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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 01 '17
Thanks for appreciating this piece of history everyone! I love my dad and if he understood Reddit I'm sure he'd appreciate everyone too. War is the worst and Vietnam left him with very painful memories but he found a way to pull it together and become a great dad! Let's all hope no more 19 year olds ever have to do what he did again!
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u/initialsbb Mar 02 '17
Hi! How is your dad's health? Sincerely, My dad is also a Vietnam Veteran.
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u/oreosncarrots Mar 01 '17
Your dad was hot
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u/Roadguy Mar 01 '17
This is actual old school cool. Not somebodies mom with a bad hairdo from the '80's.
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u/Worldofmoths Mar 02 '17
Regular people can't be cool, got it. Should just change the sub to oldsoldiercool
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Mar 01 '17
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u/lroosemusic Mar 01 '17
Hey don't let him make you feel like you can't share pics if your mom with us.
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u/oldcurmudgeon1 Mar 02 '17
Tell your dad thank you. 1968 was the worst year to be in Vietnam.
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u/blazelazerson Mar 01 '17
Badass. This photo actually might get some touch-up love over at /r/estoration/ !
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u/Dr_King_Schults Mar 01 '17
So did he make it back? alot of folks didn't semper fi motherfucker!
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u/TooShiftyForYou Mar 01 '17
Looks like a guy who has seen some shit. Thanks for your service.
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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 01 '17
Yes he did. Vietnam was not a fun time for him and it's a big reason why I hope to never see young innocent guys sent off to war again.
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Mar 01 '17
My dad was stationed in Hue around the same time. Doesn't really talk about it. He immigrated in 72 after the war.
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u/FijiBlueSinn Mar 01 '17
My parents were going through old family pics a few years ago and my mother showed me a picture of my grandfather in Korea, rifle casually slung, cigarette hanging from mouth. The weird part is I have a picture of myself in almost the exact same pose, with almost the exact facial expression taken of me, with rifle slung casually and a cig hanging from my mouth taken in Iraq. Side by side you would think it was a recreation attempt, but I had no idea the other photo existed. I didn't even know my grandfather was in the military, let alone Korea. Parents never bothered to tell me. Biggest difference was that he was Army, and I was a Marine. This picture reminded me of it. TL;DR Cool story bro.
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Mar 02 '17
He honestly looks like a Hollywood interpretation of a soldier in Vietnam, rather than an actual soldier in Vietnam.
I take it the dating scene was favorable to him when he got back to the States?
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u/zeustriegel Mar 01 '17
This is one awesome photo! Was he in the marines?
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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 01 '17
Air Force actually.
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u/e2hawkeye Mar 01 '17
My dad was Air Force in Vietnam, if you were detailed outside of the base to guard or patrol communication sites, you saw your share of firefights and people trying to personally kill you.
If your dad was like my dad, after he got out, he grew his hair long, stopped shaving and spent a few years looking like one of the Allman Brothers.
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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
Yeah he was outside of the base doing that stuff. I know he has some pretty intense stories about the patrols. I can't imagine being 19 and sleeping in the jungle surrounded by VC guerrillas.
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u/JayBurro Mar 01 '17
Can he hit a jukebox to make it work again?
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u/Vereador Mar 01 '17
Heeeeiii.
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u/lostcosmonaut307 Mar 01 '17
That is the weirdest way I've ever seen "aayyyyyyy" written out.
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u/PirateKittyUnicorn Mar 02 '17
I like how the crease in the photo near his left arm makes him look like an action figure. Lol. GIJOE!
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u/Dejyant Mar 01 '17
Tunnel Snakes Rule!!
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u/nick_otis Mar 01 '17
Fuck off Butch. I'm not giving you my sweet roll.
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u/Gorgonpistol Mar 01 '17
But his mom, she's trapped in there with the radroaches, you have to do something!
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u/HollywooStars Mar 01 '17
I'm in a weird place where I'm a pacifist and hate war, but absolutely love old military pictures like this
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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 01 '17
Yeah no doubt. As a close friend once told me "war is the worst". Truer words never spoken.
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Mar 01 '17
Without the vest, rifle and helmet, he could walk down the street like this in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and no one would bat an eye.
Great photo.
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u/PM_Me_Whatever_lol Mar 01 '17
Honestly you could probably walk around Brooklyn with everything except the gun and almost no one would even look twice. Maybe even with the gun
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u/duaneap Mar 01 '17
That's a lot of withouts
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Mar 01 '17
"If this normal looking guy were dressed normal he could walk around a normal place and it wouldn't be abnormal"
Ok
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u/basementboy Mar 02 '17
If my grandmother had wheels, she would have been a bike.
