The making of a veteran, documented photographically
A friend of mine was recently recounting his enlistment as a Marine back in the early ’60s, and his subsequent assignment to South Vietnam. His tour came back in the early days, before most people had ever heard of the place.
Why did you enlist, I asked him.
“Well, I had always wanted to be an ex-Marine,” he said, “and as far as I could figure, there was only one way to do that….”
To mark Veterans Day, here’s a damn fine photo essay by the Denver Post, documenting the transformation of a gawky local kid fresh out of high school into an Iraq war veteran who comes home confident enough to step into early adulthood. It’s a beautiful, largely unvarnished peek into a journey that tens of thousands of young Americans take every year.
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114 comments Add your comment
Paul
November 11th, 2009
8:17 am
Thanks, Jay. And thanks for the link.
I don’t put the flag out often. Today’s one of those days.
Later -
I Report (-: You Whine )-: AmWet Is A Coward mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 11th, 2009
8:18 am
Duty, Honor, Country, dude.
TnGelding
November 11th, 2009
8:21 am
Children playing war. Let’s raise the enlistment age to 21.
I salute all veterans on this day and apologize for the grandstanding politicians you will have to endure.
Turd Ferguson
November 11th, 2009
8:24 am
Im sure our Campaigner in Chief will be standing up running his big yap about things of which he knows nothing.
TnGelding
November 11th, 2009
8:25 am
I Report (-: You Whine )-: AmWet Is A Coward mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 11th, 2009
8:18 am
Great motto, but how many can actually live up to it?
There are deadbeat vets, just like every other category. Many feel they were used and discarded by an ungrateful country.
TnGelding
November 11th, 2009
8:26 am
Turd Ferguson
November 11th, 2009
8:24 am
And I’m sure an expert like you will be glad to fill him in, or hold your own ignorant tongue.
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
8:27 am
“Great motto”
I’m not so sure about that. I’ve always thought it odd that Duty was put before Honor. What good is it to do your “duty” if it is a dishonorable act?
Yo'momma Obama
November 11th, 2009
8:27 am
Damned straight. Now remember all you liberal surrender monkeys when PFC Ian is out there protecting your right to eat granola and sip lattes, ungrateful traitors. And tell your Muslim President Hussein Obama to grow a pair!
Now go shoot some ragheads Private!!!!
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
8:29 am
“Now remember all you liberal surrender monkeys when PFC Ian is out there protecting your right to eat granola and sip lattes, ungrateful traitors.”
Congratulations on joining our armed forces. When do you start training?
stands for decibels
November 11th, 2009
8:29 am
Andy, maybe just for one day, you could stop with the petty stupidity in your screen name?
You know, maybe have just a little teensy bit of class for a change?
That asking too much?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 11th, 2009
8:29 am
Well, I went in the army because I finished my senior year of school, the 5th grade and I got drafted. Besides, the classroom desks were getting to be a little tiny after I reached 16.
Anyhow, I’m all for bringing back the draft. I recall how it use to be. The county big shots that set on the draft board kept their eye out for any kid that was out of school. They sort of liked drafting some kid they didn’t like. I remember when they got old Elvis and alot of people just loved it that they got this long-hair.
Back in those days, you didn’t have a lottery. Every boy had to serve, unless they failed the physical exam. Or unless their parents were rich enough to send them to colledge. It didn’t matter if they didn’t need that many people in the army. They drafted them anyway. So you got alot of poor kids showing up in boot camp. Can’t recall any rich ones. The draft was a kind of revenge the rich people in the county took on the poor people they didn’t like much anyway.
Anyhow, a few years in the military would do librul hippies like getalife a world of good. I’m proud I served. Not that I had a choice.
Have a good Veterans Day everybody.
pat
November 11th, 2009
8:32 am
Very well done photo essay! My deepest heart felt thanks to those who served and are serving. God bless you all!
Paul
November 11th, 2009
8:32 am
G’morning, Doggone/GA
“Duty Honor Country”
I don’t think the order of the words is in order of precedence.
I may be incorrect -
TnGelding
November 11th, 2009
8:35 am
Redneck Convert (R–and proud of it)
November 11th, 2009
8:29 am
The draft was a way out of povery for many. It provided us with an education and a vocation.
I salute your service. Have a great day!
