Thanks Bush*! Now I realize I served, too

[ElsewheresDaughter]

I didn't serve my country in the military, so of course I couldn't consider myself a veteran. But George has made me realize that maybe I did serve, and have simply forgotten the names of my service buddies, the dates, and the number of months I served in any given location. I may be a veteran after all, an absent-minded one who happened to serve under absent-minded commanders.

If you're a vet think back to your own time of service. Isn't it impossible to remember where you served, or who you served with? Of course it is. So you can sympathize with someone's confusion on the matter.

It's sad really: All those great old buddies, all those shared experiences, all that bonding, and I can't remember even one name. How cruel memory can be. And apparently none of them has any memory of me, judging from the lack of Christmas cards.

Of course, I didn't go on to become famous; if I had, you can bet I'de hear from them, right? Hey, if I was rich and powerful they'de be tripping over themselves to step up and vouch for my presence in the military. Wouldn't they?

I hope you believe me. I'm increasingly certain I served with great distinction, in the same branch Bush* did, in fact. The one that doesn't keep records. There are lots of branches like that. Honest.

[sadiesworld]

1. Now, THAT'S funny. Thanks.

[Bunny]

2. I remember you!

We were in the same unit in Nam. All those toilet-hugging good times we had! I'm kinda bummed that you forgot me, after all we went through...:(

[ElsewheresDaughter]

5. oh wow thanks bunnyj i'll put you on my Christmas card list

if i can remmber where I placed it :)

[Nobody]

3. I'm sure there are

especially since I was in the diaper brigade. Georgie was in charge of dropping the contents of those diapers over Hanoi.

/sarcasm

[Bucky]

6. diaper brigade? Do you mean the infant-ry?

Um, I was there, too. So where's my check?

[Speed8098]

4. Thanks for the laugh

It amazes me that people buy into these lies. I did my service 30 years ago and I would see a doctor for senility if I couldn't remember some of my ship mates.

How can anyone anywhere say they can't remember their military service? It is a unique time in your life where you are experiencing things that you don't have in civilian life. Hell, there are even some smells that revive my military memories.

It is inconceivable to think that no one stands out in the mind of the chimp from his days in Alabama. There is at least one person from just about every place I've ever been in my life that has said or done something that I remember.

He's lying, plain and simple.

[Nobody]

7. Exactly!

And in all seriousness, there are many people who served in Nam and other places who have serious flashbacks whenever a car backfires or a helicopter flies overhead.

This is why no matter how much I may hate the war, and Iraq qualifies as a war I despise, I will always support the people sent to fight it. A war fought for all the wrong reasons doesn't change the fact that real people are risking their lives. It certainly doesn't change the fact that Bush's family bought him a nice, comparatively cushy stateside assignment and he still skipped out on most of it.