Veterans Oral History Project for the Combat Infantryman [11:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of H21 Southern Branch, Austin Chapter, of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver the opportunity for the combat infantryman to tell the story of his experiences during his time in the Army within one of several programs encompassing the VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

As you will hear in this audio episode, there are 3 major programs within the project that solicit your participation to preserve your story of your experiences when you were in the Army and gave military service:

1.  NATIONAL PROGRAM chartered by the US Congress and implemented by the Library of Congress - THE VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT.

2. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS program called the WORLD WAR II LATINO ORAL HISTORY PROJECT – mainly comprising of the stories from Latinos in Texas from World War II — and now stretching to Vietnam, Korea and the conflicts to the present day; 

and

3. TEXAS VETERANS LAND BOARD program called “VOICES OF THE VETERANS,” which does not specify a particular branch of service, unit or MOS — it is for veterans of all campaigns and all branches.

As you can see from the image, above, the Texas Veterans Land Board “Voices of the Veterans” program delivers 4 sets of CDs to the veteran, with the audio recording of the interview. In addition, there is a nicely done, professional folio that is awarded to the interviewee, with a great letter and certificate thanking the veteran.

To see the pdf document of the certificate from the Texas Veterans Land Board, CLICK HERE.

In addition to the description of the VETERANS ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, we also deliver to you the announcement of the next meeting:

Saturday, 14 August 2010, at VFW Post 8787 in Austin Texas (at 500 VFW Way, on the northbound access road just north of Braker Lane.)

The meeting will start at 11:45 a.m. and will be a joint meeting with the 82nd Airborne Division Association Alamo Chapter.

For more information or if you need a ride, please contact Tony Martinez ( Tel: 512-228-7045)

Copyright (c) 2010, Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All rights reserved.

 

 44- Memorial Day - gratitude and emotions of a Combat Infantryman [08:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Branch, Austin, Texas, chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we dedicate this time to those whose lives were taken in combat. We honored them on Memorial Day at the Cook-Walden cemetery in Pflugerville, Texas.

Duane Williams and Fred Castaneda followed John C. Burkhart, who is the Commander of the Texas Capital Chapter 1919    of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, in taking the floral arrangement and presenting it to the memorial for those who fell in combat. John C. Burkhart is also a CIB-recipient.

We also highlight that a local hero in the Austin area, Alan Babin, was honored at this event. Although he is not a CIB recipient, he did receive the CMB (Combat Medics badge), purple heart and bronze star. He also promotes the Wheelchair Veterans of America, after having 71 operations and a close call to death. If you remember from previous podcasts, he was wounded when he went to help a wounded combat infantryman in the battle of Baghdad in 2003.

Also given in this audio episode is the saying that was echoed by a British airborne infantryman who fought in Normandy in the D-Day battle of June 6, 1944:

“They gave up their tomorrows so that we could have our todays.”

Our next meeting is on 19 June 2010 at the VFW post 8787 at 13:30 hours (i.e., 1:30 p.m. Central time).

Copyright (c) 2010, Combat Infantrymen’s Association and Matrix Solutions Corporation.

 

 43- The Face of War- dusting off the wounded [14:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Branch, Austin, Texas chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver two elements: a Chapter Update (including the new officers for 2010) and a discussion of The Face of War–assisting the wounded combat infantrymen.

(1) Chapter update:

- As you will hear in this audio episode, the chapter has attended several key events, including the MUSTER DAYS at Camp Maybry, in which there were re-enactments from World War II and Vietnam.

- In addition, the new chapter officers had been elected, and here is the roster for 2010-2011:

* Chapter Commander:  TONY MARTINEZ

* Chapter Vice-Commander:  Bobby Briscoe

* Chapter Executive Officer:  John Torres

* Chapter First Sergeant:  Mr. Casanova

* Chapter Sgt-at-Arms:  Duane Williams

* Chapter Public Affairs Officer:  Fred Castaneda

We congratulate TONY MARTINEZ for taking the leadership of this organization and wish him the best, as well as give him our full support as he steers this group to reaching the objectives of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association.

Tony is a combat veteran during the Vietnam War. He served with the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). Tony had been the finance officer for the chapter prior to his new office.

If you wish to get an idea of his background and his story, there is an interview in this same podcast series.  It is episode 15, dated 3 August 2008, and you can get to it by scrolling down this page and selecting “OLDER ENTRIES.” After the page refreshes, you can scroll down once more and again select “OLDER ENTRIES.” Then you can scroll down to episode 15.

(2) The Face of War–Assisting the wounded combat infantrymen.

