I spent 6 years in the Army National Guard, 2 years in the regular Army and 18 months in the Army Reserves. Although I was never in combat I am very proud of my military service. Here is a patriotic song that sums up what I believe. It probably is some what old fashioned to wear your patriotism on your sleeve as I do, but I am not ashamed!
A veteran is someone
who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank
check made payable to 'The United States of
America ' for an amount of 'up to and
including my life.'
That is Honor, and
there are way too many people in this country
who no longer understand it.'
The next time you see an uniformed soldier go up to him and say thanks for your service and mean it! If it wasn't for our long serving military we would have lost our freedom a long time ago. The many men and women who have served with honor need your support now! Obama is cuting back funding for our military and the VA (Veterans Administration). There are 12,000 less doctors and nurses in the VA and tens of thousands more veterans applying and using the VA for their primary health care.
He is reducing our overall strength by thousands of soldiers, Sailors and Marines. Obama is working hard to destroy this country and we can't let him do it! The State Department controlled by Obama has stated they want to eliminate our nuclear weapons so as to make us completely defenseless against a Nuclear attack as well as a mighty deferment against any attacks.
Just go to the White House web site and check on the "executive orders" he has signed that most people don't even know about and the media has not said a thing about these unconstitutional executive orders.
Well, this is me during the Korean War. I was 21 at the time. I was a SGT in an Army National Guard rifle company, 35th Division. 138th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Baker Company. I was never called up to go to Korea. I was just lucky. I was on the firing line one day when my coach started kicking me in the rump. I was just about to get up and let him have it when he pointed to a older man who was coming my way.
It was General Mark Clark, the 5 star general of WW2 fame. He came
right up to me and asked how I had done as I had just finished firing a full clip, 9 shots, prone position on the 500 yard range with the M1 rifle. The score came up and I had 8 bulls and a 4. He said pretty good shooting. I then had enough courage to ask him if he was going to call us up. He looked at me and said well your division isn't quite ready as yet. I said, "Yes Sir!" And that was how I missed the Korean War and I wasn't too unhappy about it at the time, but I sometimes wish I could have tasted what combat was really like. (not really.)
I am sorry to say (not really he needed it!) I was in a fight with another Sergeant and the end result was a choice of a Court Marshall or the draft. I took the draft. Of course before being drafted I was immediately busted down to an E2, a buck private that is. Then I had to endure the next several months as a busted and disgraced former Sergeant. As for going into the regular full time Army; Actually instead of a punishment I later considered it a great opportunity. I got more out of the Army then the Army got out of me.
I guess you could call me "hep" when I went into the Army, as I had learned some important things even in the Army National Guards. For one thing you never, never, ever volunteer for anything, period! You try not to get noticed, especially in basic training. You wait until later when being noticed may be worth while, but never in basic training! It was January the 20th and just 10 days before the Korean war was officially to end so I got all the benefits of the GI bill. At the same time there were thousands trying to enlist before the dead line to get the GI bill. It seemed to be an ironic situation as here I was not a volunteer, yet I was getting all these benefits later on..
I went on to serve 2 years in the regular Army and then 18 months in the Army reserves. I took my 8 weeks of Basic training at Camp Chaffee Arkansas in the dead of winter. Not much fun that was. I went to the Army radar school at Fort Monmouth, NJ for 33 weeks. Spent 6 weeks at Ft. Sill Oklahoma in an Atomic Cannon Battery. It took me 6 weeks to work myself out of that, but that's another story. (It is a great story that I will retell some day.) Then spent about a year at Ft. Bliss Texas attached to a 5 man Signal Detachment commanded by a Warrant Officer who used to be a Sergeant and who was a great guy, a great year that was! (Kept my pass in my wallet!) After living in old WW2 wooden barracks for years finally had it made in modern barracks with air conditioning and 2 man cubicles. Man was I living. Almost re-upped before I came to my senses.
Some times I regretted that I didn't. Looking back, even discounting the not so pleasant things, I wish that I had. One day during the first week of basic training I along with a couple other men, were called to a meeting by an officer. The jest of it was we were offered a chance to apply for OCS, Intelligence and several other choice opportunities. No one wanted to take advantage of this one time offer. I think we were draftees all. To my living regret to this day I am sorry that I didn't accept one of them.
