A question for Gimpy

[Dragon Lady]

I know this is going to sound dumb, but...what does FNG stand for?

I read your poem and found it to be very moving. The strength of bond between all of you is a very wonderful thing and must be a great feeling. To know that where ever you go, you will never be alone in this world.

I didn't think it was right for me to comment in that thread. I felt like I would be intruding on a special communication if I did. So I thought I would put my thoughts here in a new thread.

You guys have never tried to make me feel like an outsider, but I do know that there are just some places that I shouldn't go. And I have way too much respect for all of you to attempt to push my way in.

DL

[MORTARDUDE]

We are close because we fought in a war situation where you were fighting for the man besides you, and your parents and relatives at home were praying for you, but most of the rest of the world thought we were losers. After we came back, many of us just put our experiences away ( me ) or have fought years with a VA system that sometimes causes more problems than it solves. We all found each other on the History channel, and then when they wouldn't get rid of the wannabes and site pests....Arrow ( little sparrow ) found our home here..so we have had a long strange journey. Some of us on here get very passionate and worked up ( me included ) and say or do or feel things that we should not do sometimes. But as Paco so eloquently stated, if push came to shove, we would all be in the same foxhole together fighting a common enemy.... FNG stands for F*cking New Guy. Since I was the FNG my first day in combat, I got the radio of the fellow who stepped on a mine. After about 2 months or so, you were not called that anymore. Some folks gave the FNGs a hard time, but I tried to help them, because of the way I was treated. If you need to know what anything else means, by all means ask.

Larry

[DMZ-LT]

Fucking New Guy . Peace See ya soon .

[Gimpy]

Dear Dragon Lady.

Thank you so much for your kind words.

I can not put it any more eloquently than my two friends Mortardude (Larry) and DMZ-LT (John) have already stated.

We are ALL truly a "BAND OF BROTHERS"!

[Andy]

Just some added info. Replacements couldn?t be called replacements, it has no color and it is a long word. They were FNG?s but they were called a lot of other things too. Remember we had gone through a period when JFK and LBJ had been running the country, thus initials were very popular.

A new man was also, Fresh Meat, New Meat, Cherries, Virgins, Newbes, and a host of other not complimentary names. It usually took a fire fight, two months in the bush or other guys who were even newer than them before they lost the unwanted nickname.

In the infantry, in combat, life is difficult, it?s vulgar. Thus, our language reflected our status, or lack of status. The F word was very common and was used as a noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, exclamation and the other parts of speech that aren?t coming to mind.

As Larry said it was a good idea to treat new guys the way you would want to be treated, that new guy might be covering you in a fire fight later that day. It was also a good idea not to get close to the new guy. In the beginning he had to learn from scratch, a lot of the state side training wasn?t worth a damn. Hence his chances of getting killed always seemed greater. I called them Cherry until they made it thru a fire fight and gave a good account of themselves. After that they could have a name, they could be a person. Pretty harsh but such is war.

Stay healthy,
Andy
PS: Please don't ask me where the term Cherry came from.

[DMZ-LT]

One of my nightmares was asking my sainted Mom to pass the" F"ing salt when I got home.

[Dragon Lady]

Andy,
Thank you. I wont ask you about "cherry" I can figure that one out for myself. I just was not familiar with the acronym of FNG.

Larry,
Wow, I never knew about the origins of this site. Thank you so much for telling me about it. And here I thought you each found each other here on this site.

I know that I am not personally responsible for the way each of you were treated on your return to the States, but I am so sorry for the ignorant, disgusting things that people did and said. How subversively and insidiously they undermined your efforts and in doing so they brought this country down. I hope that some day that we again become a society worthy of what you have given us, not to mention the ultimate sacrifice that your Band of Brothers and our family members made.

There is such a profound feeling deep in my heart that I find it so hard to express myself. Its like it all gets jumbled up. All I know is "thank you" just doesn't quite touch it.

But until they invent something better it will just have to do.

Thank you for the effect and influence that you have had on my life. Thank you for helping to make me the person I am today. These thank yous go out to all Viet Nam Vets. You didn't have to meet me in person to have such an effect. I guess its like the drop of water in the pond. Each ripple affects every ripple next to it and together they keep spreading across the surface.

Okay, I just realized that I'm starting to ramble. I hope you are able to understand my rantings and know that I mean this with all my heart....thank you.

DL