We close with a discussion of the combat infantryman’s reaction and complications due to seeing the “face of war”–especially helping the other combat infantrymen who were wounded and needed to be evacuated (or “dusted-off” as the saying went in the Vietnam War).

In the image taken as a photo by John Olson, the tragedy and suffering of the combat-wounded is clearly depicted; and it can be felt by those who served as a grunt in Vietnam.

As you will hear in this audio podcast, the next meeting of the chapter will be held jointly with the 82nd Airborne Division Association’s Alamo Chapter in San Antonio.

Again, thank you to our previous officers for growing the chapter, and congratulations to the newly-elected officers for their position and upcoming contributions to the Combat Infantrymen community.

Copyright (C) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 

 42- How the iPad can assist disadvantaged veterans [14:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter podcast series of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver to you an interview with Richard Ehrlich, a Vietnam Combat veteran who was with both D/325 AIR of the 82nd Airborne Division, as well as having been a Green Beret with the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam. This interview was conducted at the time when Richard was standing in a long line for a long time as he waited to purchase the Apple(R)  iPad(R) on day one of its availability.

Richard Ehrlich is leading the way to have applications developed for mobile devices–like the Apple(R) iPhone(R) and iPad(R)–for productive use in the health industry by health professionals. What is most amazing is that he is trying to help disadvantaged veterans (i.e., those who are disabled, especially after returning from tours in combat zones and with service-connected combat-related complications)–but, instead of giving material goods or words of encouragement, he wants to help them to become web developers for medical applications.

Yes, his mission is to help them with training for applications being developed for the iPad. In this way, they would become web developers for these mobile applications–and his mission is to have 100,000 such veterans employed within the next 5 years.

What qualifications would the veterans need?

He is looking for those who were trained as Army medics or Navy Corpsmen–because they would already have the training and background  in the medical field to assist in the creation and delivery of the applications.

As you will hear in this audio podcast, Richard is not fooling himself with a grand design of a perfect environment. He will go to the greatest need first and then find, create and deliver the application to meet and exceed the requirements from the actual world of the reality of the environment. As he said, it is not that different from a military operation that is planned–and that planning goes out the window when the operation starts, and then the “LGOPS” (“little groups of paratroopers”) or the “A-Detachment” (i.e., a Special Forces typical team in Vietnam) will get the job done with the actual requirements.

Richard also cites the two best qualities of these disadvantaged veterans:

(1) They know how to follow SOPs (“standard operating procedures”). This is important with an ISO 9000 non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization, such as his–www.veterantutors.org; and

(2) They don’t know the meaning of what spoiled or “entitled” civilian counterparts always use as an excuse: there is no such a phrase as “Not my job” in their vocabulary. These veterans will keep on going and be creative, and they will adjust, they will improvise and they will find a way to get the job done with superior results.

A great example is cited by Richard–that of Alan Babin, a hero Army medic who was severely injured in Iraq in 2003 while serving with Richard’s old unit, the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. His story was delivered in an earlier podcast episode in this series which centered around the web-based videos “In their Boots.”

With a pool to draw from by getting the support of the Wounded Warrior Program from Fort Hood to Fort Sam Houston in Texas (a 200-mile area), it is easy to see how qualified candidates would be available for him to help.

The iPad and its possibilities from creative developers like Richard Ehrlich to help disadvantaged veterans show that technology could assist those who need it most at this time. As Richard stated in this interview:  This country has a habit of easily sending off young men to war, but it has a hard time of taking care of them later when they need it.

Note: during this interview, there was quite a bit of Airborne and combat veteran camaraderie between the interviewer and Richard. However, it was all from the heart; and this spontaneous show of the respect, honor and trust between two combat veterans should not detract from the key messages of the audio podcast.

Kudos to Richard Ehrlich for his trust and support of these veterans.

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Apple, iPhone and iPad are trademarks or registered trademarks of Apple Computer Corporation.

 

 Debunking the Myth of the Addicted Army [18:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver the audio narration of the article from VFW Magazine’s February, 2010, edition titled:  “Debunking the Myth of the ‘Addicted’ Army.’

This is an article written by Jeremy Kuzmarov, in which the truth about the perpetration of a stereotype and myth was created by the Media, journalists, reporters, and even members of the US Congress and government about the Vietnam Combat veteran. This MYTH was so outrageous–but unfortunately, it caused so much damage–that is pictured the combat Vietnam veteran as a ‘baby-killer, psycho, dope-addict, heroin-addict and loser.’

