Louisiana All-Veteran's Reunion (Day 1)
Well, I was tasked with setting up an Army booth at this year's All-Vets Reunion in downtown Baton Rouge. My leadership felt they didn't get much out of it last year, so I was the only Soldier working; even the Coast Guard Auxiliary had two. The Air Force were a no-show as they probably will be all weekend, the Marines didn't show up yesterday and the Navy got scared off. The Navy Band from New Orleans, Raising Cane, [ampersand], and David St. Romain were the bands playing. I'll relate a few highlights of the day.
Got there, set up on the levee thinking there would be more vendors/booths. The wind was picking up a little, so I rigged up my table with bungee cords to keep stuff from flying everywhere. The Navy couldn't get their trailer up there, so they set up downhill and had a balloon on top. The wind kept knocking that down until they moved it. Score one for the Army. I had the high ground. About 45 minutes into the Navy band playing, a lightening warning came down. They packed up and left, and I had a clear view of the storm coming from the other side of the Mississippi. I lowered the canopy to lessen rain blowing in and decided to weather down. At the first sign of rain, all four or five Navy personnel began packing up to go home. I huddled down under the canopy and watched them leave.
The storm lasted only a few minutes. I started walking down to scout out the beer trailer when a homeless guy approached me. He told me he had served with 3/187 Infantry Regiment (Rakkasan) in Vietnam, along with a few other details about his service, then stated that he and his daughter were homeless and that he was trying to get bus fare to go to the VA hospital to have his hernia removed. He lifted his shirt to show a damned ugly umbilical hernia. Normally he would have gotten no money as I generally do not carry cash. However, since he had served with the unit I first served in, he got all three dollars (okay I hid a twenty) to my name. He walked off and I went back to the booth.
About a half-hour into Raising Cane's set I saw one of the guys from [ampersand] shove somebody. I thought it was two guys roughhousing, but then I saw the herniated bum. He tried to shove back and then the guy knocked him down. Oh, the humanity. Security came and escorted him from the area, where he started walking up and down the levee showing off his hernia and begging for money. About the same time two other homeless-looking people came down the levee with a bottle of cheap rum for all the world to see. Finally going back to the booth, the homeless and herniated approached me and started talking to me again. He gave his same sob story and told me he lacked only $8 for his bus fare. He also told me the other two homeless people were useless drunks, but not him. Never mind the slightly slurred speech, must have been a result of him being knocked down. Once again I heard how he was 11B10 (Infantry: I am an 11B30) when he was in Vietnam and how the guy that knocked him down was lucky he didn't get back up. Security came up to the booth to chat with me and the homeless guy beat a hasty retreat, saying he had to get down the road and pull a recon. I headed back downhill to talk to the Coast Guard and noticed an ambulance out in the road. Then a motorcycle cop drove up onto the levee and stopped by the three homeless guys. Come to find out, the herniated "11B30" Rakkasan was claiming he had a seizure after being roughed up by the band guy and security and that he needed to go to the hospital. I have no doubts he was a veteran as few people will lay false claim to a unit as specific as 3/187 Infantry. Most fakers will claim to be Special Forces or just say they were 101st Airborne. However, this guy had all the traits of an overly persistent jackass on the streets. Clinging onto military service that ended forty years ago, sob story about how he was just looking for help, holier-than-thou attitude about the other homeless men (probably because they were encroaching on "his" territory, inflated sense of his own abilities. Sucks he ended up that way, but few people are on the streets who don't contribute to themselves being there.
There was a young man who was in community college but never finished high school and a young woman walking the levee with her boyfriend that acted like she was on something that expressed interest in joining. With mostly veterans and their families in attendance along with my unenthusiastic attitude on recruiting, it is what I expected. I had an Arabic man come up and talk to me for awhile, I gave him some Army giveaways and he offered me some falafel. I would have had some, but flashed back to indigenous food in Iraq and decided to avoid the porta-john. There was also a guy from Bosnia whom I talked to and gave an Army hat. Mostly I listened to the bands, found small children to give flags to and hung out with security and the Coast Guard.
The event continues today and tomorrow, though I do not plan to be there all three days. I'm about to head back out, but will be bringing an ice chest full of water and beer (and a chair) today. Those few of you who live close to Baton Rouge are welcome to come. I'll be at the Army booth hanging out, and we'll have a beer. Hell, I even have a t-shirt for you if you come out.
Edit: Yesterday I wore Class B's to show off ribbons. Not today. Today will be ACUs so I can eat crawfish, drink beer, eject bums, and not worry about messing up my uniform. :D
