No, I wasn't there. But thank you and all the others like you who were. I signed on with the Marines in '67 when I was in college. Did the officer training at Quantico, graduated 2nd in the whole place and was just waiting till graduation from college to get my commission and head for Vietnam. I was discharged, 2 months before graduation because my knees went south on me and they thought I had ulcers. Turned out it was just bad acid reflux but I didn't get to go...hence the reason we didn't win that war. That's kind of bummed me out since then because I lost a lot of friends over there in a dumb ass war where we didn't want to do what was necessary to win and I was sitting on my ass stateside being kept out of it. That was when my bad attitude started and it hasn't improved since then. As a matter of fact, I see no hope of it improving any time soon because we are still fighting wars the same way. Rules of engagement my ass. I liked Patton's rules...kill the other poor bastard before he kills you. Simple and results in a win everytime and ends the war a lot sooner saving lives on both sides.

I used to think that we were going to piss away everything that made America great. But, I thought I would be gone before that happened. But now, with the fantastic crowd we have in Washington driving the bus, I'm reasonably certain I'll get to watch it happen now. Lucky me.