All About Pocket Knives

QS, after reading this account I was hoping that you would share others. Thanks for a well written and from the heart account and I for one look forward for future chapters.

Thanks for sharing that QS. And please, share more!

fergusontd wrote: Those who served all have stories of our military experiences. I was Navy and served on a Destroyer in Vietnam, all vet stories are seen from different ways. Some saw combat some didn't, most of the time it was boring and routine, some things we'd like to forget other things we remember, good friends, good times.Thank you all for your service! ftd

You hit the nail on the head, Ferg. I've said many times, everyone's service is different. What you experienced depends on:
1) Who you were with, from service branch all the way down to the unit you served with.
2) What your MOS (job) was
3) Where you were
4) When you were there

Great story Garry, enjoyed it very much...but one thing for me very
personally stuck out...the thing that has kept me from not going off
the deep end in life's trial's.........
No matter how bad it gets, setting back, and that relaxing draw on that pipe packed
in with your favorite backie !!! Calmed down, and time to reflect what your next move is !!!

Will

So true stagman, so very true.

Great story Garry!

I quit smoking my pipes (I had a collection of course) about 20 years ago. I still miss them!
I didn't take a pipe overseas with me as I had just started smoking a pipe a little bit before I got orders; but I did acquire a few briars and a corncob or two after I got medevaced back home.
I think I got my first decent briar pipe between stays in the hospital while I was assigned as I a troop handler for Casual Company at the Marine Barracks on Treasure Island, CA.

I still have some of my favorite briars, several Comoys and GBD's, Sasiani 4 dots, etc. I even have several seconds or house brands that were very good smoking pipes, just not expensive. I suppose my favorite of all my pipes is the Comoy Blue Riband, one of my best pipes!

At one time Dale, in my youth, I had over a hundred pipes. Now only a couple; nothing near as good as yours anymore. I have fond memories of being 20, sitting around a campfire on the shores of Lake Michigan [Door County Penninsula] with a couple of fellow pipe smokers. As we drew on our pipes there seemed to be no world problem that we did not have the answers to. Somehow our solutions never took hold. Too bad because at that age we knew everything.

Very nicely related story. Thanks for posting it.

I have been to Door County in the spring. It was a bit too cold for camping, but even then the beauty of Door County is impressive!

I very much enjoyed reading this.
I guess my perspective of Vietnam is a ways from the reality. Being born in ‘60, Canadian and female, it really has no direct impact on me. I didn’t know anyone who had been in it, although I have since met some fellows who served.
In behind all the hype and controversy, there were, finally, men. It’s immensely important to remember that. Your day to day life, beyond the fighting, needs to be recorded and remembered. Plus, it’s just plain interesting!
I’d like to know more about it. What you ate, what card games you played, what you talked about. How did you handle the boring times?

Please, keep writing! You do it well. It flows.
My respects.

zoogirl, your comments are very kind. Thank you.

You are most welcome.
See, here’s the thing. I recently watched ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, the WW1 documentary. I was very aware of how lucky we are to have those first hand experiences recorded while the veterans could still recall them clearly.
I’m always shocked by the ages of veterans. To my mind, WW2 was my parents generation. My grandmother was a teenager during the Great War. Vietnam seems very recent. Then I look around and realize that the fellows are ten years older than me - seventy or better.
Record! Film interviews! Above all, write!
This is history and you played a part in it that deserves to be preserved.

zoogirl, I plan to do some more sketches. Funny thing, veterans have the reputation of not talking about their experiences. But I have noticed that many, including myself, as they get closer to their final trumpet start talking and sharing. I saw many of these on the History channel over the years. A psychologist could probably explain why all the verbalizing begins after decades of silence.

QS,
I’m certainly no psychologist, but perhaps you have answered your own question earlier in the thread. Your story needs to be passed on so it doesn’t pass with you.

My grandfather was a veteran of both WWII and Korea. He never talked about anything until diagnosed with cancer. He started to open up and discuss some of the darker places. It was as though he had stored up the fears and unknowns of war in the bottle of manhood. My cousins and I saw him as a giant among men. We never lost respect even when he was frail with disease. His frailty exposed, he no longer needed to keep the lid tight. He would open up and pour out his humanity to our eager ears.

Please, please pass it on. We are more than eager to hear.


Thanks for your service to our country, to the oppressed of the foreign land, and to your fellow brother soldiers.

That is a lovely comment Tony.