No, TJ & I have not been married 50 years.
I'm almost positive I've mentioned this event in this thread. But I'm not gonna do a search to find it. And I'm almost positive nobody else will either. So, here's the story again. I think of this EVERY Thanksgiving.
At the beginning of Thanksgiving day of 1970, I was out in the bush, on Peason Ridge, near Fort Polk, in Louisiana.
https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/peason-ridge
The reason I was there was because I was in Army infantry AIT(Advanced Individual Training). Although I was in the National Guard, our unit was infantry. Most NG units did not go to Viet Nam. But some did. Thankfully, our unit did not go.
https://www.npr.org/2015/04/25/40204...th%20Battalion.
We later did some riot control training. There were so many protests & riots caused by the Viet Nam war, NG's were sometimes called in.
Anyhow, back to Peason Ridge. IIRC, at aprox 3 am, those of us who were asleep were awakened & had to roll out of our warm sleeping bags. Someone said the temp was down in the 20's. I believe it. Hey ya'll, that's cold for that part of the country on Thanksgiving day. I think it only hit 40 or a little above last night & not supposed to get below 50 tonight. The average low temp for this day is probably in the mid 40's, here, and probably a few degrees higher on Peason Ridge.
Anyhow, the reason we got up so early is that we were to move to another location & be in position to attack a mock Viet Nam village, at daylight. I was told that the village looked quite real, & included several tunnels, from which mock enemy soldiers would pop up & begin shooting.
After this attack, and a few other things, we finally got on the trucks & went back to Fort Polk. After noon, they finally gave us a few hours off. But, our company commander would not let us leave the base.
They would, however, allow friends/family members to come on base for a visit. Well, TJ & I had been dating for nearly 3 years. My '69 RA3 GTO was aprox 1.5 years old. So, I had her go to my parents house, get the keys & drive down to Fort Polk for a Thanksgiving visit.
Another guy from our hometown was in with me. So, TJ picked up his girlfriend & the 2 of them came to see us, at Fort Polk. We couldn't leave the base. So we just drove out to a wooded area & had a picnic. The girls had bought plenty of picnic supplies.
I know it's hard for someone who has never been in a military situation, separated from their loved ones, to understand what a great feeling it is to be reunited, even if for just a few hours.
Hey, Fort Polk is only a little over 2 hours from home. I can only imagine what it's like to be reunited after being on active duty, many thousands of miles away. So, for ya'll who pray, please put in a little extra prayer time for all our military members who are far away from home, serving their country, doing something they'd really rather not be doing, in a place they'd rather not be.
God bless all our troops, wherever they might be !
And to all the veterans who are members here, THANKS for your service !