Old Hippie Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 AH CEP...The WHite House, Monica's The oval office short time room...whoring built on a theme that ment something! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave32 Posted February 2, 2010 Report Share Posted February 2, 2010 << One of these days I'd be curious to get your take on the thrashing the swift-boaters gave Kerry compared to Bush, who was actually AWOL during Vietnam and, once again, used his family's wealth/influence to weasel out of accountability. >> The swift boaters were over the top and had a political agenda. The Republicans used them. Nevertheless, I consider John Kerry a scumbag of the highest degree. Everything he did was with an eye on a political future. Hell, he even let folks in Boston think he was a fellow Irishman - when his grandparents' name had been Kahn and they were Austrian Jews. I tried for a Navy commission: they weren't taking anyone. But at the same time JK waltzed into the Navy with his Skull & Bones and got a commission ASAP. A buddy and I rescued a wounded man (sucking chest wound!) under artillery fire. The 1SG saw it and said we deserved a Silver Star. No way they'd give that to an E-3 and E-4., and even a BS and AC(V) were rejected. I saw the note attached (written in red ink by an SP/5): "Sir, all they done was their duty." Good old John Kerry got a couple of gongs hung on him for the same sort of thing, plus he got PH's for dings we wouldn't even have reported. Shall we talk about Kerry's miraculous 4-month tour of duty vs mine of 13 months? Hell, even Al Gore did six months in RVN. In short, John Kerry is not fit to be CiC. Neither was GWB, another Skull & Bonehead. Try comparing their military records with Gerald Ford, Bob Dole, Papa Bush or even JFK (who managed to get his PT boat cut in half by a destroyer and escape a court martial. Clinton fiddled with ROTC to delay his induction until he could leave the country, then quit. What wonderful leaders we have. p.s. But at least Hillary has served under sniper fire! Thanks Flashermac. Didn't know about the Kerry name change or 4 month tour of duty. Had no idea. I used to drive for an LTC who received his commission in Vietnam. Tough but wickedly funny guy. Had stories similar to yours. I don't know what a BS or AC(V) are. It even took me a couple minutes to figure out sp/5 (I think they stopped all specialists but sp/4 [which has now replaced any use of corporal] in the 80s). Once again - thanks. And yeah, cheers to Hillary. LOL. Nothing against her supporters... but a Hillary presidency makes me shudder (now Pelosi, OTOH, would be interesting if she could peel away a little from the left). Ha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 Descending order: SS = Silver Star BS = Bronze Star AC(V) = Army Commendation Medal (Valor) The Army created "technicians" ranks during WWII so that EM could get promoted even though there wasn't an NCO rank open. Ever seen the stripes with a little T under them? Then in the early '50s, the Army borrowed the eagle from the Navy petty officers and called them specialist ranks. An NCO was in a command position; a Specialist was more of a proficiency pay grade. During the VN War we had Spec/4 up to Spec/9. Highest I saw in RVN were the Spec/6's you might find helping the mess sergeant. I did see a Spec/7 once at Fort Ord - a specialist's eagle with 3 rockers under it. Strange looking rank. About the late '80s some genius did away with specialist ranks, except for E-4. (Corporals were already rare. Artillery has gun corporals, but they are virtually the only ones around.) Suddenly, everybody became an instant NCO - even the company clerk and the mechanics in the motor pool. The guys at the NCO Academy told me it was a BAD idea, since some guys simply are not fit for leadership positions. A GI might have been a fine mechanic, but when they switched him from SP/5 to SGT he was a screw up. As a result, he got booted out of the Army - and the Army lost a good mechanic. Also, the Army seems to give away a lot of "feel good" medals and ribbons. You get ribbons for going to PLDC, BNOC, ANCOC and for serving outside the US. Go to a combat zone and automatically pick up 2 or 3 more. I was a combat engineer. We were 30 miles from the closest US infantry, but acted as infantry and were considered second line infantry. Still, we were refused a CIB. I've read that all sorts of MOS's got the CIB in Iraq, since they got shot at. So what the hell did they think we were doing in the Central Highlands? Were mine sweeps and recons just a walk in the park for fun? Bitch over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave32 Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 Duh. *Smacks self upside the head* (on question of Bronze Star and Army Commendation medal). When I saw this: "The 1SG saw it and said we deserved a Silver Star. No way they'd give that to an E-3 and E-4., and even a BS and AC(V) were rejected" -- I thought you were talking about a rank or job title (as in, the BS was rejected along with the E-3 and E-4)... was trying to figure out what a BS was. Haha. A lot of the guys in my unit had CIBs from Desert Storm in '91. Along with a shitload of medals and a combat patch. Most of them said they were embarrassed to wear them, as few had actually seen even a moment of combat there (the guys I shared a barracks room with professed to playing four months of volleyball just killing time and waiting in the desert). Not quite comparable to the current situation. That your unit was passed by because you were engineers is fucking sick. BTW - straying even further OT from the OT digression -- I know a few Thais here in LA (from work, married to acquaintances, and the lady who cuts my hair), I asked them about Thammasat University and they said it was a GREAT school and to take advantage of the opportunity if possible (as opposed to the other programs). So... yeah, thanks for that tip from awhile back. It's Tuesday night, 11pm, time to head out for a drink. Later~! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 We got the Valorous Unit Award for the seige of Dak To, plus the South Viets gave us one to go with it. That was something, though not the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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flacko Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 Some can be.However if you shop around you can find some bargins Secure Horizons Offers a supplemental plan for $75 a month.Some of the cheaper do limit you on your choice of doctor and pharmacy. I find that ironic because one of the complaints about Obamas health plan was that we would be restricted in our choice of doctors.Hell the insurance companies already do that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangkoktraveler Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 Some can be.However if you shop around you can find some bargins Secure Horizons Offers a supplemental plan for $75 a month.Some of the cheaper do limit you on your choice of doctor and pharmacy.I find that ironic because one of the complaints about Obamas health plan was that we would be restricted in our choice of doctors.Hell the insurance companies already do that! If you ever see the write-up for some of these plans, it normally is a bound book - 8 1/2" X 11" and about 2 - 3 inches thick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh_Hoy Posted February 3, 2010 Report Share Posted February 3, 2010 About restrictions: 1. Nobody knows what kind of restrictions were in the Demoncrats legislation because it kept changing by the day. To try to ferret out those restrictions, you'd have to scan approximately 2300 pages. 2. It's a certainty that not all doctors would accept a single-payer plan by the Government, just like some doctors will not accept Medicare or Medicaid. 3. Most insurance policies I've looked at have two reimbursement schedules; those considered "preferred providers" and "others outside of the plan". For charges by those providers outside of the plan, reimbursement is at a lower rate. But back to the original premise, if I should be so bold. The premise is faulty. Survey's show that most American citizens already have some form of insurance, and approximately 85% are satisfied with their insurance. So how the OP came to ask the question in point is puzzling. HH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allistar Posted February 4, 2010 Report Share Posted February 4, 2010 I won't argue the point that most Americans have health insurance but that doesn't justify denying it to the 30 million plus Americans that don't have it. Excluding those on medicare (they should be happy with their insurance since they pay far less than the premiums), there are enough people with pre-existing conditions (who can't change jobs they would be denied under any other health plan), extremely high premiums/deductable or belong to a crappy HMO, that I think the satisfactory figure would be below 50%, probably considerably below the 50% figure. Health care treatment and health care insurance are two different questions and would get two vastly different answers in a survey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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