After my military service I spent the next 12 years working as a Field Engineer and technician maintaining and programming large scale computers, but before that spent 3 years at Cape Canaveral, Florida working with GE on the Atlas missile system. Great 3 years. Then was assigned to work 9 months on a large scale Air Force long range search radar site near the great town of Eufaula Alabama that was covering our southern flank in the Caribbean. After that great assignment went to Computer school in Phoenix Arizona and then on to LA. Took advantage of the GI bill and did 3 years of Electronic Engineering at West Coast University in LA. Over the next 20 years here and there finally had enough credits to be and consider myself college educated.
Oh yes, I got married after my Army service and raised 3 sons and a daughter. All who are all doing very well. Have 4 grand children, 3 girls and one boy, Marissa, Isabelle, Alina and Eddy. They are the apple of my eye. I am proud of all of them.
What I really Believe. (And I am not afraid to say it!)
What I really believe is that all good Americans should be proud of this great country of ours and serve it well. Always vote and live a good life. Be prepared to defend the USA when it is necessary and you know what? It is necessary right now! We are in real trouble. We have a Muslim president who is doing what all he can to destroy this country. We have crooks, homosexuals and incompetents in our government. Our country is broke. We are being over run by illegal immigrants. Soon we will be in a another Civil War when the white race is at a minority. We own more money due to our national debt then can be repaid in 100 years. We have over 20 million illegal immigrants and counting that Obama is threatening to make legal by executive order, by a stroke of his pen. He is creating a welfare state that can not be sustainable.
There are a lot of greedy people who think this is a great thing, a lot of freebies and they don't have to work for it. After all why would the lazies want to work when they can get 99 weeks of unemployment pay (which may be indefinitely renewed) food stamps, free government food and even free government cheese, free medical, more and more freebies? (After all Obama will always take care of his kind won't he? Just give them all the fried chicken they want and an ice box full of beer along with their dope. What else would a person want?) Well, this Obama welfare state will not last. It is not self sustainable. However, it doesn't have to last too long. Only long enough to get to the point that Obama wants. Guess what that is. I will give you only one guess.
We are at war! And most of the good Americans don't even realize it! What we can do and we must do is to elect a republican president in 2012. I just hope whoever it is that he has the intelligence and courage to do what is right and necessary. This is really only common sense, but who in our present government is acting like they have any common sense? One thing that should be just plain common sense is to start making our own goods again. The hell with China! This would put a lot of people back to work. Next quit giving our money to the countries that hate our guts, shoot our men in the back, and get our men out of harms way! Also show the rest of the world that we no longer will tolerate any thing against us that causes us harm!
We should quit worrying about what the bleeding heart liberals, or for that matter any one else, or any other group, or any other damn country might think or say, and start protecting our country against all enemies both foreign and domestic! We should start acting like we got a pair, a great big pair! The hell with world opinion and we should quit worrying about what others think.
There should be immediate and swift punishment for any one attempting to do us harm. Once this punishment is swiftly acted upon, the country or terrorists group committing the act will think twice before trying it again! This should include the traitors, the so called home grown terrorists, who are being recruited by the use of the Internet. Treason should punished by a firing squad! Terrible crimes against the innocent should be the death penalty! The punishment should fit the crime! When you are strong and determined your enemies will respect you, but not before! In spite of what the bible says the meek will not inherit the earth, they are ones who will be vanquished.
Ft. Sill Oklahoma and how I got out of there!
.
OK. I promised to tell you about how I got out of a serious predicament at Ft. Sill Oklahoma. Well, here it is and at the time it wasn't amusing but in retrospect it was. Being the anchor man of my Radar class on my completion at Ft. Monmouth I did not have a choice of assignment, but took what was left and that was Ft. Sill near Lawton Oklahoma. I later found out that it was the arm pit of the US Army bases. (Sorry to you Okies, but that was the way I saw it at the time.)
After a great 14 days leave at home in St. Louis where I had the great pleasure of meeting and going out with two lovely ladies in rapid succession, that is, one after the other and left with at least one broken heart, I hoped. (It must have been the uniform) I made my way to my assignment at Ft. Sill Oklahoma and was promptly assigned to an Atomic Cannon Battery as a radar operator. I protested that I was a trained radar technician not a radar operator but to no avail. (there is a big difference) I was now a radar operator. So I made my way that night to my new assignment. Checked in and found myself a bunk and then went down to take a shower.
