it doesn't bother me too much....the thing that REALLY irks me is that it screws up the shine on my boots
And frankly, I found that for every person that does that kind of stupid sh*t to me, there are 10 more that appreciate what we do.

Originally Posted by DTop

Pogue, let me clue you in on something. That's exactly what they were doing when I was in college (UMass). They were like sheep following their blind liberal instructors who had no sense of real life, who never struggled a day in their sheltered little ivory towers. These instructors were people who for the most part were recent students themselves who received their degrees and went on to teach without ever leaving academia. The monotonous diatribe gets drummed into the students and they don't have the common sense or wherewithal to make up their own minds. So instead their minds are made up for them and they blindly follow along. They just love to be on the bashing Bush bandwagon. It wouldn't really matter who was the president or what party he was affiliated with. I've seen them do it to Pres. Johnson (D) and Richard Nixon (R). They'd still be out their anti-whomever signs, they are just plain anti-establishment. For the most part it's not their sons or brothers risking their lives over there. You got it right, it's just the thing to do these days and that's all it means to them.

In this nice smaal country I come from, we have a saying: The best helmsmen are a shore."It means that people who aren't actually doing it, think they know better then people who have been doing it for years. It's human nature to see someone trip and think: "That's stupid, that wouldn't happen to me." and if you trip yourself you blame the wet floor or anything else but you. Don't think there's anything anyone can do to change that, so we'll al have to live with it...

Back when I was a VERY young Coastie (a few months past my 18th birthday), we were in yards in Charleston, SC. My shipmates and I were all (even the officers) working hard every day, and were extremely relieved that the Navy was gracious enough to assume the bulk of Shore Patrol duty for us. The only exceptions to the general liberty at night was a skeleton crew (mostly firewatches, which I never stood) and the two "token Coasties" assigned to the nightly Shore Patrol (which I did).

Since we were billeted off-base in a series of boarding houses, I had a civilian look and a civilian address...it wasn't long before I started dating a local college girl. Looking back, I realize that she only ever saw me in civvies and that we had never discused what it was that I did during the day. She just assumed that I was a student at one of the other colleges in the area.

One evening, I was taking my turn on the Shore Patrol and we responded to an altercation in a college bar between some Squids and Coasties and a bunch of college jocks. (Although outnumbered by something like 3-1, the sailors were making a VERY good accounting for themselves.) So we go into the bar in our uniforms...and there is the girl I had been dating.

You should have seen the look on her face as she simultaneously tried to spit on me and stick her nose up in the air, all in one move. I found out later that she was vehemently anti-military; her parents had been extremely vocal anti-war activists back in the 60's.

(Needless to say, we stopped dating after that...)

One quote comes to mind, and I know it would provde some solace to me in such a situation.

When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pu$sy."

General Tommy Franks

i know a person who served in nam, but i forget thier name. he was scottish, living in the US at that time, and decided to join up. he died years ago, but from what i hear, he served for quite a while, got wounded 4 times (bullet magnet) and was awarded the distinguished service cross. (i think)...

Bullet magnet, nice VEK! Is that what you think of us?