He was a member of a group called Red Horse (Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineers). Basically the team that went into areas after ground battles to rebuild infrastructure. They built roads, runways, hospitals/schools. But he did see combat. Still has a piece of shrapnel in his skull that was too dangerous to try and remove. from wiki: RED HORSE squadrons provide the Air Force with a highly mobile civil engineering response force to support contingency and special operations worldwide. They are self sufficient, 404-person mobile squadrons capable of rapid response and independent operations in remote, high-threat environments worldwide. They provide heavy repair capability and construction support when requirements exceed normal base civil engineer capabilities and where Army engineer support is not readily available. They possess weapons, vehicles/equipment and vehicle maintenance, food service, supply and medical equipment.
I love the Air Force as much as anyone, but one person in Vietnam means very little. My parents combined for 14 years in the Air Force. My father-in-law had 20 years. My grandfather was in the Navy. I live next to Robins AFB. Airmen will tell you, they are at lower risk.
Like I said before Air Force and Navy have a much smaller amount of personnel that engage in direct ground combat.
No one is arguing that. I' was just saying the Air Force does see boots on the ground as well. I'm thankful for all of our branches of the military and readily understand that each branch has its place and strengths.
no one is arguing that either. It's an odd thread, with some of us trying to discern and contribute as to what he thought might be the criteria.
Of a tree? Yes. A branch of the service? Way too old, and when I was young enough, I was out in the streets protesting whenever the chance presented itself. Of course, that was a far different time, a far different military, a far different country, and a far different world. Thank goodness, my draft age son doesn't have to face a draft.
List is all wrong. The best military is the private military like Xe, Blackwater, Aegis and Garda. They are the best trained and smartest soldiers too. Some of the guys work out at my same gym when not on contract, and those guys are beasts. They can out lift, out run, and out class any person at the gym. Also the best compensated as well.
Actually, we are very much different from our Army counterparts. I am a POG who got to play grunt for a year in Iraq. Yes, I know you grunts think we POGs don't do crap but paper push and complain.
I've heard that Deadliest Warrior is revamping their formulae to account for their incredible kettle bell swings and barbell thrusters.
Hey don't worry I respect anyone who decided to serve no matter what they chose as a job. I think some grunts throw out the word pog to often anyways. I personally know non infantry Marines who have seen their fair share of combat and have been wounded.
Afghanistan? Yes, there are similarities, but also vast differences. Add the forces we have there to those of our NATO allies, and what we had in Nam at its peak would outnumber them by hundreds of thousands, and that doesn't include the significant numbers of allied troops we had there. Just our guys. We have equipment in use there that in Vietnam were science fiction daydreams. We have far superior leadership, starting in the Oval Office. So what you will about the President, but compared to LBJ, he's a superb war leader. We have a highly trained professional force in Afghanistan, instead of the huge numbers of draftees in Nam. I could go on. Yes, I can see why people make the comparison, but it really isn't as strong a comparison as many would have us believe.
