posted on Jun, 9 2006 @ 05:24 PM
wow, dredging up memories from before my time… (my dob is 07/14/65) however my folks were Air Force… as I understood it, mom got out for getting
knocked up with me and dad was kicked out for a variety of reasons (he was given an ‘honorable discharge’ with, unbeknownst to any of us at the
time, a dishonorable spin number)
He was part of an extraction team that was going into those countries next to Viet Nam that we weren’t supposed to be in, at a time before it was
even a “police action”. After said missions he was chemically debriefed, which apparently was quite effective ‘cause he didn’t remember Any
of his overseas service until 1991 when he had his first heart attack.
The docs killed him, cut him up, and worked on his heart for three hours… it was pretty bad. Then they brought him back life… it actually Worked!
He lived another 12 years… However, when they brought him back they told him that he might remember some stuff… (Apparently that whole ‘life
flashing before your eyes’ thing when you die has some truth to it)
He remembered a Lot of crap that went down before I was born, and I (and his second wife) spent a lotta years tellin’ him to calm down or he’d
have another heart attack.
For the longest time the VA and other services refused to admit that he ever was. (After all, we weren’t supposed to be there then, doing That, ya
know?) Finally, a couple of months before he died (in 2003) the powers that be finally admitted that he was a VFW (which I still find kind of odd as
we never actually declared War on them) and gave him a purple heart for something that went down in Cambodia (which I also find odd because we
weren’t supposed to be There, either) but no benefits or GI loans or anything, and a Very Stern letter saying the matter was now CLOSED and he was
Still sworn to secrecy and national security bs and other such ‘shut up or else’ crap.
At least he got to die knowing that what he remembered really happened and he wasn’t Quite as crazy as he sometimes thought he was….
My memories of that era are from a kids point of view… mostly I remember folks just wanting to be over, that it was a bad idea, and that we
shouldn’t be there… sure, there were the ‘love it or leave it’ and ‘better dead than red’ crowd, but I don’t remember meeting any of
them *shrugs*
I vividly remember when a friend of ours got The Letter. (drafted) He was so freeked out and so didn’t want to go that he spent a week or so
drinking as much booze and shooting as much H as he could get his hands on, trying to mess himself up so badly that they wouldn’t take him…
He goes, he stands up to the line, turns out he was an inch too tall for the military so they sent him home with a thank you… I laugh now, but at
the time it was pretty freeky.
A kids memory isn’t the best thing in the world, but I Swear I remember some guys coming back in ’72 that had a bootleg tape of your show (reel to
reel tape)… not the stuff that is online either, but some other stuff… I’m trying to locate those guys now, but I haven’t seen or heard from
any of the ‘old gang’ since ’76 so I kind of have my doubts *sighs*
I also remember a biker Angel dude wearing the rabbit shirt (F it before it Fs you) and me wanting that shirt very badly… still selling those?
didn’t see any on the web site… would love to have a few…
The only person I can think of that Might have (or know some one who has) copies of your shows would be Dr. Demento… he has a rep for collecting
rare and groovy stuff….
I’ve sent him an email regarding the subject, you might wanna do the same… It’s a long shot but it couldn’t hurt, right?
This kind of history needs to be preserved.
Glad to see you’re still kicking and doing your thing… wish my dad were here *sighs*
rock on
twj