They're Just like us!
Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2016 11:31 pm"They're just like us!"
A strange symmetry in the deaths of two very brave men.
A good friend of mine was the walking epitome of the Cold War. He'd fought communism in Asia and then Africa and he was a true believer. Sadly, he was also the poster child for PTSD, back before I even believed in it. Back before he put the gun in his mouth.
He was a teenage NCO in the US Marine Corps when the NVA troops breached the wire and he did what soldiers sometimes have to do. He called the deadly strike right on top of his own position. It stopped the attack but killed all his men. Got him too, later.
He was wounded but recovered and did two more tours in Vietnam and was wounded again both times. I met him in the Corporal's Mess in Rhodesia where he served with RLI (para) and then Special Forces.
He often called at weird hours of the night (I'd left LA but he hadn't) and one night he told me he'd been in San Francisco over the weekend and got drunk with some Russian Paras. He was still freaking out about it, "They're just like us!"
Then in the “Mirror.co.uk” today I read this, “Russian ‘Rambo’ Kills ISIS thugs by calling bombs on himself when surrounded.”
I thought of my pal after I read that piece about the Russian soldier in Syria. I hate the media, I really despise them. Calling this fellow "Rambo" is wrong on so many levels, but it is a story worth sharing because such men are becoming thin on the ground.
Jim Dawson, meet Ivan - he'll probably need a drink...and yes brother, he is just like you.
Talbot
A strange symmetry in the deaths of two very brave men.
A good friend of mine was the walking epitome of the Cold War. He'd fought communism in Asia and then Africa and he was a true believer. Sadly, he was also the poster child for PTSD, back before I even believed in it. Back before he put the gun in his mouth.
He was a teenage NCO in the US Marine Corps when the NVA troops breached the wire and he did what soldiers sometimes have to do. He called the deadly strike right on top of his own position. It stopped the attack but killed all his men. Got him too, later.
He was wounded but recovered and did two more tours in Vietnam and was wounded again both times. I met him in the Corporal's Mess in Rhodesia where he served with RLI (para) and then Special Forces.
He often called at weird hours of the night (I'd left LA but he hadn't) and one night he told me he'd been in San Francisco over the weekend and got drunk with some Russian Paras. He was still freaking out about it, "They're just like us!"
Then in the “Mirror.co.uk” today I read this, “Russian ‘Rambo’ Kills ISIS thugs by calling bombs on himself when surrounded.”
I thought of my pal after I read that piece about the Russian soldier in Syria. I hate the media, I really despise them. Calling this fellow "Rambo" is wrong on so many levels, but it is a story worth sharing because such men are becoming thin on the ground.
Jim Dawson, meet Ivan - he'll probably need a drink...and yes brother, he is just like you.
Talbot