If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com  you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in  Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!!    It is FREE and it only takes a second.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these?    Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.

This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you.    Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do.  We can never say enough thank you's. 

 Thanks for taking to time to support our military!

Excerpts from the book Gene Behler is writing called “Soldiers”.

Keep your head down, Geno…

One of the last people I saw before I left for Vietnam in August 1969 was Fred Sibley.

Fred, his twin brother Charles or “Chuck”, and I went to kindergarten together and stayed together throughout high school.  Fred married his high school sweetheart and stayed in our hometown (Sycamore, Illinois) while I went into the Army.  Fred still lives in Sycamore and I see him sometimes on my occasional trips to Illinois.

Fred, his wife Pat (now deceased), my wife Jackie and I went out for supper a few days before I left for Vietnam.  Over drinks and cigarettes, we reminisced about the good times and old friends.  It was a pleasant and nostalgic evening. 

I do not know why, but for some reason I told Fred one of the things I was going to do while in Vietnam was to give up smoking.

Fred wanted to know why.

I said that I had wanted to quit for sometime and thought this would be a good time to do it.

Fred pointed out that it was difficult to stop smoking…in fact, it is very difficult to do…many try, he said, most fail …it is miserable.

He was quite convincing.  However, what was most convincing was when he said “You know, Gene, I can see you going through all of that misery and finally being successful and then getting your damn head shot off.  It ain’t worth it.“ 

We all laughed at his words.  However, Fred had planted a seed in my mind.

Fred’s last words to me as we said our goodbyes were “Keep your head down, Geno.”

I did not even try to stop smoking in Vietnam.  I suppose Fred’s sage advice had something to do with it.  Nevertheless, it was nearly impossible to quit smoking given the daily stress of life and serving with an infantry division in Vietnam.

The lowest bidder…

The Army and other elements of the federal government are often criticized for “single source” contracts.  A single source contract is a contract that is awarded to a company or corporation without going through the competitive bid process.  The price is negotiated usually on a cost plus ten percent basis.

Many critics of the government says that it could save millions or even billions of dollars if it made more use of competitive bidding.  In competitive bidding, the government announces what it wants and when it wants it and companies submit competitive bids in an effort to win the contract.

Government contract officials then select a vendor whose proposal most closely meets government specifications.  Usually, but not always, the contract is awarded to the lowest bidder. 

It is not my purpose to argue philosophy or policy here.  Nor is it to examine the bid process in detail. 

But let me tell you what soldiers say about the competitive bid process. It’s very straightforward:  “Remember, your rifle was made by the lowest bidder”.

Not a very comforting thought when a soldier’s individual weapon can be all that stands between the soldier and the enemy--between the soldier and life or death.

What is that on top of your car…?

The early 1980s took the Behler family to the beautiful state of Wisconsin.  I was assigned to a unit called a readiness group at Fort McCoy near Sparta, Wisconsin.  Sparta is a town of about 7,000 people with some 22 bars but that’s another story.

A readiness group assists in the training of National Guard and Army reserve soldiers and units.  My job was Chief of the Administration Team.  We helped National Guard and Army reserve units with administration, logistics, mess hall operations and reenlistment programs.  There were ten of us on the team--two other officers and seven noncommissioned officers.

Snow comes early to that part of Wisconsin.  In fact, in my three years there, we always had a foot of snow on the ground by Thanksgiving.  Winters were tough although state and local governments did a superb job in keeping roadways cleared.  Below zero temperatures were common during the winter months. 

Whenever possible, the Army tries to stand down at Christmas time.  For the holidays, I had one officer and one noncommissioned officer work each day.  Everybody else was free to stay home with their families and do whatever they wished. 

On one especially cold and windy day, I was on duty with Sergeant First Class Al Melton.  Al was the best food service sergeant I had ever known.  There was nothing about a mess hall (now called a dining facility) that Al did not know.

Al was an African-American from Alabama who did not like the cold and wasn’t happy about being in Wisconsin.  His wife and a son and daughter came to Wisconsin with him.  They lived in Sparta.

