Vietnam Veterans Day proposed

[Packo]

Musta got in between the ages of 12 and 14. Young trooper, indeed! How about he probably served in Korea after the war. The family heard he served during the Cold War and figured it had to be either Bastogne or Korea.

Pack

[Packo]

I do love Roberts idea only I think we should have all the seasons....lets just announce Vietnam Veterans Year....every year!

Pack

[DMZ-LT]

Having survived a bayonet attack by the Nugen Giap 5077th Youth Sapper Battalion ,on Hill 881s at Khe Sanh , I can tell you its very hard to stop a charge by 250 12 year olds. The only thing that saved us was they had BB guns with rubber bayonets and their recess was called half way up the hill. Several of us received the MOH. Honest.

[Boats]

Veterans Day is not just our day - but a day we can reflect on all others who've served and given their almighty best to preserve our Country. You can't ask for more than that.

[Arrow]

I vote NO, NO and NO to a Vietnam Veterans Day for all the above stated reasons. And put into caps and underline Whale's post!

Arrow

[revwardoc]

"Having survived a bayonet attack by the Nugen Giap 5077th Youth Sapper Battalion ,on Hill 881s at Khe Sanh , I can tell you its very hard to stop a charge by 250 12 year olds. The only thing that saved us was they had BB guns with rubber bayonets and their recess was called half way up the hill. Several of us received the MOH. Honest."

DMZ-TL: I gotta hear the full story of this one!

[ussfa344]

Originally Posted by 1CAVCCO15MED

Just do the math. I checked, that is his birthdate. Edward XXXXX - LIMESTONE
Mr. Edward XXXXX, age 71, Limestone, TN passed away Sunday, February 14, 2010, at the John M. Reed Nursing Home.
Mr. XXXXX was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and was a son of the late Esker & Helen Greer XXXXX.
He was a US Army Veteran, having served in the Korean War.

Guys,

Two points:

1. Write your own obituary. You can bet your bottom dollar that your family will screw it up if it is left up to them after you pass away.

2. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medial was awarded for service in Korea I believe from 1 Oct. 1966 through 30 June 1974. I could be wrong on the dates, but I remember it still being open after I got out in 1969.

As the AFEM is considered a foreign service medal signafying service in a hostile zone, the obit may well be technically correct. Couple that with the US called Korea a Police Action rather than a war, you really have a lot of room for error. But the flip side of that coin is that the Department of Veterans Affairs consider the "Korean War Era" for benefit purposes to have been June 27. 1950 though January 31, 1955.

Robert

[1CAVCCO15MED]

You are right, I think I jumped the gun on this. I have one brother in law that was in the Korean War and another that was in Korea. The second one was also in Desert Storm and even though he was in Korea later than the war he says Korea was much worse than Desert Storm.

[BLUEHAWK]

Here is the regulation criteria for an AFEM, following on Robert's good thoughts:

"3. Criteria: a. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal may be awarded to members of the Armed Forces of the United States who after 1 July 1958 participate as members of U.S. military units in a U.S. military operation in which service members of any Military Department participate, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), in significant numbers and encounter during such participation foreign armed opposition, or are otherwise place in such a position that in the opinion of the JCS, hostile action by foreign armed forces was imminent even though it does not materialize.

b. The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal may be authorized for three categories of operations: U.S. military operations; U.S. military operations in direct support of the United Nations; and U.S. operations of assistance to friendly foreign nations.

c. The medal shall be awarded only for operations for which no other U.S. campaign medal is approved."

I devote the better part of every retirement day writing biographies (818 so far) for fallen and deceased airmen, which necessarily involves reading a lot of obituary material - where, I can testify, having served "in/during the Vietnam [etc] war" is not something I can take for granted as meaning the presence of a VSM. To know that I have to know what units and time spans and AFSC/MOS were involved. One does get well acquainted with and fussy about ribbon criteria.

It's all made more complicated by the official DOD beginning and end dates of wars, and by various other stipulations of criteria such as (most notably, e.g.) the thousands of airmen who served in SEA theater in places like Guam and Philippines and at sea, or who did repeated TDY in-country on ferrying or MATS details etc etc etc not amounting to the required length (30 days) of assignment to qualify for a ribbon. If a GI was KIA in less than 24 hours of boots on the ground in VN, then technically he would not rate the VSM either - though I feel sure a commander could make it happen for him. I feel for those guys, as for the ones who served 2 days less than qualifying for a Longevity award.

Anyhow, I think the current statistic is that about 10 times the number who actually served in-country are claiming to have done so; for a combination of reasons from survivor's guilt, to being in the TDY slot, to outright deception or the family/mortuaries/journalists not knowing the difference between "in" and "during" a war when the obituary is written.

This isn't any special news to anyone else, but may be something interesting many of us deal with who have served in any capacity at all.