As if a combat veteran needs more stigmas and more depression delivered by the rejection of an ungrateful American public, the Vietnam veteran had to cope with this for over 40 years. Now, the truth about the lies that were spread by TV, media, news and Congress is finally delivered–and even with the statistics and studies that show who the guilty parties were.

Thus, how can you blame a Combat Vietnam Veteran like myself that cannot trust the media at all? or who hates the mere presence of reporters and journalists and equates them to the lowest scum of the earth and slimiest creatures with nothing else on their minds except getting sensationalism to exaggerate the facts and get their story published?

And, most of all, don’t you think it is ironic that perhaps THEY THEMSELVES–the reporters and journalists who went out with the combat troops for only a couple of days (instead of the entire mission) and returned to the safety of the REAR and the security of hot water, clean linen and the comforts of ‘home’ to their typewriters would be the ones creating this sensationalistic exaggeration of the real situation about drugs in Vietnam?

I suggest that these same reporters, journalists and scum of the media were the ones who smoked the heroin, smoked marijuana and took the pills and got high while in the rear–because the could do so while the grunts kept them secure–and then blamed the partaking of drugs on the grunt himself. After all, he who wielded the pen controlled the media.

Little did they know how much damage, pain, loss of job and happiness, and how much misery they would cause in the lives of honest, returning Vietnam combat veterans who only did their duty, but would find the same words when they returned home to this frenzied stereotype:  “Sorry, we don’t want any Vietnam Vets; we don’t want any trouble from psychos, baby-killers or drug-addicts.”

Yes, Media and reporters and journalists. Thank you for the forty years of misery and pain–just so you could get your exaggerated story published, while the combat vets were spilling their blood and guts every day in the bush, the paddies and the mountains, the Central Highlands all the way from the DMZ to the Delta.

The question is: has the media changed since then?

In my opinion, I think not. Very little has changed, and the soldiers are the ones that have to fight the misinformation and exaggeration delivered to the public by the worthless entity called the Mainstream Media (or should we call it “Lame-stream Media”?).

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 

 40- Upcoming meeting on 20 Feb 2010 and election of officers [10:37m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21, Austin, Texas,  Southern Chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we summarize the meeting from 23 January 2010 in Austin, and we also preview the upcoming meeting on 20 February 2010 at the VFW Post 8787 in Austin, Texas, at 13:30 hrs.

As you can see from the above photo, we have several more images from the Veterans’ Day parade in Austin, Texas.

As you will hear in this audio episode, we welcome the new year and review the items discussed in the meeting on 23 February 2010. If you would like to hear the ENTIRE MEETING, you can go to the following link and listen to the discussions (nearly 2 hours):

http://media.libsyn.com/media/fgcastgain/CIB-Mtg-23Jan2010-Austin-STE-001.mp3

However, the key messages in this audio episode are:

- Upcoming meeting on 20 Feb 2010 at 13:30 hrs. at VFW Post 8787;

- Upcoming elections of officers, after each of the nominees accepted their positions when nominated:

* Tony Martinez accepted nomination as Commander

* John Torres accepted nomination as Executive Officer

* Fred Castaneda accepted nomination as Public Affairs Officer

* Duane Williams accepted nomination as Safety Officer/Sgt.-at-Arms

- Proposed trip/meeting in the Spring combined jointly with the 82nd Airborne Division Association in Fredericksburg, Texas (to be near the Museum of the Pacific) – tentative date 17 April 2010. This is being coordinated by Matt Rayson of the 82nd Airborne Division Association.

- Next meeting should be in the Fort Hood/Killeen/Harker Heights area in the early weeks of March, 2010. Bobby Briscoe will have the details for us at the 20Feb2010 meeting.

If you wish to see a pdf document of the tentative agenda for the 20Feb2010 meeting, then click here.

If you wish to see the pdf file draft of the newsletter that will be going out to the membership for February, 2010, then click here.

Copyright (c) 2010, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 

 39- Joe Galloway Article- Vietnam Grunts and soldiers of today [13:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of The Combat Infantrymen’s Association, H21 Southern Branch Austin, Texas, Chapter, we deliver to you an audio narration of the article published in the supplement called “Welcome Home” of The VVA Veteran publicatiion (from the Vietnam Veterans of America organization) in November/December, 2009.

The title of this article is:

“…What is the diffeence between the soldiers you knew in Vietnam and the soldiers of today?”

The article starts on page 4 of the WELCOME HOME supplement publication and is delivered complete in its entirety and unabridged.

The article is delivered from the heart by Joe Galloway. In an earlier episode of this podcast series, we had the opportunity to meet Joe in person and interview him for 8 minutes with his thoughts about the value of the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, especially as it relates to the Vietnam War Grunt.

