tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post5527838685794904499..comments2024-03-27T09:45:21.220-05:00Comments on Billy Bob's Travels: Remember'n the Cuban Missile CrisisBilly Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10549232524429115454noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-57428122505868448272013-08-08T08:02:12.174-05:002013-08-08T08:02:12.174-05:00Women wanted equal pay for equal work primarily. T...Women wanted equal pay for equal work primarily. The Equal Rights Amendment wanted no discrimination based on gender. My DIL is in the National Guard. that's a whole nother todo ~<br /><br />You were drafted to the Army in those days. If you didn't want to go to the army, then you needed to sign up, right? My two older brothers didn't want Army, they went into the Air Force. How I remember the draft dodgers and what a messy awful bad war... the way the Vietnam vets were treated when they came home was abominable.<br /><br />A lot of guys came back totally screwed up. My generation ~ lots of sad sad shit.<br /><br />And, thank you for serving too. Sorry about your wife and your career regret... Your GE job along with upstate New York sounds like a real winner to me. but then what do I know… ;)<br /><br />Lots of now 70 year olds made a bunch of wrong decisions. I sure did.<br /><br />BUT we did what we did based on what we knew and felt at the time. So regrets are futile ... they are there but when I go to lie down at night and those blasted thoughts of past thises and thats start raining down... I have a mental broom that baps em ... haCarolynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03663919207326700505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-57782993880627637662013-08-08T07:22:11.425-05:002013-08-08T07:22:11.425-05:00Hubby was in SAC, stationed in Spain. He says they...Hubby was in SAC, stationed in Spain. He says they were on 24 hour call during this time, ready to hit the plane at any time. Did make a few trips in the southern direction, and practice bombings over fake targets. But I wasn't there (still in jr high school)and remember those tense days back home. Didn't really know what was happening, just that it was close to TEOTWAWKI. Thanks to all of who served - God Bless America, and pray that we might return to our former respect and glory.Hermit's Baby Sishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10380383184384776952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-60105889042677198962013-08-08T00:21:39.135-05:002013-08-08T00:21:39.135-05:00Carolyn, everyone had a choice, either wait for th...Carolyn, everyone had a choice, either wait for the draft or enlist in any branch of service of your choice. Well of course the draft didn't include females, yet they wanted equal rights..... I think we should go back to the draft and everyone, including females, should do two years service after going through the current basic training.as volunteers do today.<br /><br />I got out of the AF in Feb 1965 with all but 5 yrs in service. About 1968 the phone rang one evening and the Army offered me the rank of Warrant Officer if I would sign on to go to helicopter pilot school. I was working on a private pilot's license at the time and married to a native of Holland. I knew that if I took the offer I'd be singing up for an all expenses paid trip to 'Nam and probably flying gunships. I really wanted to accept the offer but after a few days of thinking it over, I turned it down mostly for my wife's sake. I just thought it wrong to leave her alone in a foreign country with a real risk I wouldn't make it back. Plus I had a good job in upstate NY with GE. Just less than a year later the wife left to go back to Holland. I'm 71 this fall and I've done many things in my life with some things not turning out very well but that decision is the only one that I regret.. Mentioning it now makes me feel bad, sad really. Gary Slusserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836556777243777564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-62175142122220314822013-08-07T22:16:17.097-05:002013-08-07T22:16:17.097-05:00I, too, remember it. One of my friends was put on...I, too, remember it. One of my friends was put on guard patrol of a beach in Florida. He said he didn't mind that at all.Dizzy-Dickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14150939928800538404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-32594167040526072192013-08-07T21:48:10.641-05:002013-08-07T21:48:10.641-05:00Yup Gary, the Cuban missile crisis weren't onl...Yup Gary, the Cuban missile crisis weren't only in the waters around Cuba. Our entire military was on alert around the globe. Armed B52's fly'n 24 hours a day within hours of Moscow. Nuclear missiles in Turkey. US missiles here in the states pointed at Russia. <br /><br />I heared that if just one Russian nuclear missile was shot at a major US city, 1/3 of our population would have gone done the tubes. That's some scary shit. Billy Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10549232524429115454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-87884072200662350452013-08-07T21:35:27.026-05:002013-08-07T21:35:27.026-05:00I too had no idea I would live to be 70. That was ...I too had no idea I would live to be 70. That was really really old back