Proud Uncle....UPDATE pg 2

[BPTactical]

Some here may know that my father, who is now 88yo is a WWII veteran of the 10th Mountain Division (85E). If you don't know anything about the 10th back then they were an elite unit, trained in mountain warfare and many consider them the forefathers of Special Warfare. They saw heavy action in Northern Italy late in the war. They were a fairly small unit, consisting of about 10,000 men.
Out of that number, they lost just shy of 1000 (997 IIRC) KIA. That equates to 10% which was the highest per unit KIA rate of any unit that saw action.
This was a highly specialized group of men that were hand picked and to even be considered for the 10th a candidate had to have 3 letters of introduction/reference.
After the war these veterans went on to be instrumental in the development of the ski industry in the US and as many other vets of our "Greatest Generation", accomplished some great things for our nation.
I am very proud to be the son of a 10th veteran.

Fast forward 65+ years.
My nephew TJ who is my BIL's eldest son was sick of not really doing much with his life outside of working and playing video games left for Basic at Fort Benning in January of this year. He went in for infantry, he wanted to be a grunt because he really wants to push himself. He has qualified "Expert" in marksmanship and would like to try for Sniper School.
Apparently he was able to have a bit of say so where he was to go after Basic and guess where he chose?
Fort Drum NY!
He CHOSE to be a 10th Mountain soldier.
I haven't spoken directly with him but my youngest has, my kiddo asked him why he chose the 10th.
"Because of your Grandfather, he is a great man and I wanted to follow in his footsteps and keep a legacy for OUR family."
Make my eyes hot and knock me over with a feather.
Simple words cannot describe how proud I am of him.

[ray1970]

[hghclsswhitetrsh]

Awesome man. Lots to be proud of.

[Jmetz]

2nded.

[cstone]

Traditions start somewhere.

Congratulations!

[sniper7]

Very awesome! Congrats

[Great-Kazoo]

Good for Him and your family. Hope he knows some canuk, dat der lingo be a mighty tricky. ;_

[buffalobo]

Congrats to nephew and your clan. Have you told your dad yet? Let us know what he says.





Lobbed from my electronic ball and chain

[BPTactical]

Congrats to nephew and your clan. Have you told your dad yet? Let us know what he says.





Lobbed from my electronic ball and chain

That's the other side of the emotional roller coaster. My dad is suffering from dementia quite severely and doesn't even recognize my mom, to him she is "The Lady that lives with him."
My mom is going to tell him when she sees a lucid moment.
We are going to have to get him in an assisted living home soon, my mom told me that soon I am going to head west and help get him moved.
The ups, the downs.
Ce'LaVie

[Squeeze]

Man Bert, that is awesome! Such a great thing to be proud of. Nothing like seeing a youth turn life around on his own volition. Most children these days need someone to follow them around with a sharp stick to keep them moving in a forward direction. You have an awesome nephew and my hat's off to him!