Military Veterans

[ehealy13]

So I was browsing the threads and found one where a bunch of people thought it was for military vets. So I thought I'd start a thread. Are there any other military vets here? How long did you serve and what branch? What got you into reefing? Is there anything about your military experience that makes reefing special?

I served 11 years as a medic in the Army. I went to Afghanistan twice and S Korea once. I got into reefing because it has been a lifelong dream of mine. I was medically retired from the Army and my first reef tank was essentially a retirement gift. Now it keeps me busy as I'm always learning and reading on how to be a better reefer.

Thank you for your service!

 

[drbark]

Sfin52, something must have happened to you and the rest of the Hero's here who haven't said anything. What did you do all day? Even stupid things.

I am old and I still remember stupid things. Once right after Basic I got my first weekend pass. I think I went to Ohio although I don't remember how we got there so we must have hitched.

We were at the gate of the "Ohio State Fair". No one was there because it was the middle of the night. We didn't have any money but we were in uniform so we figured they would let us in.

We walked through the gate and it was pitch dark and we were looking for a place to sleep while we waited for the place to open.

I found a bench and my friend Marty kept walking.
Just as I started to fall asleep, I heard this blood curtling scream and Marty frantically ran past me.

I followed him out the gate and when he calmed down I asked what happened.
He said he sat on the ground near a tree and as soon as he sat down the tree moved and made a loud noise. I told him he was nuts and we found a small apartment building and slept on the steps.

Later we went back to the fair and found out what happened to Marty.
We walked past the bench where I was sleeping and about 50 yards away, tied to a tree,
was an Elephant.

Just like in the cartoons with a chain around his leg tied to a tree.
Mystery solved and to this day, Marty won't go near elephants.

One memory came to me was when I was in Afghanistan. My unit and I were in a village giving cover to some Marines when a couple of Afghani women with babies in their arms walked up to me. It was a very tense few seconds on our part but I asked my unit to stand down. I am half Armenian but look very Afghani. I have light brown eyes like the Afghani. They walked up to me and spoke in Farsi to please take their babies to America for a better life. They risked their lives to just to this. I was speechless for 30 seconds or so while this was happening. I was only 22 at the time so I was dumbfounded on why these women would give up their babies to a stranger. It hit me a couple of hours later why and realized what an incredible gesture that was.

 

[ccurnick]

4 years in the Navy as a CTM. Stationed out of the DC area, and deployed to Afghanistan and East Africa.

 

[Paul B]

In Nam I had a duck. That is another story how I got him but he was the best friend I could ever have. Where I walked, he walked. When I slept, all night Very gently he would go "guack, quack, quack until about 4:00am then he would put his beak in my ear and go
QUACK, QUACK etc.
I was an inventor and would build all sorts of things with stuff I got from crashed helicopters or bamboo.
(I had nothing else).
I always had to build my bunker and the Captains. (we are still friends and he is a retired Brigadier General now)
I built this cool blast wall out of bamboo in front of our bunkers because the RPGs would hit that and explode before they came into our bunker.



The Captain had 3 radio's, and a telephone to talk to the 6 Howitzer crews. The radios were for Cobra gunships, other firebases, HQ command etc.
From a crashed chopper I took out the switches and built him a panel with one microphone and he could switch from the guns to all the other things and he only had to use one handset. He was thrilled and it was safer because we had quite a few fire missions every day and night.

Anyway, I was carrying stuff on a Chinook Helicopter with another guy and on the stuff was my duck and Pete the monkey. There was a Colonel there and he started screaming at my Captain about me.

WHO DOES THAT SOLDIER THINK HE IS WITH ALL THOSE ANIMALS. THIS IS A WAR, NOT NOAHS ARK.

My Captain said to him. Sir, don't say anything to Sgt Baldassano, just let him be. He builds all sorts of things and I don't want to pi-- him off.

I found this out a few years ago when my Capt friend visited me

Duk Duk


This was one of the LZs from the air.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Army closing out 20 years now and ready to retire! Im a Network Technician by trade now, started as a Satellite Communications tech. I've always been fascinated by the ocean, got PADI certified on a TDY in the Red Sea in Egypt, got my Advanced Open Water in the USVI on another TDY.... (I have had a really fortunate career). I spent 4 years in Hawaii and had an interest in the coral reefs and helping preserve them. My current tank is mainly to help understand the needs of corals and plan is to move back to Hawaii and help frag and spread native species as a volunteer for UH or any other conservation program I can find.

 

[\m/reefsnmetal\m/]

In Nam I had a duck. That is another story how I got him but he was the best friend I could ever have. Where I walked, he walked. When I slept, all night Very gently he would go "guack, quack, quack until about 4:00am then he would put his beak in my ear and go
QUACK, QUACK etc.
I was an inventor and would build all sorts of things with stuff I got from crashed helicopters or bamboo.
(I had nothing else).
I always had to build my bunker and the Captains. (we are still friends and he is a retired Brigadier General now)
I built this cool blast wall out of bamboo in front of our bunkers because the RPGs would hit that and explode before they came into our bunker.



