A note for (and about) new member formerMarine.

I saw a first post from a new member that appears as a comment on someone else's thread and I thought I would start a new thread so folks can say hello.

New member formerMarine posted a comment on Ted M's "Gleason 9 is surgery an option?" thread. I struggle with links sometimes but I think this link should lead directly to formerMarine's comment:

formerMarine's comment on Ted M's thread

FormerMarine is one of those problematical new members who show up on the forum already calm, and sensible, and well informed, like Athena springing fully armed and armored from the head of Zeus. Such new members pose a special problem for the forum. We know how to help guys who show up scared and uninformed and half-committed to disastrously poor choices, but what can we do for a man who arrives with his problems buttoned up and sensibly stowed away? ... except make him welcome and hope he will stick around to help extinguish the coiffure of the next new member who shows up with his hair on fire.

formerMarine: Welcome to the forum. Glad you found us. We have a thread where we keep a roster of all our members who are Gleason 9 or above. I've added you to the list. Here's a link:

The Gleason 9 (and 10) Crew - Welcome and how ya doin'?

Hello....formerMarine! I had made a quick comment on the other thread that you had a very thoughtful first post.

Yes, welcome.

As Bohemond has suggested, some of us here on this forum are indeed veterans of the various U.S. armed services, and even a few of us (like me, Army) served in Vietnam. So, from a military perspective, you'll have company here if you decide to stay with us.

PeterDisAbelard is right, it sounds like you've got your act together in terms of understanding and dealing with this thing. It also sounds like you could offer some good advice to others, as well.

Again, welcome, and we hope you find this forum helpful, as it has been for so many of us.

81GyGuy, I just read your entry. Can't tell you how much admiration and respect I have for the Vietnam vets. Didn't make the scene myself but knew some Marines who fought there. Believe me, they fought very well, well enough to win if they were given the chance.

So here it is, a Memorial Day 50 years later. We'll have barbecues and salute the flag, and empty-headed politicians will make speeches, and there will be familiar displays of patriotism, and everyone will go through the motions.

But the country is bitterly divided along a fault line of class and privilege that began to form in the Vietnam era and has grown dangerously wide since then. Increasingly, those who govern us are positioned on one side of that line, and they have lots of powerful company there. While the kids they keep sending to fight their pointless no-win wars are on the other side.

It seems the "lessons of Vietnam" have gone unlearned. In fact, the Powers That Be have doubled down. We've traveled a very long way -- in the wrong direction -- from the America portrayed in Sands of Iwo Jima. And John Wayne ain't coming back.

Oh well, sorry to rain on everyone's Memorial Day parade. I realize and apologize for the fact this is very much off-topic on a board like this. But this is Memorial Day, I am a vet, and I do have prostate cancer. Hopefully, that combination will earn me some slack from the moderator!

Happy Memorial day everyone. And welcome to the board FM.

Army vet here, circa 1970, Tet offensive, low # in first draft lottery... Lots of WWII vets and PCa victims in my family as well. I'll leave my politics out of it here, but just say that I lean more patriotic than progressive.

OK....if we’re getting a little slack, I’ll have my say.

We WON in Vietnam TWICE. Tet was a big win, glossed over by our media resulting in a propaganda victory for the bad guys; and the late 1972 bombing campaign of the north, finally, after almost nine years, was a big win, given away by pompous politicians. I was a proud participant of the Linebacker I and II campaigns. There is little to be “happy” about on Memorial Day. It’s a solemn occasion in remembrance of almost 60,000 Americans who gave the last full measure during Vietnam, more than a million American servicemen who have died defending us since our inception, and we can include the one hundred million people, worldwide, who have perished during the past century in the quest for freedom.

Freedom is a blessing that should be cherished and protected, and it ain’t free!

Sorry for the identity confusion, Marine. It would be so more efficient and valuable for ALL who have, or seek PCa information if the two forums were combined. Far less redundancy, reduced expenses, updated forum software, and shared ad revenue. Maybe someday....

Thanks, now I feel better.

Post Edited (garyi) : 5/28/2018 11:13:07 AM (GMT-6)

It makes me think of those shiny silk jackets with all kine colors and dragons and shat back in the day with an inscription..." Im going to heaven when I die...I've been to hell...Vietnam...Korea...fill in the apt hell hole...I was in the navy and got tucked into the Vietnam era at the front end...got extended for a few months...but was a " tower flower " and always had clean sheets....and yea...Memorial Day...it still means something...to those who mean something...

Welcome to HW!

Andrew

Thanks, guys, your responses really gave me the proverbial shot in the arm.

To all those who served...in Vietnam or wherever: may God bless you!!

To the Marines among you: Semper Fi!!

To the rest of America...against the odds: may God guide and protect our country forever!!