I have never been
a person who wears sport or college shirts and because of the very
negative Vietnam War experience, the fact that my service wasn't valued
by my fellow country men and women and one could get beat up by being a
service man in my time, I didn't wear US Air Force hats and shirts, I
rarely told anyone I was in the Air Force but at 56 I experienced a
brain aneurysm and began to go to the VA for those $8 prescriptions and
the meds drove me deep in depression and a WWII Veteran that I met in a
waiting room at the VA told me I needed to start wearing
US Air Force hats and shirts to remind myself that I was a veteran, that
I was somebody so I started wearing them and it did help so now to show my support of the
US Air Force Pararescue I do
sometimes wear a Pararescue shirt or hat and I display the Pararescue
patch on this page, they are all sold to the general
public by
Pararescue.com an online website created and ran by a retired
Pararescue man.
I wasn't Pararescue and I always take the time to make this clear should someone ask. I tell them truthfully that I wasn't Pararescue, I wear it to support my "home team" but I also tell them that I was one of about 20 men who in March of 1972 was recruited by the Air Force to try to become Pararescue. That was at the end of the Vietnam War and I am certain the Air Force was struggling to find enough qualified Airmen willing to become Pararescue. I am told that today the Air Force doesn't recruit for Pararescue but they did when I attended Basic Training. I was one of three men from my 3701 Training Squadron Flight 0309 that was recruited by the Air Force to try to become a Pararescue man. I am 63 years old in the above photos and after maybe a decade of being obese and then diagnosed at 56 after a Brain Aneurysm as depressed, PTSD, ADHD, Bi Polar and suicidal, I took these photos to document my weight loss and my healing of depression, PTSD, ADHD, and Bi Polar by diet change and exercise and it was my "Never Quit" mental attitude that finally kicked in that helped keep me inspired to do it. Go here if you would like to know more about the Elite US Air Force Pararescue. |