Dangerous Memories

[bismark17]

There is a lot of truth to that psuedo hero mythology that the media helped develop. While working Patrol, I have dealt with many former "SEALS" who had been in Vietnam who had never heard of Coronado. Or former Vietnam SF or Rangers with the same type of situation going on. My favorite was probably the former CIA hitman who in Vietnam had served with the 75th Special Forces Group. My assumption is that when he was in the Rangers he must have been in the 5th or 7nth Bat. He sure had his wife convinced....

An old patrol partner of mine got into a fight with one mental who began yelling during it, "hey man, My dad was a Vietnam Vet!" It boggles the mind. I had read somewhere that the VA, Post Vietnam wasn't really requiring much for proof of service so these loonies were slipping in and then using the resulting paperwork for proof of their military experiences. When in fact it had never been checked in the first place. I sure hope that isn't true or at least now isn't due to the fact we are going to have a lot of people running around soon that are truly deserving of the limited resources that are available.

I did come across the real thing once. I was on a routine shake and contaced a subject in the middle of the night in a closed park that is a hang out for dopers. As I doing my initial spiel during the contact and doing a routine patdown with my off hand I felt a hard object in his armpit and immediately drew my .357. It eventually turned out he was an AWOL SEAL who was carrying a P85 locked and loaded in a shoulder holster. Thank God he was cooperative. My assumption he was there to rob dope dealers. Unlike what the media wants you to believe guys like that are the exception.