25 December 2005
Well, here it is December
16, 2005, as I write this article. Big Jonesy is cracking the whip and
telling me it is time I get off my posterior and get something out for the
newsletter. Did you notice just how PC I was here? I could have used "get
off my ass" but then might have offended someone. Speaking of PC, please
don't take offense if I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy healthy
new year. If the word Christmas doesn't work for you, please feel free to
replace it with Hanukkah/Chanukah, season's greetings, or whatever you feel
comfortable with. It is not any particular words we use to express feelings
to each other that are important but rather the intention behind them.
This time of year I always find myself thinking about the past. At first,
glance my reflections seem to be mostly negative. Five days from now,
December 21, marks the thirty seventh anniversary of the death of Joe
Castagna. Yesterday, December 15, was the eighteenth anniversary of the
death of my wife Linda. I have several other bad memories associated with
December that only add fuel to the fire of bad memories but somehow I manage
to get past the bad and find another side to these incidents in my life.
Remembering Joe reminds me of all the great guys I had the honor of working
with back in 1968-69. While I only knew them for a few months back then,
they had a much more memorable impact on my life than did all of the kids I
grew up with put together. I've long since lost contact with old school
chums but try never to miss out on a reunion with the old Echo gang. While
Army basic training at Fort Jackson and A.I.T. at Fort Polk trained me to be
a soldier, people like Hilan Jones, Roy Barley, Herb Vaughn, Herb Frost, and
so many others taught me about being a warrior. Few days go by that I don't
think of some hairy or funny incident that happened back in Vietnam. Some of
the more scary missions make me wonder how I didn't end up in a grave but
then I remember people like Tony "Ape" Hanlon and Kenneth "Lantern Head"
Marze, among many others, and I can still recall the confidence I faced each
mission with. Yeah, there were places like Snoopy's Nose, VC island, and the
plain of reeds that I hated to visit but I knew I was with teammates who
could be trusted to fight through the gates of hell and out the other side
if required. Can't really remember just how many times I asked myself "how
the hell did I get through that mess?" but somehow I did and was ready to
saddle up and go out on the next patrol a night or two later.
I still crack up thinking of some of the pranks pulled in and around our
company area. I must be sick to laugh at a few of these, like the time Ralph
Harter took a fuse out of a grenade, placed it under a sand bag to detonate
the fuse, and then screwed it back in the grenade. He then ran into the old
long hootch at Dong Tam screaming like a lunatic and tossed the grenade with
pin pulled near the table where several guys were playing cards. When the
handle flew off that grenade, there were new olympic records set for
clearing a building. In fact, I believe a few guys almost made new doorways
through the walls. I still don't know how Ralph managed not to be lynched on
the spot that day when the guys realized what he did. I could tell more but
don't know if there is a statute of limitations for some of that stuff so
better stop now.
Just ten days before Christmas in 1987, my wife Linda died in our living
room a few feet from the Christmas tree from heart failure caused by a
rheumatoid disease she had been diagnosed with almost a year and a half
earlier. It took me several years to start to enjoy Christmas again after
that year. While I still miss her, I have to admit that I was lucky to have
her for the years we shared together. This reminds me that we sometimes get
a chance to walk a short way with people we love and respect. We should
embrace the good memories and not just dwell on the bad ones. We should give
thanks for the opportunity to have traveled through whatever part of life we
could with such people.
Speaking of sharing time with people I respect, our next company reunion is
scheduled for 2007 in Orlando Florida again. At that time, I would like to
suggest that we move our company reunions onto the even numbered years. At
the last 75th Ranger Regiment Association reunion, they decided to move the
big association reunions to odd numbered years in order to hold them in
conjunction with the regimental change of command. This creates a situation
where we could sometime end up with a conflict between our company reunion
and a big association reunion. While some of us Echo guys get together at
the big association reunions, most of the old gang only shows up at our
individual company gatherings. While I hope to never miss one of our company
reunions, I also like attending the big association reunions. What I
propose is that at the next reunion in 2007 we agree to meet again in 2008
and then go back to an every other year reunion schedule on even numbered
years. We can discuss this at the next unit business meeting in 2007. Just
wanted to throw this out for thought and discussion ahead of time.
Well, that is about it for now. Hope you all have a great holiday season
and new year. Enjoy friends and family while we can and make the next Echo
reunion even bigger and better than the last one.
Ehrler OUT!