As you will hear in this audio narration, what is exceptional in this article is that the Vietnam Veteran Combat Infantryman is the leader in providing the welcome-back, the thanks-for-your-service, and the honor to those who sacrificed from the conflicts today in the Middle East. And we feel similarly– as Joe mentioned–that as long as a Vietnam War grunt still exists, there will ALWAYS be this honor and gratitude rendered to those returning from sacrifice and service overseas from being in harm’s way.

As most Vietnam War veterans, Joe is in his late sixties (68, as of last May in 2009, if we remember from the in-person interview) as far as age goes. His experience and his sacrifice in valor speaks for itself:

“Joseph L. Galloway is a military columnist for McClatchy. During the Vietnam War, Galloway served three tours in Vietnam for United Press International. Decorated for rescuing wounded American soldiers under heavy enemy fire during the battle at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, he was the only civialian awarded the Bronze Star by the U.S. Army in the Vietnam War. With Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, Galloway co-authored a detailed account of these experiences in the bestselling book WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE…AND YOUNG.

Copyright (c) 2009, Matrix Solutions Corporation and Vietnam Veterans of America. All Rights Reserved.

 

 38- Veterans' Day 2009 Activities [06:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Branch, Austin, Texas, chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver the summary of the events in Austin, Texas, during the Veterans’ Day 2009 parade and ceremony.

As you will hear in this podcast episode, we had representation from Bobby Briscoe, Tony Martinez, Duane Williams, John Torres, Fred Castaneda and our newest member of the CIB, Don Bailey. They participated in the Veterans’ Day parade in downtown Austin, Texas, from the Congress Street bridge from Riverside Drive to the State Capitol.

Actually, there was an administrative error because the parade cadre did not have the CIB Association application on the list. Thus, the 82nd Airborne Division Association (represented by Fred Castaneda and Don Bailey) invited the group to march with them.

What was interesting was that the Army Band from the 36th Infantry Division at Camp Mabry in Austin, Texas, was marching right in front of the team. This gave us the best place to march to the cadence, and definitely, the group was STRAC and looked great and marched perfectly–to represent the rest of the members and to pay honor to those veterans in uniform–past or present.

After the march to the entrance of the State Capitol, we met several folks who were interested in joining the CIB Association (as well as other paratroopers who wanted to move their memberships to the local chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association).

At the State Capitol, at the 11th hour, there was the ceremony which highlighted Rosalinda Babin, the mother of Alan Babin, local hero and Grand Marshall for the Parade. His story is told in the blog of AlansAngels and In their Boots, and he was described as a wounded warrior in the memorial Day activities of 2007.

At the foot of the south steps of the capitol was a mock-up of the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In front of this tomb were the wreaths placed to honor those who fell in combat during all military operations since the Civil War.

Of course, the CIB Association joined the 82nd Airborne Division Association to place the wreath appropriately and represent the organizations.

The Austin-American Statesman newspaper had a series of photos in their gallery which depicted pictures from the events (the URL is at

http://www.statesman.com/news/mediahub/media/slideshow/index.jsp?tId=200410).

And, yes, our own team was shown marching (however, the newspaper incorrectly stated that the group was the TAVV organization and not the CIB/82d Airborne combination).

The next meeting of the CIB Association Austin, Texas, chapter will be in the joint meeting with the 82nd Airborne Division Alamo Chapter in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, 12 December 2009, for the Christmas meeting and installation of the new officers for 2010. More will be delivered in the newsletters and email.

Copyright (c) 2009, Matrix Solutions Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

 

 37- Meeting at the Drop Zone and Upcoming Events [15:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Branch, Austin, Texas Chapter of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver to you the summary of the Joint meeting of the CIB chapter with the 82nd Airborne Division Association Alamo Chapter in San Antonio, Texas, on 24 October 2009, at the Drop Zone Cafe.

As you will hear in the audio episode, the Drop Zone Cafe is really a historical landmark in San Antonio, just on the short path to the entrance of Fort Sam Houston, Texas. It has memorabilia and photos of Medal of Honor Winners Benavides and Rocco, as well as photos on the eaves and walls of the buildings within of past-and-present PARATROOPERS since World War II (yes, Fred Castaneda had his color version of this photo on the eave of the ceiling in the restaurant building:

One other thing to note is that we had welcomed our newest member, Dave, who received his CIB in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. The officers Bobby Briscoe, John Torres and Tony Martinez, made him feel at home. Also, Duane Williams and Fred Castaneda joined in, as well.