As far as I know, the Meltons were the only black family in the community and probably the area.  I have always questioned the Department of the Army’s wisdom in assigning Sergeant Melton to that readiness group.  I know the Army tried to be “color-blind” when it makes personnel assignments but it is not easy for a black family to fit into an environment like the one that existed in Sparta.

The Meltons got along well with their neighbors and most folks in the community, although I understand that Al’s son wasn’t real popular with some parents.  Al’s son was a good-looking young man and an excellent football player.  He set several state records in track and when he graduated from high school he was offered a scholarship to a Big Ten school.  While he wasn’t popular with some parents, he was very popular with several of their daughters. 

On the day that Al and I were on duty together, I remember standing by a window watching the blustery weather.  As soldiers are wont to do our conversation eventually turned to what we planned to do when we retired.

I hadn’t decided for sure but was thinking about returning to Indianapolis and finding employment with state government.  At the time, I didn’t know that Army colonels earned more than the governor did.

I asked Al what he was going to do.

“Major Behler,” he said, “I am going to put a snow plow on the top of my car and drive south.  I am going to stop at the first place where someone says to me ‘What’s that on top of your car?’”

I don’t know if Al’s comments were original or not.  But it was the first time I had ever heard them and I thought they were great.  Later, I submitted this little story in a much abbreviated form to the Readers’ Digest but it wasn’t published.   

I am glad to finally have a forum in which I can share Al Melton’s comments.  He was a fine man, an outstanding soldier and a good friend.  Wherever he is now, I know he is enjoying great success.   

A short synopsis of my four years in the United States Air Force.  Jack Lindstrom.

I joined the USAF in August of 1956. The main reason I enlisted was because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life and I figured after four years in the Air Force I would have some idea; but I didn’t. After basic training at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX, I was sent to Scott AFB, Bellville, IL and was trained in UHF-VHF Ground Radio Repair. We arrived a week or two early for our schooling at Scott AFB, so they put us on KP duty (that stands for kitchen police) for a week or so. I just loved that phase of my tour of duty. To this day I hate doing dishes, but thankfully, we have a dishwasher and it isn’t me. After twenty-one weeks of a twenty-four week course we were informed we were going to have a test and if anyone flunked the test they would have to go back and start the course all over again. I decided I didn’t wish to do that so I crammed for the test and received the second highest mark in the class. My best friend at the time said, “Why didn’t you tell me you knew all the answers” I replied “I didn’t know I knew all the answered, I just wasn’t going back and start all over again”. Thinking back; it might not have been a bad idea to flunk the test as I used to get home once in awhile while at Scott AFB. I would hitchhike or get a ride from someone going to Chicago.

 After school I received my orders and was shipped to Anderson AFB, Guam, MI. “Guam, oh yes, sunny Guam”. The weather was great, most of the time, unless we were having a typhoon. They had one while I was there and at the time I had a 1941 Plymouth convertible. The parking lot at our barracks was fairly deep and the typhoon blew the top off of my convertible, blew both doors open, as they never latched properly anyway, and the water and rain just flowed though my car. Needless to say my car was an accident looking for a place to happen. We had many an adventure in that old vehicle. I had to make sure I had buddies to go with me when we went to the beach in case I needed a push. Either that or I had to find a hill to park on. The starter was bad and it was rather difficult to get parts over there. I also spent time coaching baseball and basketball for dependent kids. I enjoyed that very much and if I had my life to live over I probably would have been a coach. The time I spent on Guam was enjoyable in a lot of ways, especially the weather. After spending a year and a half on Guam I was sent on my next assignment at Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, MT. Talk about going from one extreme to another, weather wise that is.

I spent the remainder of my enlistment at Malmstrom AFB. While I was stationed there I met a beautiful girl who was to become my first wife and the mother of my three children. That was the best thing that happened to me while stationed at Malmstrom AFB.   Great Falls, Mt is not a place where I would like to spend a lot of time. Cold winters and it seemed as if the wind was blowing all the time. I can recall it being 50 degrees above zero one day and 30 degrees below zero the next. The GI’s used to take the batteries out of their cars and take them in the barracks when the weather got real cold as our cars all sat outside. I just loved it. Ha ha.