As I was taking my shower a short chubby guy came in with a towel wrapped around his waist and looked at me and asked if I was a new man I said, "Yes, just checked in." I then said what was the most stupid thing that I had ever said before or since. I said, "How is the first Sergeant? is he a no good bastard like most of them?" (Thinking he was just a grunt like me.) He looked at me sort of strange and said he was OK. Yes. Then he asked me what my name was. I told him and on to finish my shower. You guessed it. At reveille the next morning there he was with the chevrons of 3 stripes up and 3 rockers down with the little triangle in the middle, the first Sergeant!
That morning at reveille he started out saying, "I want two volunteers, Schrader and who else?" That was the way it went every morning for over 6 weeks. There's a lot more to this story. Well, I had KP, guard duty, latrine orderly, even prisoner chaser and every shit detail he could come up with constantly. The other Sergeants, not all of them. (Some didn't go along with this "treatment" I have to say to their credit) were also in on the fun giving me a very hard time, all the time! I was beginning to get a little upset with all this very personal attention. I was seriously thinking of some drastic steps to get out of this situation like going AWOL, but only briefly. It was getting a little tiring to say the least. The one thing he didn't do was hold my pass. I could never figger that out as it would have been the most severe punishment of all. It would have been the last straw. (There must of been a senescence of conscious in his dark soul was all I could think.)
So I started trying to volunteer for any outfit going over seas that needed my skills, that is a radar tech. I would read the post newspaper for this constantly. They all said sure just get your Battery Commander's permission, (easier said then done!) We need a good radar technician. The kicker turned out to be that I could never get pass the 1st Sergeant. I tried many times to ask him permission to see the Battery Commander and he would always say, "Permission denied. Get your ass out of here!" So that was the way it went.
One morning at reveille he made the first mistake on his part. That morning he said as usual, "I want two volunteers, to try out for the post rifle team, Schrader and who else?" Then I saw him blink as he realized what he had done. I found out later that if you make the post rifle team that the day before a match you did not get any duty so that you could rest up for the match. I was always a good shot, especially with the M1 rifle. I had fired expert more than once. Well, I did make the team to his chagrin, I think. So whenever there was a match I had it made, no details and little harassment
One night before my up coming Rifle Match the whole regiment including my beloved Atomic Cannon Battery had a night training secession out in the boonies during a blizzard and I was all alone in the barracks sleeping very cozily. Suddenly I was rudely awakened by a guy covered with snow and ice who said I was wanted by the Major at the radar site. I protested, but the messenger said the Major wants you out there now! So who am I to not go when commanded by a Major, not me. So I was driven out to the site in a jeep. Once there the Major said the radar, a TPS1D field radar, was not working and the shoot was being delayed because of this. The shoot was a test of the Atomic Cannon using regular non-Atomic shells. I looked at the PPI screen and I could see immediately that the transmitter was not working as there was a lot grass, but no targets.
I told the Major that if we attempted to open the top plate covering the transmitting tubes in this blizzard that the first t snow flakes that hit the hot transmitting tubes would pop them like a light bulb. He said go ahead that he would have some men hold a tarp around the radar. Well, I did as ordered and I soon was pleased as I heard a few pops as the transmitting tubes started exploding as the snow flakes hit them. Satisfied at the accuracy of my prediction I told the guys to cover up the radar and informed the Major and I was soon on my way back to my cozy bunk in the warm barracks. A good few minutes work I thought. After this I was never again bothered the day before a match.
After this episode things got a little more hectic and I started thinking about a more drastic solution to my problem. That night I sat in the day room before a typewriter and wrote a long letter addressed to the Commanding General of the Signal Corp at Ft Monmouth NJ. I was going for broke or a Court Marshall. ( I was going over the chain of command just a little.) I wrote about my situation in great detail and mailed the letter off post and waited for my fate to be settled one way are another.