The Captain had 3 radio's, and a telephone to talk to the 6 Howitzer crews. The radios were for Cobra gunships, other firebases, HQ command etc.
From a crashed chopper I took out the switches and built him a panel with one microphone and he could switch from the guns to all the other things and he only had to use one handset. He was thrilled and it was safer because we had quite a few fire missions every day and night.

Anyway, I was carrying stuff on a Chinook Helicopter with another guy and on the stuff was my duck and Pete the monkey. There was a Colonel there and he started screaming at my Captain about me.

WHO DOES THAT SOLDIER THINK HE IS WITH ALL THOSE ANIMALS. THIS IS A WAR, NOT NOAHS ARK.

My Captain said to him. Sir, don't say anything to Sgt Baldassano, just let him be. He builds all sorts of things and I don't want to pi-- him off.

I found this out a few years ago when my Capt friend visited me

Duk Duk


This was one of the LZs from the air.

Those are some cool stories. We had a pet hedgehog for a while in Afghanistan named Stewart. We kept him in the bunker at our ECP as a mascot. I also remember having gladiator battles with camel spiders and other bugs. I had one named Cheba and she was the reigning champ for a bit.

 

[\m/reefsnmetal\m/]

Army closing out 20 years now and ready to retire! Im a Network Technician by trade now, started as a Satellite Communications tech. I've always been fascinated by the ocean, got PADI certified on a TDY in the Red Sea in Egypt, got my Advanced Open Water in the USVI on another TDY.... (I have had a really fortunate career). I spent 4 years in Hawaii and had an interest in the coral reefs and helping preserve them. My current tank is mainly to help understand the needs of corals and plan is to move back to Hawaii and help frag and spread native species as a volunteer for UH or any other conservation program I can find.

Conservation is an awesome cause. I was just talking to another person about how fragging could help expand reefs.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Conservation is an awesome cause. I was just talking to another person about how fragging could help expand reefs.

Absolutely, looking forward to what I can do to help. Even looking at some of the fisheries if they are still operational when I get back there. I didn't realize how that was a means for Biologists to gather research as well.

We just had feral cats and dogs run onto our compound all the time when I was in Butler Range in Eastern Iraq. Freaking canvas doors on the Humvees were ripped and would always end up finding them in there...

Ha just realized you're in KS, I grew up in Olathe.

 

[Paul B]

. We had a pet hedgehog for a while in Afghanistan named Stewart.

Now that is very cool. I love hedgehogs.

ReeferWarrant, you may be to late for those reefs in Hawaii. I dove there on my Honeymoon and it was really nice. A few years ago I dove off Molokai and Lanai and I saw nothing but dead corals and Crown of Thorn starfish eating them. No sharks but loads of turtles.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

Now that is very cool. I love hedgehogs.

ReeferWarrant, you may be to late for those reefs in Hawaii. I dove there on my Honeymoon and it was really nice. A few years ago I dove off Molokai and Lanai and I saw nothing but dead corals and Crown of Thorn starfish eating them. No sharks but loads of turtles.

Never too late, my wife and I free dive there all the time (profile pic is from Electric Beach on West Side of Oahu). Hanauma past the break is amazing if you get a chance on Oahu. Maui has some amazing spots too.

 

[Paul B]

All 4 of these people are me. We had a Poloroid camera that developed a picture in 60 seconds and you can take more than one picture on the same piece of film. I took one picture and put tape over half the lens and took the other picture. I guess I had nothing to do.

 

[unitedaf]

Not a vet yet. But when Sept 1st come, I am retired 20 years. USAF. deployed to Afgan, Iraq, Kuwait. My wife got a 55-gallon tank from one of her daughter's schools and dragged me into it. Plus, I love tropical fish b/c I Scuba drive.

 

[ReeferWarrant]

All 4 of these people are me. We had a Poloroid camera that developed a picture in 60 seconds and you can take more than one picture on the same piece of film. I took one picture and put tape over half the lens and took the other picture. I guess I had nothing to do.

Glad to see things havent changed much, we had guys taking disposable cameras apart and making taser's out of them... Never a dull moment

 

[cc03cobra]

Currently active duty Army. 91E Sgt. Over at 4ID. Currently trans to civ life as a sheriff start class next month. I was into reefing way before the army living in Florida going snorkeling and living so close to the beach it’s just in your blood. 1st tank was a bio cube 29g that after a year cracked down the middle. Then a 55g I converted to saltwater, then a 240g that I sold when I joined now I have a 150g that I’m breaking down currently.

 

[Paul B]

We had these crashed Helicopters all over the place. My friend crashed in this one and they sent him to Japan to a hospital. I never found out what happened to him.
I used to take the batteries and lights out of these so me and my Captain would have a light in our bunker.

 

[Jet915]

Navy veteran, one tour in Afghanistan. I've had tropical fish since I was a kid but didn't start saltwater until I got out due to the constant moving....

 

[drbark]

Now that is very cool. I love hedgehogs.