then. <br /><br />Yes I did have a choice....or I suppose I did. Hell I don't know. I was 20 when I joined up to see the world. <br /><br />Yes, I was still a rowdy little sailor at the start of the Vietnam conflict. My dismissal from active duty was extended so I could get a close up upfront look at jungle warfare. A two month hospital stay left me stranded in the good ol' USA....chas'n wimmins an' stuff. I didn't have to go.Billy Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10549232524429115454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-56114640564817807602013-08-07T17:51:20.331-05:002013-08-07T17:51:20.331-05:00I graduated high school in 1961 ... went to Dallas...I graduated high school in 1961 ... went to Dallas and was working at Blue Cross Blue Shield downtown ... we had drills. This was a scary scary time. then a year later ... JFK's assassination and Robert's and MLK's and so forth and Vietnam.<br /><br />I was in San Francisco when our Indians took over Alcatraz ~ loved it and lots of women and civil rights movements and what ... I say, WHAT an era...<br /><br />Hadn't a clue I would live to be 70. what a shocker<br /><br />and thank you for serving... I know you didn't have a choice then and that's one good thing about that era... elimination of the draft. … hope you escaped vietnamCarolynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03663919207326700505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-49419216241290916402013-08-07T16:18:14.460-05:002013-08-07T16:18:14.460-05:00I went off into the USAF the end of May 1960, I wa...I went off into the USAF the end of May 1960, I was 6 months less than18 yrs old. That was a week or so before the prom and graduation ceremony. The teacher next door brought my diploma home a few weeks later. By the time of the Cuban missile crisis I was in 'in the field' across the Atlantic taking care of a bunch of nuclear weapons. We had many alerts over the 3 years I was over there but for the missile crisis we were on the highest alert there was and had numerous planes loaded and crews sitting around waiting for the horns to go off. A number of planes were loaded, crewed and engines where running and some were in the air. That went on for days. <br /><br />I don't recall many of us talking about what it all meant to us but I resigned myself to the fact that the other side probably knew where we were and what we were doing (spies were said to be everywhere, we were not allowed to tell even family what we did or where we were), even though we were remote and detached from host nation bases and the governments denied any of us were there, I was sure we were targeted and if things went hot we probably wouldn't even see the flash of any missile with our location plugged into it. The worst part of it was after a number of 24 hr days we had to go over each of the weapons to put them back in prime shape and into storage, that took many long days. This is one of the very few times I've ever mentioned it. It was just something we had to live through. Like when I was in England and had to eat in the English mess hall. Damn they were poor cooks; everything but cucumber sandwiches was greasy. Things like beef stew, oxtail soup, tripe, etc., they couldn't brew anything but warm beer'n tea. But remembering it, some of that beer was really good, Fish'n chips off base was a favorite though, wrapped in newspaper and very hot right out of the fryer....Gary Slusserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836556777243777564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-72482669725602772582013-08-07T15:56:24.159-05:002013-08-07T15:56:24.159-05:00We were glued to the tvs. My friend said she didn...We were glued to the tvs. My friend said she didn't know if she should get religious or go out and do everything she wanted. I remember like it was yesterday. That's when everybody started building bomb shelters. We were told where to go in our district.<br />And, I did watch it not too long ago on tv, too. .TROUBLEnTXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15101519457688182222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-68385587997164159722013-08-07T13:25:39.325-05:002013-08-07T13:25:39.325-05:00As close as I ever want to be, let me tell ya!As close as I ever want to be, let me tell ya!HermitJimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13631580830147175636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-17895951417756769432013-08-07T13:08:22.086-05:002013-08-07T13:08:22.086-05:00There was a lot of "just out of school" ...There was a lot of "just out of school" kids what didn't know if'n they made the right decision or not. I'm thankful it all turned out OK. Billy Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10549232524429115454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3169314107796334970.post-81035292830084490282013-08-07T13:00:56.550-05:002013-08-07T13:00:56.550-05:00I graduated in the spring of 1962 and decided to g...I graduated in the spring of 1962 and decided to go on active duty in the fall. Headed off to the USS Wakiakum County (LST 1162)and reported on board just as we we leaving for Cuba. Wasn't sure I'd made the smartest decision for a few weeks.John Hedgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07775467781360772348noreply@blogger.com