About 10 days later there was a loud noise resonating, it seemed coming from the orderly room that sounded like an African water buffalo blowing steam and was told by one of the Sergeants that I was wanted in the orderly room on the double. Not knowing what to expect I hurried to the orderly room and there looking mad enough to spit blood was the 1st Sergeant. He said, "Schrader I don't know how you did this, but orders have come down from the Signal Corp for you to be transferred to Ft. Bliss Texas immediately!" I was told to report to the 35th Signal Detachment at Ft. Bliss Texas within 3 days.
Normally when you are transferred or re-assigned you have to check out from various sections such as the supply room, pay roll, receive type written orders and other requirements. Well, in my case the 1st Sergeant sent runners out to do this for me as the orders were to have me out of there now! So within a few minutes I was out of there on my way to Ft. Bliss Texas. I was so surprised and pleased that I was besides myself and was laughing all the way as I drove to Ft. Bliss. My big gamble had paid off.(I had my own car ever since finishing basic training.) How I managed as a lowly Private to have my own car? Well, that is another story.
It was General Mark Clark, the 5 star general of WW2 fame. He came
right up to me and asked how I had done as I had just finished firing a full clip, 9 shots, prone position on the 500 yard range with the M1 rifle. The score came up and I had 8 bulls and a 4. He said pretty good shooting. I then had enough courage to ask him if he was going to call us up. He looked at me and said well your division isn't quite ready as yet. I said, "Yes Sir!" And that was how I missed the Korean War and I wasn't too unhappy about it at the time, but I sometimes wish I could have tasted what combat was really like. (not really.)
I am sorry to say (not really he needed it!) I was in a fight with another Sergeant and the end result was a choice of a Court Marshall or the draft. I took the draft. Of course before being drafted I was immediately busted down to an E2, a buck private that is. Then I had to endure the next several months as a busted and disgraced former Sergeant. As for going into the regular full time Army; Actually instead of a punishment I later considered it a great opportunity. I got more out of the Army then the Army got out of me.
I guess you could call me "hep" when I went into the Army, as I had learned some important things even in the Army National Guards. For one thing you never, never, ever volunteer for anything, period! You try not to get noticed, especially in basic training. You wait until later when being noticed may be worth while, but never in basic training! It was January the 20th and just 10 days before the Korean war was officially to end so I got all the benefits of the GI bill. At the same time there were thousands trying to enlist before the dead line to get the GI bill. It seemed to be an ironic situation as here I was not a volunteer, yet I was getting all these benefits later on..
I went on to serve 2 years in the regular Army and then 18 months in the Army reserves. I took my 8 weeks of Basic training at Camp Chaffee Arkansas in the dead of winter. Not much fun that was. I went to the Army radar school at Fort Monmouth, NJ for 33 weeks. Spent 6 weeks at Ft. Sill Oklahoma in an Atomic Cannon Battery. It took me 6 weeks to work myself out of that, but that's another story. (It is a great story that I will retell some day.) Then spent about a year at Ft. Bliss Texas attached to a 5 man Signal Detachment commanded by a Warrant Officer who used to be a Sergeant and who was a great guy, a great year that was! (Kept my pass in my wallet!) After living in old WW2 wooden barracks for years finally had it made in modern barracks with air conditioning and 2 man cubicles. Man was I living. Almost re-upped before I came to my senses.
Some times I regretted that I didn't. Looking back, even discounting the not so pleasant things, I wish that I had. One day during the first week of basic training I along with a couple other men, were called to a meeting by an officer. The jest of it was we were offered a chance to apply for OCS, Intelligence and several other choice opportunities. No one wanted to take advantage of this one time offer. I think we were draftees all. To my living regret to this day I am sorry that I didn't accept one of them.
After my military service I spent the next 12 years working as a Field Engineer and technician maintaining and programming large scale computers, but before that spent 3 years at Cape Canaveral, Florida working with GE on the Atlas missile system. Great 3 years. Then was assigned to work 9 months on a large scale Air Force long range search radar site near the great town of Eufaula Alabama that was covering our southern flank in the Caribbean. After that great assignment went to Computer school in Phoenix Arizona and then on to LA. Took advantage of the GI bill and did 3 years of Electronic Engineering at West Coast University in LA. Over the next 20 years here and there finally had enough credits to be and consider myself college educated.
Oh yes, I got married after my Army service and raised 3 sons and a daughter. All who are all doing very well. Have 4 grand children, 3 girls and one boy, Marissa, Isabelle, Alina and Eddy. They are the apple of my eye. I am proud of all of them.
