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  • Audie Murphy is the most decorated US soldier in history. He won every single award for valor the Army issued as well as the Medal of Honor and a number of French and Belgium medals for his efforts in WWII.

    Born in Texas to dirt poor sharecroppers, his father abandoned the family early on, and his mother later died of pneumonia when he was only 16. Shortly after his mom's death, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and with a desire to enlist, his sister helped him change the date on his birth certificate so he could join the military. The Marines and Navy turned him down (he was 5'5" and weighed 110 lbs) but the Army finally took him and he began Basic Training in June 1942.

    He fought in the Invasion of Sicily, Anzio, France, and later single-handily held off Germans in the Vosges Mountains and led an attack against them even though he was out of ammo and badly injured. He later received a commision to the rank of lieutenant for his leadership and courage and the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery in this campaign.

    After the war, Audie suffered from what is now called PTSD and reportedly took an assortment of sleeping pills every night. He famously slept with a loaded gun under his pillow and would wake up disoriented and waving his pistol about. It happened so often he installed a complicated door lock on his bedroom door to slow him down enough so that he could come out from under the cloud of the sleeping pills before he mistakenly hurt someone. Even with the lock, he reportedly held his wife at gunpoint on more than one occasion.

    Murphy became a singer-songwriter and acted in more than 40 movies. He also wrote, sold, and recorded several hit songs. Though his movies were profitable, movie stars weren't paid particularly well back then and after his movie career faded, he faced severe money problems due to bad investments with horse farms and a gambling and drug addiction problem. Even with few job offers, he turned down alcohol and cigarette commercials because he didn't want to be a bad influence.

    At age 45, he was flying to Virginia for a charity fundraiser and the plane he was riding in crashed into the side of mountain. Murphy and the plane's 6 occupants all died.

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    "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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    • Classic Dantonio 2* recruit.
      Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
      Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

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      • Murphy has a prime spot at Arlington

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        • It seems like instead of the complicated door lock, you could dispense with the loaded weapon under the pillow. That's a system that would make Rube Goldberg blush.

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          • Originally posted by froot loops View Post
            It seems like instead of the complicated door lock, you could dispense with the loaded weapon under the pillow. That's a system that would make Rube Goldberg blush.
            When you're paranoid, that option is unacceptable.

            "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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            • Perhaps, my point still stands.

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              • No doubt, but some points are easier voiced than actually acted upon.
                "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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                • Kris Kristofferson is another person I find interesting with a music-military angle. While Audie has had a movie made about him (To Hell and Back), Kris hasn't that I am aware of.

                  Kristofferson was a Rhodes Scolar who won a Blue for Boxing and was on the Rugby team. After graduating from Oxford, he joined the Army, became a captain who flew helicopters and went to Ranger school for fun. After his tour of duty was over he was sent to West Point to teach English but turned it down, quit the Army and went to work as a helicopter pilot for a Louisiana oil company ferrying workers to and from the offshore oil platforms and writing songs in his spare time. Kristofferson's father, an Air Force general, was so upset that he quit the military that Kris was disowned.

                  While a helicopter pilot in Louisiana, he also took a job at Columbia Recording in Nashville so that he could learn the trade and try to sell his songs. He once flew his oil company helicopter to Johnny Cash's house, landed it in the yard, and dropped off some music he hoped to sell to Johnny.

                  Johnny decided to record "Sunday Morning Coming Down." That tune along with "Bobby McGee", "Help Me Make it Through the Night" "For the Good Times" "Come Sundown" and a few others were all hits for other artists. About this time, he started recording his own stuff, started a couple of bands, and when that got boring, decided to become an actor.

                  Just a fascinating guy.
                  "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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                  • LOL at the copter-to-Johnny's story. I didn't know that.

                    Kris Kristofferson has a voice made for awards ceremonies and tribute nights, and as much as that could be read as a bit of a left-handed compliment, I really don't mean it that way.

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                      • Originally posted by hack View Post
                        LOL at the copter-to-Johnny's story. I didn't know that.

                        Kris Kristofferson has a voice made for awards ceremonies and tribute nights, and as much as that could be read as a bit of a left-handed compliment, I really don't mean it that way.
                        Yeah, there was a oft-told tale that when Kristofferson landed, a coked-up Cash started flushing drugs down the toilet and was losing his mind in a paranoid fit until he saw a smiling Kristofferson get out of the helicopter with a beer in one hand and music tapes that he hoped to sell to him in the other.

                        That would be a great story except in an interview Kristofferson said it never happened. He said when he landed at his house, Johnny wasn't even home so he just left the music with the maid and left.

                        "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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                        • Even rock stars of that era wouldn't be drinking and flying, I would hope. Although I hope they kinda did. It's great to envision it's the same unfinished beer the whole trip.

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                          • world war 2 was the king of the celebrities going to war era.

                            Vietnam not so much although many were celebrities after cant think of any that were celebrity before

                            9/11 you had pat tillman maybe a a few others



                            but compare 9/11 with one vip enlistee to ww2 with hundreds of vips enlisted and you see the difference in who goes in and who stays home through the generations

                            Last edited by crashcourse; February 19, 2019, 02:08 PM.

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                            • Just heard that last year the army didn't make their quota of 70,000 most because they couldn't pass the physical exam--ie height weigh I guess.

                              when the military needs you those standards go out the window

                              when the military once you out every tom dick and harry better meet promotion standard, height weight and apft standard

                              couple of e-7's have come up with some ingenious rap videos to try to spur recrutiment

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                              • It would have been cool to be on the set of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

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