In addition, we confirmed the upcoming membership of Don Bailey, who was interviewed in an earlier episode here at this podcast site. If you may remember, Don earned his CIB in the Battle for Grenada in Operation Urgent Fury, when he was an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division.

We had both organizations conduct their monthly meetings there. You can get all the details of the happenings and future events scheduled for:

- 4 November 2009: Bobby Briscoe and team going to Fort Hood, Texas, with a delegation for recruitment of in-service CIB award winners and the Wounded Warrior Program;

- 7 November 2009: Veterans’ Day Parade in San Antonio, Texas;

- 11 November 2009: Veterans’ Day Parade and Ceremony in Austin, Texas;

- 12 December 2009: CIB members are invited to the home of John Peed for a joint meeting and Christmas party gathering, with donations of toys, etc., for the San Antonio group of the Battered Women and Children’s Organization.

Also, during the final part of this episode, we once again honor Darrell G. Harris, member of both the CIB Association and the 82nd Airborne Division. Not only was D.G. Harris one of the very first paratroopers in World War II who made the very FIRST airborne combat jump with the 82nd Airborne, but he was one of the very FIRST who earned the COMBAT INFANTRYMAN’S BADGE in 1943 for his participation in Operation Husky in Sicily. (Note: the CIB was first created and later issues in 1943 and 1944).

Darrell had everyone in the meeting hypnotized and in awe as he recounted from memory his experiences during Operation Market-Garden (the invasion of Holland in Septermber, 1944)–especially when he participated in capturing the Grave River Bridge and the Nijmegen Bridge over the Waal River. Yes, this is the famous and dangerous suicide crossing during daylight that was recounted in the movie, A Bridge Too Far (where actor Robert Redford played Julian Cook, the Batallion Commander). And, yes, Darrell did row across the river under tremendous fire from the enemy, and he later helped to disengage and compromise the demolitions on the bridge to keep it intact for the later invasion of Germany. He explains this in his biography version of his book, Casablanca to VE-Day: A Paratrooper’s Memoirs.

D.G. Harris is currently the Secretary-Treasurer of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, San Antonio’s Alamo Chapter.

The feeling of brotherhood with all the comrades was wonderful and eventful. We encourage the members to attend these joint meetings.

We will bring you the details of the November activities and further meetings of the Chapter and its members in the next podcast episode.

Copyright (c) 2009, Matrix Solutions Corporation and the Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All Rights Reserved.

 

 36 - POW-MIA ceremony and details of 24Oct09 Joint meeting [12:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this episode of the H21 Southern Chapter, Austin, Texas location of the Combat Infantrymen’s Association, we deliver a summary of the ceremony that took place on 18 September 2009 at the Texas State Cemetery near downtown Austin, Texas. We also give you information and details of the upcoming joint meeting of the CIB Association Austin Chapter and the San Antonio-based Alamo Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association.

_____________________________________________________________________

Joint Meeting: 82nd Airborne and CIB Associations on 24 Oct 2009

We will be having a joint meeting with the members of the Alamo Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association at the Drop Zone Club and Restaurant on Saturday morning, 24 October 2009, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Central time.

This is the 3rd time we will have been together as 2 associations. The first time was August, 2008 in San Antonio (we honored D.G. Harris at that time for his CIB and 3 combat jumps in WWII). The second meeting was on 9 May 2009 in Austin at the VFW 8787 Post. And this will be the third meeting, hosted by the San Antonio chapter.

We will have community with our comrades, sharing of stories and good times with our brethren from all the conflicts, both Airborne and Infantry. Both chapters will have their monthly meetings during this time, as well.

Also, as you will hear in the audio episode, this will be a great RECRUITMENT event. The Alamo Silver Wings Airborne Association and numerous other CIB-award winners frequent the Drop Zone Cafe. I have a feeling we will get new members for both organizations.

We hope to see you there for this meeting on 24 October, 2009.

______________________________________________________

POW-MIA ceremony in Austin on 18 September 2009

On Friday, 18 September 2009, members of the CIB chapter in Austin participated in the ceremony to give honor to those still who are POW-MIA (Prisoners of War / Missing in Action). Tony Martinez from the chapter was part of the honor guard and participated with the VVA (Vietnam Veterans of America) in giving tribute to those fellow comrades.

Also in attendance were John Torres, Bobby Briscoe and Duane Williams.

The specifics of the ceremony are given in detail in the audio episode.

The next event will be the Veterans’ Day Parades and Ceremonies that will take place in downtown Austin and the State Capitol, as well as in San Antonio in the upcoming weeks.

Copyright (c) Matrix Solutions Corporation and the Combat Infantrymen’s Association. All Rights Reserved.