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
8:35 am
“I don’t think the order of the words is in order of precedence”
No, I don’t know either…and the speech doesn’t really help indicate, but if you’d like to judge for yourself…it’s posted here:
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/douglasmacarthurthayeraward.html
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
8:36 am
Thanks for that link, Jay.
Soldiers just passed thru coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. Be back later. time for lunch.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: AmWet Is A Coward mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 11th, 2009
8:36 am
sfd- I’m sick and tired of people threatening my family over some stupid blog, ok? That should not be too hard to understand.
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
8:38 am
“I’m sick and tired of people threatening my family over some stupid blog, ok?”
but you still won’t post the actual threat
Taxpayer
November 11th, 2009
8:39 am
Many feel they were used and discarded by an ungrateful country.
So true, TnGelding.
Paul
November 11th, 2009
8:40 am
DoggoneGA
Duty Honor Country
Thanks. It could be going from least to most, or mean nothing other than he liked the cadence of the words in that particular order.
But overall, taken together, it’s what sets vets apart from so many others.
There’s a lot embodied in those three words.
Taxpayer
November 11th, 2009
8:40 am
The boogeyman has got a stranglehold on whiner.
Paul
November 11th, 2009
8:41 am
8:40
I thought Marsh left?!!?
Mrs. Godzilla
November 11th, 2009
8:42 am
For my Mr. G (1st Air Cav) and my Dad (Army Air Corp Black Panther Squadron) and all vets everywhere:
Thank you for keeping me safe and may God bless you.
Taxpayer
November 11th, 2009
8:45 am
Yo momma,
this one’s for you:
Alexios Marakis, a Greek Orthodox priest visiting the U.S., got lost in Tampa and tried to stop and ask directions from Marine reservist Jasen D. Bruce. But instead of offering help, “Bruce struck the priest on the head with a tire iron.” The reservist believed Marakis, who spoke limited English, was an Arab terrorist. Bruce chased the priest for three blocks, “and even called 911 to say that an Arabic man tried to rob him.”
Road Scholar
November 11th, 2009
8:45 am
Honor….Now if bloggers who define themselves as vets and/or patriotic or as just plain citizens could live the true meaning of the word and not insult others about their views. To all the vets, past, present, and those in the future, thank you for your service.
Common Sense
November 11th, 2009
8:50 am
“While we are certain there are no good wars, we are not so naive as to believe that there are no necessary wars. The brutal reality of war for the great majority of Americans is abstract, almost theoretical.”
Lt. Gen. Harold Moore (We Were Soldiers Once and Young)
Spoken to the cadets at West Point (2005) in his farewell address
“Dulce Bellum Inexpertis”
Normal
November 11th, 2009
8:52 am
The Pictures of them getting married reminded me of my time. Back in the day, you had to ask permission of the Captain of your ship/unit to get married. It meant filling out a Permission Chit and sending it up the chain of command. My Chief signed it disapproved and the written explaination was…”If the Navy wanted him to have a wife, they would have issued him one”…
Taxpayer
November 11th, 2009
8:53 am
Oops! It looks like poor Hannity has got caught, yet again, in another of his great lies. The poor fella. The things he’s willing to do just defy honor, integrity, courage… .
Normal
November 11th, 2009
8:54 am
Whiner, I’ll ask you again…show me that threat, or apologize.
Jay
November 11th, 2009
8:56 am
Some days this is like running a kindergarten class.
Yo Momma Obama is gone.
Reporter, threats to other bloggers and especially their families will not be tolerated. But I’ve gone over a week’s posts from AmVet and find nothing that could in any way be construed as a threat to anybody. If you have evidence to the contrary, provide it. If you can’t, duty and honor would require you to apologize, but I won’t make that a requirement myself. Let’s see if you act like you talk.
In the meantime, take AmVet’s name out of your nom de blogue. Toe-Tapper, do the same; you’ve been warned before.
Turd, change your name as well. It’s had its run. Discuss the topics of the day, not each other.
stands for decibels
November 11th, 2009
8:56 am
Lest I forget–thanks, Jay, for that damn fine Denver Post photo essay link. They do grow up so fast.
=======================
I’m sick and tired of people threatening my family over some stupid blog, ok? That should not be too hard to understand.
Hey, it’s just a stupid blog and all that, but… “people?” plural? You’re implying that both AmVet and Marsh threatened your family. Really?
Normal
November 11th, 2009
8:57 am
Jay, Thank you, Sir.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: AmWet Is A Coward mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 11th, 2009
9:02 am
jbookman@ajc.com, right?
