Monday, May 05, 2008

Happy Re-Birthday to Me!!!!!

Forty years ago today I was discharged from the US Army and reborn as a civilian. At least it felt like I was reborn. I spent two years in the army, sent to Vietnam and wounded by a claymore mine after being there for just one-month and two days. I spent almost three months in various hospitals recovering from my many wounds. I turned down a medical discharge, so I was sent to Fort Meade, Maryland for the remaining 16 months of my tour. Those time were some of the best times of my life!

If you haven't done so already, you can read more about those couple of years of my life on my Vietnam story blog.

BTExpress' Vietnam Stories Blog

5 comments:

Monogram Queen said...

Just curious why did you turn down a medical discharge? Or should I go read before I start asking questions? I'm bad about that!

lime said...

happy re-birthday indeed. i can't imagine how good it must have felt.

BTExpress said...

I turned it down, because I wasn't physically able to go back to the job I did before I was drafted. I could get around pretty well, but not even close to being physically fit. The doctor said he'd give me a "profile", so what ever job they gave me didn't require me the goes back to my old army MOS of an infantry soldier. I'd also be given physical therapy to get me back as close to normal as they could. I thought staying in was my best bet.

BTExpress said...

Lime - It felt GREAT!

jillie said...

You had me confused for a moment. And at this early in the morning without my coffee....it's not hard to do.

So Tony...Happy Re-Birthday to you Tony and thank you!

XO