ReeferWarrant, you may be to late for those reefs in Hawaii. I dove there on my Honeymoon and it was really nice. A few years ago I dove off Molokai and Lanai and I saw nothing but dead corals and Crown of Thorn starfish eating them. No sharks but loads of turtles.

That's what I have been seeing in the corals there also. It's a shame. I feel that ever since they stopped the sugar cane farming and gone to beef, the corals and reefs have never been the same. I was in Kawaii a few years ago after a rain storm. The ocean around the island smelled like cow manure for a couple of days. Just throwing all that extra nutrients right into the ocean.

 

[Paul B]

I found the story of how I got my duck. I posted it last year:

My Capt in Nam tells me that we were supposed to go on a raid to a village. I don't know why but it was a dirt road, (like all roads there) and we were going in some trucks.
I was supposed to ride shotgun on top of one of the trucks and I had an (I think) M 79 rifle which was an M-16 with a grenade launcher barrel under it and I had it filled with large buckshot.

The Captain told the Duster driver (like a small tank, with two anti aircraft guns mounted on top) To lead the way through the jungle.
The Duster driver told him, " I am a Duster driver, not a mine detector". So my Captain says, OK, then me and Sgt Baldassano will lead. Great.

I also didn't think of myself as a mine detector so instead of this big, steel tracked mini tank leading, I am leading in a tin Ford Jeep.

I wasn't sure if the 100,000 mile warranty covered mines.

So we head out and being it was monsoon season it was pouring. When I say pouring, if you have never experienced monsoons it is kind of like looking through sheet metal. Not cheap Chinese sheet metal, I mean the stuff they make Mack Truck hoods out of.

We had to wear goggles because the Jeep was kicking up so much mud we were covered.
He told them to follow us and call us on the radio if they made contact with the enemy.

WE were driving for a while and I turned around and noticed, there was no one behind us. We called on the radio but the rain was so loud we could hardly hear.

It seems they took some fire and stopped to return fire but didn't think to tell us.
We turned around to re trace our steps but the road was flooded and we couldn't tell how we came.
We told them to shoot some Alume. (flares) up in the sky with the duster.

After a lot of alume we found them and eventually made it to our destination.
We were there a while and we heard some shots from the entrance gate. (This was a village of sorts)

I told the Capt I would (stupidly) check it out.

Capt Bilo told me he didn't know what happened to me but I came back carrying a duck.

This became my best friend DukDuk.

 

[\m/reefsnmetal\m/]

I found the story of how I got my duck. I posted it last year:

My Capt in Nam tells me that we were supposed to go on a raid to a village. I don't know why but it was a dirt road, (like all roads there) and we were going in some trucks.
I was supposed to ride shotgun on top of one of the trucks and I had an (I think) M 79 rifle which was an M-16 with a grenade launcher barrel under it and I had it filled with large buckshot.

The Captain told the Duster driver (like a small tank, with two anti aircraft guns mounted on top) To lead the way through the jungle.
The Duster driver told him, " I am a Duster driver, not a mine detector". So my Captain says, OK, then me and Sgt Baldassano will lead. Great.

I also didn't think of myself as a mine detector so instead of this big, steel tracked mini tank leading, I am leading in a tin Ford Jeep.

I wasn't sure if the 100,000 mile warranty covered mines.

So we head out and being it was monsoon season it was pouring. When I say pouring, if you have never experienced monsoons it is kind of like looking through sheet metal. Not cheap Chinese sheet metal, I mean the stuff they make Mack Truck hoods out of.

We had to wear goggles because the Jeep was kicking up so much mud we were covered.
He told them to follow us and call us on the radio if they made contact with the enemy.

WE were driving for a while and I turned around and noticed, there was no one behind us. We called on the radio but the rain was so loud we could hardly hear.

It seems they took some fire and stopped to return fire but didn't think to tell us.
We turned around to re trace our steps but the road was flooded and we couldn't tell how we came.
We told them to shoot some Alume. (flares) up in the sky with the duster.

After a lot of alume we found them and eventually made it to our destination.
We were there a while and we heard some shots from the entrance gate. (This was a village of sorts)

I told the Capt I would (stupidly) check it out.

Capt Bilo told me he didn't know what happened to me but I came back carrying a duck.

This became my best friend DukDuk.

Ducks are awesome, I almost bought one for my daughter as a pet! We went with chickens instead. The chickens keep me almost as busy as the reef these days though. I have to go out there three times a day to take the brick of ice out of their water bowl and put fresh drinking water in.

 

[drbark]

I love ducks also. My wife is a veterinarian and for 13 years she had a certain duck as a patient that had a lot of personality. I think her name was Molly. Was very tough also LOL. One time she got out of her carrier in the reception area and cornered a Great Dane. Poor dog was terrified of that duck. Another time she came in all acting tough until Wildlife Rescue came in with a Golden Eagle. That duck was quiet as a mouse in the reception area. All the other patients had a Whiskey Tango Foxtrot look on their face. Not military related, sorry, but it was cool to see that duck.