GEORGE CONSERVATIVE
November 11th, 2009
9:03 am
AMERICA NEEDS ANOTHER VETERAN FOR COMMANDER-AND-CHEF.
TOO BAD KENYA DOESN’T HAVE A MARINE CORPS!!!
Jay
November 11th, 2009
9:04 am
That is correct, Reporter, although I don’t have immediate access to it at the moment.
getalife
November 11th, 2009
9:05 am
Jay is proof the adults are in charge.
At the WH too and Obama said it best yesterday at Fort Hood that I will post again for Veterens Day:
“This generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen have volunteered in a time of certain danger. They are part of the finest fighting force that the world has ever known. They have served tour after tour of duty in distant, different and difficult places. They have stood watch in blinding deserts and on snowy mountains. They have extended the opportunity of self-government to peoples that have suffered tyranny and war. They are man and woman; white, black, and brown; of all faiths and stations – all Americans, serving together to protect our people, while giving others half a world away the chance to lead a better life.”
The new greatest generation.
deegee
November 11th, 2009
9:05 am
My brother is on a business trip in Ho Chi Minh City right now. Who knew 35 years and 58,000 U.S. soldiers ago that fighting a war of containment in Vietnam wouldn’t turn out well for us? Let’s not do that again. God bless the men and women that fight the wars. God help the men and women that start them.
Doggone/GA
November 11th, 2009
9:05 am
“Jay, Thank you, Sir”
Agreed
Jay
November 11th, 2009
9:05 am
And please remove reference to Amvet in your name.
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
9:06 am
Enter your comments here
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 11th, 2009
9:06 am
No problem, I will refrain.
But I hope not to see it again.
Angry Black Man
November 11th, 2009
9:06 am
Jay @ 8:56
Thank you very much.
Joan
November 11th, 2009
9:08 am
God bless the United States, and give the people in it today, the strength of character, resolve and common sense that the Greatest generation had in abundance.
Common Sense
November 11th, 2009
9:10 am
“The rifleman fights without promise of either reward or relief. Behind every river there’s another hill, and behind that hill, another river. After weeks or months on the line only a wound can offer him the comfort of safety, shelter, and a bed. Those who are left to fight, fight on, evading death but knowing that with each day of evasion they have exhausted one more chance for survival. Sooner or later, unless victory comes, this chase must end on the litter or in the grave.”
General of the Army
Omar N. Bradley
“Salus populi suprema lex”
Kamchak
November 11th, 2009
9:12 am
Jay
This is your space and you make the calls. What Marsh did last pm you judged as over the line. If that is true then this sample of attacks that happened in only one day meets the same criteria.
Common Sense
November 11th, 2009
9:12 am
To deegee:
Once a Warrior King by David Donovan:
“If there was immorality in the war in Vietnam, it was that a democratic nation called her citizens to war, had them killed by the tens of thousands, and then, like a faithless lover, turned and scorned the survivors. Oh, perfidious nation!”
Normal
November 11th, 2009
9:15 am
Whiner, all you had to do was show me the post and if it was what you said, I would have apologized to you. I’m not afraid to admit to a mistake.
FrankLeeDarling
November 11th, 2009
9:16 am
Amazing photos,A much need reminder of just how young those we choose to send out to fight in our name really are.
and a hearty thanks to all who serve.
Gale
November 11th, 2009
9:16 am
Thanks for the link, Jay. I sent it to my stepson who enlisted at 19. It was an interesting glimpse of his experience. He is now 45 and I still think he regrets that no one shot at him during his enlistment. I think he feels cheated of that badge of courage. Just a mom’s, and a “liberal’s” POV. Maybe he’ll open up some day and tell me.
stands for decibels
November 11th, 2009
9:16 am
A deep(ish) thought.
ABM, you wrote downstairs that you completely mistrust written history.
Not to pick on you, it’s just a thought, intended to spark some reflection: For the record, that seems a tad extreme, if for no reason other than it effectively shuts out endeavoring to understand life prior to our own collective living memory.
Not sure how to tie this in to honoring our vets today, but somehow it seems we must. We don’t have anyone alive to tell us how this or that Civil War general’s decisions affected life among the common foot soldier; it would be terrible to cast aside, I think, efforts by historians to revisit the source material –the reports, correspondence, etc.–and try to make sense of it based on what we know today.