It's Corpsman, not Corpseman, Mr. Obama.

I want to share a story of a real experience I had a while back in my career.

Many of you know that my father was a Corpsman in the Navy. (Pronounced "Korman") (In lay terms, that means he was the Navy's version of an Army medic.) I will say that while he was alive, my father didn't discuss much about his experiences in Viet Nam, but to say that his time was all spent on an 80% safe base in a surgical hospital. He did share that they were under attack by mortar fire several times, but that he was relatively safe. He never elaborated beyond that to me, and I frankly was afraid to push for more information. I will write more about that in a future post.

My story begins with me doing a few "run of the mill" home improvements on a new home and building some shelves in a garage for an older couple. When it came time to build the shelves, I had to ask the owners to move their cars into the street. (For purposes of the story only and to develop character of these folks, I will state that one of the vehicles was a Mercedes Benz SUV, and the other car was a VERY SEXY 30's vintage Chevrolet 2 door coupe (Deuce Coupe perhaps?)) The coupe was a beautiful candy apple red with some gold pearl "ghost flames" - you know the ones you can only see in the right light and angle. On the back of the rumble seat, was a "ghost writing" of "SEMPER FIDELIS" over the top of a cartoonish bulldog wearing a "trooper hat" with "U.S.M.C" below. Now, I am not sure if President Obama knows what that means, but I immediately recognized that as the mascot of the United States Marine Corps. Oooh Rahhh!

As the paint job was definitely a discussion piece, I thanked him for his service in the military and figured that would be the end of our conversation. When he had come back into the garage where I was setting up to do the next part of the project, he asked me to take a second with him. This is what we talked about....

He was a good sized man, in good shape for his age, with white hair, cut into a tight flat top. His tight wrinkles were evidence of lots of exposure to the sun and probably a lot of smoking in his day. He asked "Why did you thank me for my service?" He went on to explain that he had served for 28 years in the Marines and had only just retired about 10 years prior as a Master Chief. The major point is that no one had ever thanked him for his service in all of those years. I explained to him that my parents had taught me to respect the military and those who served. I thanked him again.

At that point, he asked if my father had served. He was impressed that this kind of respect and gratitude still existed. I explained that both of my parents had been in the Navy. He rolled his eyes and commented that "I liked those squids - they were really good about taking the Marines to where ever the fighting was and high tailing it back to safety as soon as they could!" He correctly assumed that my mother had been a nurse - he even guessed she joined the Navy Nurses Corps after watching some war movie like "Patton". At this point, he than said, "other than being a squid, what did your old man do?" I replied with a certain amount of pride, "He was a Corpsman."

There was a moment of silence as he swallowed hard and then in a very sincere and shaky voice reverently exclaimed, "I am sorry son, you stand corrected. Your father WAS a Marine." He went on to explain, "Your father went through the same boot camp we did. Because of the Corpsmen, many of us Viet Nam Jarheads are still taking in breath today. The Corpsmen were no different than us in that God forsaken land called Viet Nam." Because of YOUR father, many of your generation have fathers still alive today." He then clicked his heals together and stood at attention, than he put his hand forward for a firm handshake. He then solemnly said, "Thank your father on my behalf"

I have been considering this experience for a while now. Why is it that so many Americans today have no respect for the men and women who serve in our armed forces? Why was I the first who had thanked this rough retired Marine for the years he sacrificed on my behalf? I got some new prospective for my efforts - I got to hear what this Marine thought of the likes of my Father.

I would like to take this time to thank all of the people I know who have served in the military. In particular, My Grandfathers. George W.Weber, Alvin K. Kestner, Mac Hulett. My Father and Mother. Michael S. Kestner & Sandra K.W.Kestner. My Father - in - Law. Ronald L. Peterson. My Uncles Tim Kuchta, Garry Haywood. My friends growing up, Jeff Williams, Tony McNeal, Jason Woodside, Brett Brothers, Adam Dunn. These people are of note as many have had an impact on me. I would like to thank any others who I have not specifically named. You are truly appreciated.