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[Jim Tarleton]

Alvin: Those ol' pump guns really lit em' up! They can say what they want about Vietnam, but old grunts like us are here to tell our stories, drink our beer and chase the trim. I tell everybody, Vietnam Vets were not the "Greatest Generation" but every damn one of us was trained by a member of the "GG"...OUR DADS OR GRANDFATHERS OR UNCLES!!! As a member of the 25TH. I.D. let me cross branch lines and give a hearty SEMPER FI to all my Marine brothers! Warmest regards to all Americans on the 4th. [even Quakers because I love those damned Oats!] Jerry aka ALVIN #1

Happy 4th of July!!

A nice burst from an M16 didn't do so badly. I carried a camera with me most of the time, and I have some neat pics of what various weapons will do to the human body, including a Claymore (nasty) and an AmTrak (squish!). Definitely not for the squeamish.

I think the Viet Vet's did very well for their generation. After that experience, I realized very early what I wanted from life, and what I was willing to give up (nothing!). I may have been one of the lucky ones, as I have never dreamed of RVN - not once. I do have a lasting feeling of wasted lives due to Westmoreland's "enemy attrition" stupidity, an idea which should have disappeared after WWI. And what can one say about McNamara's, the harbinger of death to his own troops?

We were one heck of a military force that mowed down everything in our path, sometimes at a high cost to ourselves. We got an undeserved public personae that irks me to this day, but I was there and I know what really happened.

I salute all my brothers in arms that endured the hardships of combat and the derision of our fellow countrymen who never placed themselves in harm's way, yet claimed to know the secrets of life. No one can really appreciate life until they have observed death that comes with so much violence. I have lived every day of my life since knowing that life is a gift that can be snatched away in a split second. There is no second chance either. I saw brave men pray to live and then die. I saw brave men curse God and then die. I saw brave men go quietly, and I saw brave men go screaming in agony. I saw men with greater courage than I, and I saw men cower in fear when I felt nothing. I saw cowards become heroes, and I saw heroes who never came home and many who never got a single medal for their deeds. Such is the nature of the process.

Combat is not for everyone. It is a vicious lesson in the ability to control fear. If there is glory in combat, it is the ability to walk out after the fight is over knowing without any equivocation you were, on that day, the meanest SOB in the valley! One thing for sure, it makes an "E" ride look like a walk in the park.

Semper Fi America,
Jim