Read Roger Beamer's story HERE and decide for yourself.
Reader: The article says he is 67 & says he arrived in VN as a GB in 1964. By my calculation, he was possibly born in 1946, which would make him about 18 or 19 when he went to VN.
StormBringer: This guy's stories ring true - they sound like stories I have heard other, bona-fide, Vietnam vets tell. 19 is extraordinarily young to be a Green Beret, but it is possible IF:
- he joined the Army at 16 or 17 and made sergeant (E-5) in two years - this is possible
- the Q-course of the day was less than six months long (when I went through it was more than six months)
- they were possibly taking recruits right off the street into Special Forces - they did this for awhile after 9-11 due to a generation of SFers all reaching retirement age within a short period of time. The X-Rays (what they called the New Meat) went through Infantry Basic and AIT, Jump School, and an extended Q-Course that included PLDC and BNCOC (NCO Academy schools). By the time they graduated, they were young buck sergeants ready to go overseas and get their Jihad on.
The downside of the program was the X-Rays spent over two years in training before they ever got into an operational unit. The upside is the extended training window gave the cadre enough time to weed out the hedonists and the airheads before inserting the young bucks into the program. The X-Rays made a good name for themselves and by now several of them have made E-8. They've earned chestfuls of medals and have carved their names into History with their bayonets.
“I knew it took me years to seek out help for my own demons,” he says. “I believe I survived for a reason, and I know this is it: helping other veterans.”
Anyone interested in joining Beamer in his mission can visit www.vetsherd.com to learn more.
I'm calling this veteran's claims true until proven otherwise. The BS Detector does not go into spin on anything he says. STORMBRINGER SENDS
Time wise, the story is pushing the limits but still highly possible. I enlisted in '65. At that time if you qualified for SF school you could go to AIT, jump school then on to SF Training Group out of Basic. I did not go SF because they did require an enlistment extension so you would have two years left on your enlistment.
ReplyDeleteLater, in '70 in my second enlistment I did sign up for SF and went through SFTG.Everybody made buck sgt after graduating if they weren't already E-5 or above. Most of my classmates were on their 1st enlistment and went to VN afterwards. I don't know if they needed an extensionof enlistment or not.
I don't know about anyone else But my BS Alarm system, maxed out
ReplyDelete