Re: Texas secedes

On 7/5/2011 5:44 AM, HeyBub wrote:
The Daring Dufas wrote:

I joined The Air Force when I was in college during the Vietnam era
and I was in for three days (joke). I had taken the military aptitude
test when I was a 16 year old in high school and I think I scored 98
on the darn thing. The Air Force recruiter had that information so
they wanted my nerdy butt. I was interested in computers and The Air
Force had the best toys in that category back then. I was bussed to
Nashville for medical induction screening where a doctor told me I
was rejected for medical reasons. I wound up being classified 4F
which was funny to me because I tried to join when all these other
guys were shooting a toe off, claiming to be queer or running to
Canada. Ten years later I signed up for The Navy and after taking
their aptitude test, they wanted me so I was taked to Maxwell AFB for
screening. A doctor told me to drop my Underoos, bend over and spread
em. The doctor then told me that I was in perfect health but was too
nearsighted and therefore PDQ, Permanently Disqualified for military
service. Thirty years after being rejected by The Air Force, I became
friends with a retired Army recruiter and told him my Air Force
story. He laughed and informed me about the secret to avoiding
military service during The Vietnam War was having allergies. I had
told the the doctor at the AF induction center about having allergies
and never knew it was the reason I was rejected until 30 years later.
A funny thing about the military aptitude test I took at the age of
16, I was the only kid in the whole school who could identify every
hand tool on the test. I was the only kid who knew what a saw set
tool was. Heck, I tried to join the military twice which is more than
I can say for a lot of those who claim to be patriots.

Heh!

A biochemist I once worked with was, er, corpulent, and extremely
near-sighted. He told the story about his pre-induction physical in Chicago
during the Korean War. He was in a line of naked men and when the clerk
hollered "Next," he bent way over to see the scale he was about to step on
(they took his glasses). WHAM! The height-bar slapped him on the back of the
head.

"Four-foot, eleven inches. Two hundred and sixty pounds. Next!"

He didn't get drafted.

As for your disdain for those claiming to be "patriots," the volunteer
military has mostly sorted that out. Saw an article yesterday about a
74-year old physician serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/6263328.html


I watched a TV news report about an old doctor serving in the Army and
thought. how cool is that? I don't know if it was the same fellow but
the doctor in the story was in his 70's. There are disabled folks like
me who wouldn't qualify for military service but would like to be able to serve their country. Years ago I came up with an idea for a national
disaster corp where those opposed to war and killing could fight for the
country with shovels, trucks, firefighting gear and construction equipment. It would be a route to national service for those unsuited or
opposed to violence of the military to serve. It could be organized like
the military and use all those closed military bases for operations. Of
course the country is in financial trouble and couldn't spend money on
something like that unless it is looked upon like the WPA back in the years of The Great Depression where a lot of people were put to work on
public projects around the country. Who could serve? The blind can answer phones, a person in a wheelchair can do data entry, office work and organization. There are all kinds of things disabled people can do
and able folks can handle the physical activities. I'm amazed at what
some blind and wheelchair bound people can do because they are a great
pool of talent and brains that's not being used. I know many of them
who wish there was a way they could serve their country. Perhaps the
term patriotism and burning desire to serve should be viewed in the
same way.

TDD


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