Doug, 2 tours, got out in 78/79 right after we fubar'ed that thing in Iraq. Last real ship I was on was the Ranger. That dosnt count my early brown water time. Life was much simpler then. Young and thought we were indestructble.
I dont know that I would want to do all of it again but I wouldnt trade it for anything. Best years I can remember spending ever. I have to admit I liked Thailand better than the PI also. I thought most of SE asia was pretty cool.

I am extremely pleased Australia is standing behind the USA, because it is the right thing to do. And Ray thanks for the compliment, Americans are also great people and I have met some great American blokes off this website.

Wishing for the safe return of All the troops from the USA, Britain and Oz they deserve to come back safely because there doing the job the rest of the world and the gutless UN are turning there back on.

I apologize for hijacking this somewhat, but I gotta tell this story about Olongapo. In 1971 I went across the Shit River into the town with a guy named Augidious (sp.). We both had been in Survival School at Clark. I'd already been to the Cubi Point/Olongapo several times or earlier flights to Cubi Point and was familiar with the craziness. Augidious was straight out our leading a platoon in I Corps. He was the only person who wasn't civilized enough for Olongapo!

Just after walking over the bridge, after watching little kids "diving" for coins between the turds, we passed a little boy with a duck and a croc in a tiny pond. The kid was shouting... "Hey, GI... see the croc eat the duck.. 2 dollar..." Augidious, against my advice.. he was slap full of a dozen or so San Magoo's.. paid the two bucks. The boy put the duck in the pool. The well trained duck then swam over to the crocks back, climbed aboard and openned its mouth for a treat. The little boy laughed and shouted... I fooled you G.I.... ha ha... You dumb sucker, G.I.. and so on.. About 75 guys had stopped to watch the show and were laughing and hooting it up, too. Augidious didn't see the humor. He jumped the little fence, pushed the crock out of the way.. and said.. "I paid two dollars for that sumbitch... If that aligator ain't eating the damn duck., then I am" With that, he proceeded to bite the head off of the duck and start chewing.. feathers and gore going everywhere... The surrounding crowd of sailors and Marines were going wild. The little boy started screaming, grabbing Agidious by the leg (Agidious was 6'5") and calling for the police. When about 50 police and bar bouncers came running with AR-15's and Model 97 Winchesters... I paid the boy a couple of $20 bills, grabbed my drunken friend... now bloody from head to toe and jumped into one of those duded-up jeep taxis and took Agidious back to the BOQ. I had to tote Augidious into his room and put him to bed fully clothed.

About a week after I got back to my squadron, I got a letter from Augidious asking me if he got into a fight in Olongapo and if I knew why he had been shitting feathers for the last few days. Pretty darn funny.

On a serious note, I pray the the 70% of Aussies who don't support the war will figure it out and support their brave government.

Semper Fi, you fellows and ladies from Down Under!

[ 03-19-2003, 16:19: Message edited by: JudgeG ]

JudgeG
Don't belive the 70% thing, Its just media hype. I was at the Vet in uniform and was thanked for "doing a top job" by an old fella. I think most of Australia support the war.

Bakes

Glad to hear it! When the truth is finally uncontrovertable with physical evidence, I'll bet lots of folks will say they agreed with the war, all along... even if they didn't.

The 70% number is a rounded-up survey number. You will probably find other surveys show differing numbers and this is the highest "anti" number available to the left-wing media and socialists (remember the "greens" is Australia have painted over their "red" colour - that's all)

The 70% is also NOT against a war on Iraq but is that 70% of surveyed people believe UN approval should have been achieved prior to war.

A great many would be in favour of wiping Hussein off the face of the Earth and his evil regime.

These surveys were also before the French threatened to veto the vote no matter what the result was.

Also many people are ignorant of what the UN is and this is encouraged by the opposition parties in Australia who believe sovereignty should be ceded to faceless international bodies and committees run by despots, corrupt and evil regimes and other assorted countries who have their own strategies of self-interest.

The current govenment's party believes the Australian Parliament is sovereign and has a right to make decisions for own country and not sundry Nigerians, Argentinians, French, Zimbabwean, South African, Kazarkstanians etc etc

And the people of Australia elected the government in free and fair elections to govern this country. Not the sundry minority riff-raff and scum that the socialist media panders to.

NitroX, well said!

Nations whose governments are put in place by the collective will of their people should not feel compelled to take instructions from nations whose governments are not so legitimately derived.

And the idea that legitimate nations should cede thier sovernty in such a manner could only be dreamed up by the idiotic, immoral leftists.

Again, well said.

There is a saying "Damned Lies and Statistics".

To correct some comments on 70% of Australians are against the war in Iraq.

Here is a post I posted on the NE.com forums on the 4th of February.

Australians most in support of war on Iraq

Australia the most pro-war: poll

Australia is the country most in favour of military action against Iraq, an international poll of 39 countries has found.

The Gallup International survey, released on Tuesday, found 68 per cent of Australians backed some sort of military action against Iraq.

However, 56 per cent were in favour only if the United Nations supported it, while just 12 per cent of Australians supported unilateral action by the United States and its allies.

Some 27 per cent of Australian respondents said they would not support war under any circumstances - five per cent didn't know.

In Australia, levels of support for war outstripped even the US, where the poll showed 67 per cent supported some type of military action.

However, 33 per cent of Americans supported unilateral action, and 34 per cent backing action if it was UN-sanctioned.

Some 21 per cent of Americans said they would not support war under any circumstances and 12 per cent didn't know.

Public opinion is split in Britain, where the Blair administration has lined up with Australia to support the US in its military build-up in the Middle East.

While 39 per cent of Britons were in favour of UN-backed military action against Iraq and another 10 per cent supported unilateral action, 41 per cent were opposed to military action under any circumstances, and 10 per cent didn't know.

The poll also found the vast majority of people in most countries thought war was likely to break out in the next few months.

Some 89 per cent of Australians expected an imminent war with Iraq, and 53 per cent said Australia should support the war if it breaks out.

In the US, 73 per cent of people would support their country's involvement in conflict with Iraq.

The poll also revealed that most people in more than two-thirds of the countries surveyed, including 51 per cent in Australia, think US foreign policy has a negative effect on their nation.

In Australia, the survey was conducted by Roy Morgan late last month.

�AAP 2003

NineMSN.com.au

NitroExpress.com forum thread

[ 03-20-2003, 13:13: Message edited by: NitroX ]