What I really Believe. (And I am not afraid to say it!)
What I really believe is that all good Americans should be proud of this great country of ours and serve it well. Always vote and live a good life. Be prepared to defend the USA when it is necessary and you know what? It is necessary right now! We are in real trouble. We have a Muslim president who is doing what all he can to destroy this country. We have crooks, homosexuals and incompetents in our government. Our country is broke. We are being over run by illegal immigrants. Soon we will be in a another Civil War when the white race is at a minority. We own more money due to our national debt then can be repaid in 100 years. We have over 20 million illegal immigrants and counting that Obama is threatening to make legal by executive order, by a stroke of his pen. He is creating a welfare state that can not be sustainable.
There are a lot of greedy people who think this is a great thing, a lot of freebies and they don't have to work for it. After all why would the lazies want to work when they can get 99 weeks of unemployment pay (which may be indefinitely renewed) food stamps, free government food and even free government cheese, free medical, more and more freebies? (After all Obama will always take care of his kind won't he? Just give them all the fried chicken they want and an ice box full of beer along with their dope. What else would a person want?) Well, this Obama welfare state will not last. It is not self sustainable. However, it doesn't have to last too long. Only long enough to get to the point that Obama wants. Guess what that is. I will give you only one guess.
We are at war! And most of the good Americans don't even realize it! What we can do and we must do is to elect a republican president in 2012. I just hope whoever it is that he has the intelligence and courage to do what is right and necessary. This is really only common sense, but who in our present government is acting like they have any common sense? One thing that should be just plain common sense is to start making our own goods again. The hell with China! This would put a lot of people back to work. Next quit giving our money to the countries that hate our guts, shoot our men in the back, and get our men out of harms way! Also show the rest of the world that we no longer will tolerate any thing against us that causes us harm!
We should quit worrying about what the bleeding heart liberals, or for that matter any one else, or any other group, or any other damn country might think or say, and start protecting our country against all enemies both foreign and domestic! We should start acting like we got a pair, a great big pair! The hell with world opinion and we should quit worrying about what others think.
There should be immediate and swift punishment for any one attempting to do us harm. Once this punishment is swiftly acted upon, the country or terrorists group committing the act will think twice before trying it again! This should include the traitors, the so called home grown terrorists, who are being recruited by the use of the Internet. Treason should punished by a firing squad! Terrible crimes against the innocent should be the death penalty! The punishment should fit the crime! When you are strong and determined your enemies will respect you, but not before! In spite of what the bible says the meek will not inherit the earth, they are ones who will be vanquished.
Ft. Sill Oklahoma and how I got out of there!
.
OK. I promised to tell you about how I got out of a serious predicament at Ft. Sill Oklahoma. Well, here it is and at the time it wasn't amusing but in retrospect it was. Being the anchor man of my Radar class on my completion at Ft. Monmouth I did not have a choice of assignment, but took what was left and that was Ft. Sill near Lawton Oklahoma. I later found out that it was the arm pit of the US Army bases. (Sorry to you Okies, but that was the way I saw it at the time.)
After a great 14 days leave at home in St. Louis where I had the great pleasure of meeting and going out with two lovely ladies in rapid succession, that is, one after the other and left with at least one broken heart, I hoped. (It must have been the uniform) I made my way to my assignment at Ft. Sill Oklahoma and was promptly assigned to an Atomic Cannon Battery as a radar operator. I protested that I was a trained radar technician not a radar operator but to no avail. (there is a big difference) I was now a radar operator. So I made my way that night to my new assignment. Checked in and found myself a bunk and then went down to take a shower.
As I was taking my shower a short chubby guy came in with a towel wrapped around his waist and looked at me and asked if I was a new man I said, "Yes, just checked in." I then said what was the most stupid thing that I had ever said before or since. I said, "How is the first Sergeant? is he a no good bastard like most of them?" (Thinking he was just a grunt like me.) He looked at me sort of strange and said he was OK. Yes. Then he asked me what my name was. I told him and on to finish my shower. You guessed it. At reveille the next morning there he was with the chevrons of 3 stripes up and 3 rockers down with the little triangle in the middle, the first Sergeant!
