I have a son who was injured in Iraq. He's getting a medical retirement July 1. If I would have known what my folks must have been going through when I did 3 tours, I don't think I would have. Having my son over there was avery frustrating experience
knowing there was nothing I could do but support him.

My mother aged 10 years from Sept 68 to Oct 69.

Wayne Stafford

What about families at home?

Wayne,

I would have to agree with you regarding your mother. I know that mom went thru hell when both my dad and I were in country.

I didn't realize how much until we were at home on leave together and the everyone mentoned how well she looked. Her reply was basically that a full and worry free night of sleep did wonders for both body and mind.

Our thoughts and prayers for all the young men and women serving our country.

S/F Gary Alls
HMM-263 '66-'67

Vietnam was one of the best experiences of my life. I had played "war games," exercises or what ever, flying over my USMC grunts in Conus. In RVN I got the chance to do what we practiced for. I picked up medevacs, shot up targets for the mud Marines, reconed for them, inserted and retracted them, called in airstrikes, naval guns, and artillery for them. I did what ever I could for them. I was in support (VMO), as were all helos (and all Marine Air) to the efforts of those on the ground.

Of course it is so very hard on those who wait. My wife, in 1968, followed a USMC sedan, rarely seen there, out of Willmar, Minnesota, out the Little Crow Trail towards our place and was so relieved when it did not turn down our road. She would/could not pass it but could only follow it. If it had gone down our road she would not have. She was terrified.

My Grandmother had four flags in her window for her four sons (only children) serving during WW11, think she worried: two in the air and two at sea in the Pacific and Europe.

I remember my mother catching me crying at night when I learned my father was surrounded at Chosin in Korea, 5th grade. That is part of military life. Those who are not directly involved do not understand.

Fighters who allow in thoughts of those left behind, when they are involved in combat, will not survive. Combat requires full attention. Home/loved ones are not thought of when involved, only the situation at hand is what is real. Those, in the battle, know what is real, our mission and our other Marines.

It is worse for those at home. Parents can no longer protect their kids. It is a hard time. Our troops who decided to commit to the fight should be supported.

Lanny

My son got his orders to go a couple of weeks ago and will be leaving in a couple of weeks or so. I know he'll be OK, but that knot in my stomach won't go away. I wish I could take his place. Did any of us ever consider what our parents must have been going through? How often did we go days, weeks, or even months without writing home? Leaving them not knowing how we were doing or where we were. I wonder if my dad came home each night and sat in front of the television for hours hoping to find out some hint of what I might be doing.

Was it any different from when my dad was in the Pacific in WWII or his dad was in Europe in WWI?

Semper Fi
Glenn

What about the families at home?

My older brother went to Vietnam before me. By the time I got home, my parents looked much older. The worry took it's toll on them.

I agree, I followed my Marine father to RVN. My mother was very upset with the whole thing. As luck would have it; I was assigned to MWSG-17, H&MS-17 at Danang Airbase on 1st tour(with VMGR 152. My father was with 1st FSR Mt Maint Co at DaNang Air Base.

My mother was a special guest of General Lewis Walt during his travels on the west coast. She was the only Marine Wife and mother in Oregon to have both husband and son in RVN, and one son at MCRD in training, and another awaiting delayed entry. And I thought I had it hard. Ended up serving three tours in RVN. It was a very good learning experience, and showed the world that Marines were true brothers.

Sempe Fi

Parents

My parents had two of us in the military during Desert Storm. I was in the Marine Corps with HML-767 as a Huey crewchief and my younger brother was a LTJG Weapons Officer on a guided missle destroyer in the Red Sea /Persian Gulf. When I/we got back home our parents looked considerably older and had a lot more gray hair. My wife had aged a little also. Our parents never told us to what degree they worried about the two of us being in harms way. That became evident when they handed me 10 VHS tapes labeld "The Gulf War". It seems as though they stayed glued to the TV and taped, pretty much, the entire war as seen through the various media outlets of that time. My wife was running her business, so she spent her lunch time in the church down the block from her Nursery and Landscape company.
In any of the letters I received from my wife or my parents, none of them ever let on as to how much they worried about me or my brother being in combat. I guess they did not want us to have another thing to add to our list of worries. My father passed away in 1996, so now my mother worries and prays for all of the service men and women in Iraq and Afganistan. She tells me that a mothers prayers will help bring them home alive.

Chris Breaux
HML-767,HMH-362, HMM-261
CH-53D and UH-1N
Crewchief