*sipping iced tea*
This is to keep you entertained while I work on other blog which involves some funny quotations, poetry and fact-of-life. Plus a shamrock origami using a dollar bill!! (perfect for who plans on going to Irish bar on St. Patrick's Day. This is your chance to impress, start a conversation - etc.).
*recorder playing*
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Mom, as you know St. Patrick's coming ... I dunno if it's a big thing when you were growing up.
Actually, what exactly did you do during that time?
Good, food, good friends and alot of talking and playing games, and of course a wee bit of whiskey.
Oh, food? What kind?
Corned beef and cabbage, paddy cakes, liver pudding, fish, irish potatoe soup. Wait, make that a beef Irish paddy cakes, jeez am I drunk??
Oh mom, you are not!
Like if I was bad, she'd break off my arm and beat me with the bloody stump?
How do you know if you’re in trouble?
Of course, I always knew when I was in trouble, that's the only time she called me by my whole name. “Eileen Patricia Leet!”.. and in “BIG” letters... yelling!
Most of the time I was just or Paddy.. when I was on the sh*t lift it was the whole name... and everyone knew about it too…and went “Uh-oh you're in big trouble now girl!!”
Wow, she must be very strict….
She was a darling woman, told me I could anything or be anyone I wanted, that is why I went into the army... I just wanted her to be proud of me. So, I told her I wanted to go into the army, she said so see what they have to offer. I took the test and in three days later I was gone to Fort McCDullan, Alabama and under the tender mercy of Drill Sargent Bernidenni... she taught me meaning of fear... and respect. Your grandmother, she was so proud of me, the first generation Irish/American and I was going into the Vietnam war.... yet, she was proud of me!
God bless her
Was it difficult, especially for a female at this age in that decade?
Oh mom, you are not!
Like if I was bad, she'd break off my arm and beat me with the bloody stump?
How do you know if you’re in trouble?
Of course, I always knew when I was in trouble, that's the only time she called me by my whole name. “Eileen Patricia Leet!”.. and in “BIG” letters... yelling!
Most of the time I was just or Paddy.. when I was on the sh*t lift it was the whole name... and everyone knew about it too…and went “Uh-oh you're in big trouble now girl!!”
Wow, she must be very strict….
She was a darling woman, told me I could anything or be anyone I wanted, that is why I went into the army... I just wanted her to be proud of me. So, I told her I wanted to go into the army, she said so see what they have to offer. I took the test and in three days later I was gone to Fort McCDullan, Alabama and under the tender mercy of Drill Sargent Bernidenni... she taught me meaning of fear... and respect. Your grandmother, she was so proud of me, the first generation Irish/American and I was going into the Vietnam war.... yet, she was proud of me!
God bless her
Was it difficult, especially for a female at this age in that decade?
I was smart and stupid... not to get with men who were paying alot of attention to me as I was tall and slender, but I really had brains. I had a Top Secret Crypto Clearance, that was one of the highest the army had.
What did your sisters, my aunts, say to that as you’re the eldest?
Sandy cried, that was when they cut off my hair and set it home. She used to sneak up in the closet and comb it, instead of a long ponytail, I ended up having a box of loose hair.
She was just a kid, 12 years old and I was basically her mom because mom was getting sick at the time.
You mean - they mailed your hair home - in a ponytail and Sandy combed it, which ended up loosed up in the box?
Yep, my hair was down to my butt, I could sit on it... they put it into a pony tail and cut it off and mailed it to my mom. Afterwards, my hair was a little over and inch long. (pixie-style)
We could not use makeup and they dressed us in ugly blue bell-bottom shorts with a wrap around skit that buttoned down the front. EEEEWWWWWW!!! With black oxford shoes with little black socks...
I started off at Willow Lake, them we moved to Window after Gordie went crazy and married Julie, the bith...yp windom. Ok… the meds are starting to work.
[my mother took painkiller medicine when she was talking to me, and she was so relaxed…]
I always thought they were dressed in green, like regular army?
Not in basic for exercise, those were dress uniforms, for parades and school AND STUFF. Bell bottom shorts half pleats in the front, seriously ugly shorts
And you had to endure wearing those! Well, at least you have a good pair of legs to show off.
You should see them on you, and they had to be starched so they could stand up alone!! We were the most unsexy young women, ugly clothes, no make up, no hair... but we learned to work together as a team!
And you were the best!
I made my E-2 in basic training, there were 4 of us that did it...out of 60 girls! I got my first stripe...then we went off to school at Fort Gordon, Georgia to learn the techniques in communications. Again, I got my second stripe from that school.
I was looking good back them, 5'8" ana about 130 lbs, a learning green fighting machine. I was always with the guys, they had more fun than the girls.
That was the reason why they wanted me to have an abortion, I was really good at my job.
[I was the proof of an abortion – she did not abort me because her mother - my grandmother, died 3 days before the discovery of her pregnancy]
Okay…any envy reactions among your other girls in your class?
Oh hell yeah, I had one girl steal a beautiful Korean blanket I had bought for Mom as my Christmas present.
That girl who stole the blanket - how do you know it was her and what happened afterwards?
We never found it, but that was okay. Maybe she needed it more than me...but I got mom something even better! I took her dress shopping and got into a fight with some idiot lady.
What?? Wait, you got into a fight with a lady? Over what?!
Your grandma had psoriasis, it was red, rashly skin disorder, and this lady said "she shouldn’t be allowed outside with that stuff on the legs" It hurt mom’s feeling so I punched her and end up spent about 3 hours in jail. But the lady who own that store was mom's friend, she made that lady to drop the charges.
Ooh - she actually dropped the charges? Based on what? guilty?
Rose, mom's friend – the shop owner. She said she would tell everyone what had happened and it would ruin her reputation. See, everybody liked mom and she was cool. They respected her. Rose also came here from Belfast, Ireland. Settled down in Windham, Ohio.
I remember going home before going to Fort Lewis after school and they told us to cover up our uniforms so they wouldn't throw tomatoes at us....
Mom? Did they? Throw some at you?
Hell yes, sorry civilians...they had no clue what our men were going through, what a bunch of spoiled brats.
Anyway! Oh yeah, back in the day, when you could get a HUGE Daisy Queen ice cream for just a quarter!! Ooh - o'glory days. Before the world started going crazy, back when John and Bobby and Martin were going to change the world.
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Please remember the soliders who either have so much or so little to lose and they gave up their lives for us so we can continue enjoying our freedom in USA. Therefore, GOD BLESS AMERICA!
Until next time - blog you later!
- Shannon
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