiring or RTD....I'll take the retirement since I am so close to it anyways. My first MEB I had 11 years in and my 2nd was at 14.5 years in.

:cool: But the way I view it, either way...I still win!

Oh, sorry, I assumed it was your first. I really messed up my ankle, I completely ripped the tendons off the bone, and actually chipped a piece of bone as well. The first LIMDU I only did physical therapy, 2nd time they did surgery as I hurt it worse. When the reattachment did not take, they did not give me the option to stay. I had a 2nd surgery on the civilian side that removed the damaged tendons and moved 1/2 of the front one to the side and 1/2 of the back one to the side. It is stable now, but not real strong.

Name: Todd Buttrick
Rank: EW1 (E-6)
Branch: Navy
Job: Electronic Warfare ECCM
Years of Service: 8 years


Assignments:
1. ET A School - Great Lakes
2. EW C School - Pensacola
3. USS Lang FF1060 - SanDiego
4. USS Coral Sea CV43 - Norfolk

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Glad to hear that the Civilian doctors where able to do more for you. That is where I am no. I had 5 surgeries through the Military doctors and just had my first surgery, to make surgery #6 by a Civilian doctor. So far is has seemed like it had went a lot better than the Military ones in my right hand. But the Civilian side of Physical Therapy is a joke IMO. I feel like a am waiting my time going there.

I hear you on the PT. I was working ahead of the Physical Therapist on everything as I was used to the military way. Then again, by working slower, I did seem to heal better. Maybe that is part of the problem, not necessarily the surgery, but the PT was too aggressive.

I do see though that the US Navy is well represented here on CC. Even though I am the only Bubblehead that will admit it so far. :D

My oldest brother was a bubblehead. Machinist Mate (nuc) on the Ben Franklin (boomer).

His enlistment was about as uneventful as mine. :rolleyes:

My Uncle had three boats shot out from under him in WWII, so I'd guess his enlistment was the most treacherous one in my family. My dad wouldn't talk about his time in Europe during WWII except to tell me he interrogated German POW's as he spoke German. After the war he joined the Air Force and served with Gen LeMay in Omaha in what became SAC.

I really miss all those old WWII guys I grew up under, they lived through the depression and that awfull war, so they knew what was truely important.

Name: Mike
Rank: SPC (E4)
Branch: Army
Job: 93P Aviation Operations Specialist
Years of Service: 6 years


Assignments:
617th SOAD (A) in Panama (which later became: )
Company D, 160th SOAR (A) in Panama