Was watching the tube when a story came on about a Veteran who served in Vietnam. Vet's name was Earl. Earl apparantly met the president while working as head of security for a hotel obama was staying at. At the time this Vet gave away his 101 patch which he long carried with him...

My first thoughts:

1. BS- that patch has more meaning to the individual then it EVER will to anyone else. I would be surprised to see a Vet give his patches away.

2. Earl grew up in a family from slavery. To him, Obama represented GREAT change in the American people. He may have felt obligated to give his patch as a token of appreciation for what Obama once stood for. But as a military man, my Patches hold great meaning and would only pass them down to my children and grandchildren.

3. I would be very surprised if Obama still had that patch with him..

AND...THEN the TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE....My original suspicions were spot on.

Why did Earl Carry around the 101st patch when he served in the 73rd? He was drafted to the 101st Airborne but was quicky transferred to stand up 73rd.

Story Here

Appears to me, Mr. Earl Smith did a bait and switch to the president. The damn media can't even get that right..oh wait....its because the majority of America is truly clueless when it comes to the men or women who wear the uniform of the Republic of The United States of America. Only "we" shall understand what it is like to truly sacrifice for our own rights.



Discuss....

Is the 173rd and the 73rd the same unit?

Yeah, I give my old patches away to anyone that wants them. I've still got a ton left, and some of my friends think they're pretty cool.

Probably not. There's so damn many units in the Army that nobody really knows them all. I couldn't tell you if there is, or ever was, a 73rd. The 173rd is legit, obviously. But the legacy Infantry units are pretty high profile.

What I thought. Op refers to the 73rd and the article the 173rd so I needed clarification.

ETA- Kind of ironic that OP bags on people for not getting things right...

Patches are just patches to me, if I need another for some reason, I'll just go to the surplus store.

The flag patch I wore on deployment has a little sentimental value I guess, but not much.

It's the 173rd.

You said it better than me. My worn out subdued flag patch means more to me than any unit patch. Units come and go.

My Dad did D-day and Market Garden, never carried a patch. I did post Nam 101st and gave my patches away to anyone who asked. I find the story embellished at best and BS at worse .

Yeah, mine is the IR reflective one, I'd like to wear it around, but its so banged up that it makes me nervous that there's gonna be some jerk of a sergeant major standing around the corner telling me to get a new one and a haircut...I've been out for a year.

No shit. I have dozens sitting in a box in the garage.



I have a set of DCUs, BDUs and ACUs set up for keeping, other than that I don't care about the rest of the patches.



 

I read your jibber jabber and have no idea what's going on.

A patch is a patch, BFD.

The poser scammed the scammer that was posing.

Crystal clear now, thanks.

Me either.

Stupid post... low post count... shouldn't be surprised.

Not all Vets are equal. Some got drafted, some joined for country, others college and other various reasons. But all were sworn to uphold the Constitution. I, as a vet myself, cannot support any President, even if he was whiter than rice, that doesn't support the ideals of the founding documents.  The racists that support this communist in chief because of his color amazes me. The stupid, it hurts! I think we are fooked with the level of ignorance in this country.

wtf in

I put one of my MACV patches on my good friend's (Army VN vet) coffin as a way of saying goodbye, but it wasn't my only one. I've never just carried any around to hand out to people.