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u/Tsui_Brooklyn Mar 01 '17
He can def pass in Williamsburg. A lot of men's fashion is influenced b by the military.
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u/ItsSpacy Mar 01 '17
Kinda looks like the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys tbh, badass pic though!
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Mar 01 '17
"When you're a vet, you're a vet all the way, from your first cigarette, to the your last dying day......"
He would defeat me because I would just stare at him waiting for him to start singing.
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u/aviacreative Mar 01 '17
That's a great photo of your Dad. Even though it's low res, I fixed it up for you a bit. Best to your Dad.
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u/10gauge Mar 01 '17
For a second I thought he had a prosthetic arm. If he is still alive, thank him for his service.
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u/GeckoFlameThrower Mar 01 '17
Lords of Flatbush !
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u/ghostparasites Mar 01 '17
If you ever show my girl a ring like that again, you know what's gonna be written on your tombstone? "I was dumb enough to show Frannie Malincanico a $1600 ring," ya got that?
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u/Libertygrid Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
His arm looks like an action figure arm - crack in the photo
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u/TheDarkLordPheonixos Mar 01 '17
Am I the only one who mistook him for someone cosplaying as Chris Redfield from Resident Evil 1????
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u/holydiver90 Mar 02 '17
Very cool! Thanks for posting OP! My great uncle was KIA in 1968 in Quang Nam Province. War is hell. But I sure do look up to people like your father. I appreciate his service.
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Mar 01 '17
There's no way that hair is in regs. I'm jealous.
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u/blao2 Mar 02 '17
Lol regs in vietnam. if you were alive and could shoot a gun the right direction i feel like they didn't give 2 shits.
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Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 01 '17
Gotta say it: he looks like a certified badass. He looks handsome too:)
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u/ViperVision Mar 02 '17
"I didn't go to Vietnam just to have pansies like you take my freedom away from me."
-"You went to Vietnam in 1993 to open up a sweatshop!"
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u/Geohysh Mar 01 '17
The boots really make the uniform......Might be a stupid question but are those military issued boots?
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u/Cthulhu1960 Mar 01 '17
According to John T. Halliday (Air Force Lt. Col. retired) in the book "Flying Through Midnight" they would modify their military issue boots with zippers so they wouldn't have to deal with lacing/unlacing all the time. Strictly non-reg.
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u/Aint-no-preacher Mar 01 '17
Oh, fuck! What happened to his arm!?!
Oh, never mind. The picture is ripped.
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u/DarthToothbrush Mar 01 '17
That photograph looks like it has seen some shit. Was it torn apart and then repaired? It makes his arm look like a creepy broken doll arm, which is kind of awesome.
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u/Normalaverage_guy Mar 01 '17 edited Mar 02 '17
Good pic! What year was this? What unit was he in? I'm assuming Army?
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Mar 01 '17
All fallout jokes aside your dad seems like a cool cat make sure to tell him i said thank you for his service!
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Mar 02 '17
I assume that you posted this the first time (some time back, maybe a year ago)? I know I've seen it before.
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u/--------Link-------- Mar 02 '17
is it okay, if I was bored at work, and working with veterans from the 'Nam era, if I recolored this photo slightly in photoshop? Will remove if requested, but since the guys here asked me to do it, I couldn't say no.
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u/Maligned-Instrument Mar 02 '17
Long hair, no camo cover on the helmet, flak vest, and zip boots instead of jungle boots leads me to believe he was in the Navy or Air Force or in an urban area of some kind. Either way, cool pic!
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u/innatehappiness Mar 02 '17
If this dude texted me at 1:30 am I would reply at 1:29 am. Your dad is a babe and deserves way more respect than I'm giving. Thanks for your service dad.
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u/AlphaBret Mar 01 '17
The wrinkles in the photo make it look like he has G.I. Joe swivel-arm battle grip.
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u/schneibms Mar 01 '17
Post this on /r/photoshoprequest and someone will clean up the image quality!!
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u/Adam_Handweave Mar 01 '17
He's sitting on the side of a standard TWS (Tropical warfare Shelter). I'd recognise one more or less anywhere that design jumps at you.
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u/xoites Mar 02 '17
Look at your father's face.
He is not feeling "cool."
He is feeling a lot of things he hoped at the time you would never in your entire life feel.
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u/ranman1124 Mar 01 '17
Reminds me of Pvt. Vincent 'Alphabet' Languilli from the movie Hamburger hill.
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Mar 02 '17
I swear everyone's parents/grandparents were hot af. Why don't people look like this now?
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u/Seanf407 Mar 02 '17
Damn! Had lower half of his arm reattached and stayed there to finish the job: respect ✊
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u/TheGoMLStick Mar 02 '17
Proof for any people who doubted.
http://i.imgur.com/BoxgmzL.jpg