Brian Jones
Moderator
- Joined
- Jan 17, 1999
- Messages
- 7,560
Hi, everyone,
Been away from the forums ab it and not online much, but wanted to pop in and share this with you all:
Last night I played the blues jam at the local Pub in my town. It was fun as always. At one point, a guy bought 10 or 12 pitchers of beers for everyone in the bar. He asked us to make a toast to his fallen Vietnam buddies when we hoisted one. Needless to say, this guy was so bombed himself that he could barely walk, and decided he needed to go home. The owner of the bar kindly and compassionately helped him to the door and across the busy intersection, and watched him continue down the street aways, making sure he was okay, then came back in the bar to report that the man seemed to be making his way. This was around 11 pm.
At the 2 am closing of the pub, my friend and fellow musician, Scott, who lives down the street, asked if Id like to check out his recording studio on the way home, so we left the bar and headed on down. Our eyes were drawn to something not quite right in the shadows in the yard of one house. There we found our veteran friend lying on the grass, having vomited at some point. We rushed over, and to our relief, he was conscious, but in the very early stages of hypothermia. There is no doubt in my mind that if we or someone else had not found him, he would have been dead from exposure within an hour or two. It was a very frigid night. We picked him up and each took a side and held onto him and had him put his arms around our shoulders, but he was unable to stand without our help. I asked him his name and address, which he was able to answer. His address was about a half-mile away, and we knew even with our help, we werent going to be able to walk him that far. Thankfully, our astute friend Mars spotted us and pulled up in his van, so we carefully got the man into the front seat, piled in the back, and drove him to his house. The house had a long walkway and two sets of stairs. We managed to get him one step at a time down them and to his door, then brought him inside to the couch. I kept talking to him the whole time to reassure him, and he kept mumbling thank yous to us, and had some tears in his eyes. We carefully laid him on his side on his couch, and put a nice warm blanket over him, and stayed with him for a few minutes to make sure he would be alright. He became a little more lucid once he got warm. Still teary-eyed, he kept thanking us.
I looked at him, and I thanked him profusely for his service to our country for standing on the wall to protect the rest of us back home here in the States, and that we got his six anytime and, of course, for the fine microbrews he bought for everybody.
What specific memories and trauma were haunting him that night, I do not know. All I know is that he is a kind and generous man, who was in turmoil from a time when he was under fire in service to our country. That is all I need to know.
Please remember to thank our veterans no matter which conflict they fought in past or present, and to lend them a hand if they need one. We in the US would not have our rights and freedoms were it not for them.
I stopped by his house this morning and knocked at his door to check on him, but he did not answer it was fairly early and I figured he was still sleeping it off.
I hope he is alright.
Been away from the forums ab it and not online much, but wanted to pop in and share this with you all:
Last night I played the blues jam at the local Pub in my town. It was fun as always. At one point, a guy bought 10 or 12 pitchers of beers for everyone in the bar. He asked us to make a toast to his fallen Vietnam buddies when we hoisted one. Needless to say, this guy was so bombed himself that he could barely walk, and decided he needed to go home. The owner of the bar kindly and compassionately helped him to the door and across the busy intersection, and watched him continue down the street aways, making sure he was okay, then came back in the bar to report that the man seemed to be making his way. This was around 11 pm.
At the 2 am closing of the pub, my friend and fellow musician, Scott, who lives down the street, asked if Id like to check out his recording studio on the way home, so we left the bar and headed on down. Our eyes were drawn to something not quite right in the shadows in the yard of one house. There we found our veteran friend lying on the grass, having vomited at some point. We rushed over, and to our relief, he was conscious, but in the very early stages of hypothermia. There is no doubt in my mind that if we or someone else had not found him, he would have been dead from exposure within an hour or two. It was a very frigid night. We picked him up and each took a side and held onto him and had him put his arms around our shoulders, but he was unable to stand without our help. I asked him his name and address, which he was able to answer. His address was about a half-mile away, and we knew even with our help, we werent going to be able to walk him that far. Thankfully, our astute friend Mars spotted us and pulled up in his van, so we carefully got the man into the front seat, piled in the back, and drove him to his house. The house had a long walkway and two sets of stairs. We managed to get him one step at a time down them and to his door, then brought him inside to the couch. I kept talking to him the whole time to reassure him, and he kept mumbling thank yous to us, and had some tears in his eyes. We carefully laid him on his side on his couch, and put a nice warm blanket over him, and stayed with him for a few minutes to make sure he would be alright. He became a little more lucid once he got warm. Still teary-eyed, he kept thanking us.
I looked at him, and I thanked him profusely for his service to our country for standing on the wall to protect the rest of us back home here in the States, and that we got his six anytime and, of course, for the fine microbrews he bought for everybody.
What specific memories and trauma were haunting him that night, I do not know. All I know is that he is a kind and generous man, who was in turmoil from a time when he was under fire in service to our country. That is all I need to know.
Please remember to thank our veterans no matter which conflict they fought in past or present, and to lend them a hand if they need one. We in the US would not have our rights and freedoms were it not for them.
I stopped by his house this morning and knocked at his door to check on him, but he did not answer it was fairly early and I figured he was still sleeping it off.
I hope he is alright.