That morning at reveille he started out saying, "I want two volunteers, Schrader and who else?" That was the way it went every morning for over 6 weeks. There's a lot more to this story. Well, I had KP, guard duty, latrine orderly, even prisoner chaser and every shit detail he could come up with constantly. The other Sergeants, not all of them. (Some didn't go along with this "treatment" I have to say to their credit) were also in on the fun giving me a very hard time, all the time! I was beginning to get a little upset with all this very personal attention. I was seriously thinking of some drastic steps to get out of this situation like going AWOL, but only briefly. It was getting a little tiring to say the least. The one thing he didn't do was hold my pass. I could never figger that out as it would have been the most severe punishment of all. It would have been the last straw. (There must of been a senescence of conscious in his dark soul was all I could think.)
So I started trying to volunteer for any outfit going over seas that needed my skills, that is a radar tech. I would read the post newspaper for this constantly. They all said sure just get your Battery Commander's permission, (easier said then done!) We need a good radar technician. The kicker turned out to be that I could never get pass the 1st Sergeant. I tried many times to ask him permission to see the Battery Commander and he would always say, "Permission denied. Get your ass out of here!" So that was the way it went.
One morning at reveille he made the first mistake on his part. That morning he said as usual, "I want two volunteers, to try out for the post rifle team, Schrader and who else?" Then I saw him blink as he realized what he had done. I found out later that if you make the post rifle team that the day before a match you did not get any duty so that you could rest up for the match. I was always a good shot, especially with the M1 rifle. I had fired expert more than once. Well, I did make the team to his chagrin, I think. So whenever there was a match I had it made, no details and little harassment
One night before my up coming Rifle Match the whole regiment including my beloved Atomic Cannon Battery had a night training secession out in the boonies during a blizzard and I was all alone in the barracks sleeping very cozily. Suddenly I was rudely awakened by a guy covered with snow and ice who said I was wanted by the Major at the radar site. I protested, but the messenger said the Major wants you out there now! So who am I to not go when commanded by a Major, not me. So I was driven out to the site in a jeep. Once there the Major said the radar, a TPS1D field radar, was not working and the shoot was being delayed because of this. The shoot was a test of the Atomic Cannon using regular non-Atomic shells. I looked at the PPI screen and I could see immediately that the transmitter was not working as there was a lot grass, but no targets.
I told the Major that if we attempted to open the top plate covering the transmitting tubes in this blizzard that the first t snow flakes that hit the hot transmitting tubes would pop them like a light bulb. He said go ahead that he would have some men hold a tarp around the radar. Well, I did as ordered and I soon was pleased as I heard a few pops as the transmitting tubes started exploding as the snow flakes hit them. Satisfied at the accuracy of my prediction I told the guys to cover up the radar and informed the Major and I was soon on my way back to my cozy bunk in the warm barracks. A good few minutes work I thought. After this I was never again bothered the day before a match.
After this episode things got a little more hectic and I started thinking about a more drastic solution to my problem. That night I sat in the day room before a typewriter and wrote a long letter addressed to the Commanding General of the Signal Corp at Ft Monmouth NJ. I was going for broke or a Court Marshall. ( I was going over the chain of command just a little.) I wrote about my situation in great detail and mailed the letter off post and waited for my fate to be settled one way are another.
About 10 days later there was a loud noise resonating, it seemed coming from the orderly room that sounded like an African water buffalo blowing steam and was told by one of the Sergeants that I was wanted in the orderly room on the double. Not knowing what to expect I hurried to the orderly room and there looking mad enough to spit blood was the 1st Sergeant. He said, "Schrader I don't know how you did this, but orders have come down from the Signal Corp for you to be transferred to Ft. Bliss Texas immediately!" I was told to report to the 35th Signal Detachment at Ft. Bliss Texas within 3 days.
Normally when you are transferred or re-assigned you have to check out from various sections such as the supply room, pay roll, receive type written orders and other requirements. Well, in my case the 1st Sergeant sent runners out to do this for me as the orders were to have me out of there now! So within a few minutes I was out of there on my way to Ft. Bliss Texas. I was so surprised and pleased that I was besides myself and was laughing all the way as I drove to Ft. Bliss. My big gamble had paid off.(I had my own car ever since finishing basic training.) How I managed as a lowly Private to have my own car? Well, that is another story.