Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Re-enlisted at age 47 after 9-11


Hey fellow Oath Keepers,

I am a former US Navy Corpsman who served with the 2nd Marine Division.

After 9/11, I simply had to do something, sooo I reapplied to the Navy and was told they had no use for a guy my age (47) at the time. Went and applied to the US Army National Guard (NH) and was told they'd love to have me serve.

Long story short, I wound up in Paktika, Afghanistan attached to SOCOM as a Civil Affairs Medic taking care of local nationals and getting intel on Al Qaeda, and the Taliban.

Served
there in 2004-2005.

It was a life changing event for me to serve our country again.

And since my return from OEF, there is a new danger on the horizon. There are those to whom we entrust with preserving our liberties who seem hell-bent on our constitutions destruction.

I have taken the oath twice now, and have never disavowed mine. I am proud to stand with my fellow brothers in pledging my life in defense
of liberty!



Former Sgt. (91W)

USANG (New Hampshire)

"Live free or die"

Robert Pratt

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

God Bless You Sir. Thank you for your service to our country and for being a Patriot.

Curt Emich said...

Pratt, I never had any doubt that you would come back victorious and surlier than ever. I also never doubted that you would bag a couple of these bastards. Thanks for the pictures and video.

Anonymous said...

GOD BLESS YOU ROBERT PRATT & God Bless America. Thank you so much for your service.

Anonymous said...

I did 3 years as CA on a PRT after a 14 year lay off from the Marine Corps. I joined the Army Reserve as the Corps said I was too old by six months. Now, I am an Army MP.

Your info is wrong, CA is already a permanent attachment to SOCOM and as being a medic, you do not gather "intel". CA Reclass school at Dix is a joke. Alot of wannabe "heroes" and SF wannabes think being SOCOM makes them SF light and are in CA to "gather intel". Furthest from the truth.

I just have an issue of your "expanding" the CA mission into intel gathering. when you said that, i was immediately turned off as I knew you were a typical CA War storyteller soldier.

Anonymous said...

Also, after looking at your picture, no pure "SF" or "Recon Daddy" would wear an ODA hat or Force Recon patch on their utility blouse in a red zone.

Wow, not to diminish what you are doing, but just makes me shake my head with your ODA hat and Recon patch on your DCU blouse.

Madame Karnak said...

It is time for Americans to discard the silly labels of "liberal," "conservative" etc. Those terms are meaningless anymore. They have been used as devices to keep us all divided while the real threats to our Constitution were being arranged in the backhalls of Congress or in meetings of a select group of super-wealthy super greedy people who act outside of government to control all of us.

Over the last 8 years, I have researched the secret deals being made to subvert freedoms. I have seen how the phrase "free trade" has been used to strip the modest savings of the middle and lower classes and such them into the pockets of these rich parasites.

There are only a few thousand in this cadre of money vultures. There are hundreds of millions of us who have been harmed by their machinations. It is time for the millions to stand together. We don't need to do anything except say "NO" and refuse to play this destructive game.

Think of the paradise that could have been built in this world with the monies sucked into the greedy maws of the so-called elite. Instead of silver-covered Rolls Royces packed in the six or seventh palational estate of some trust fund blood sucker, there could be clean air and water and decent housing. Instead of yearly redocorations of the many homes of trillionaires. there could be good schools, more parks and better lives for the vast majority.

Bravo oathkeepers! I stand with you.

Anonymous said...

To the anymous Marine, I received the gift of the ODA hat from the ODA 733team Sgt on my promotion to Sgt.
And when I was a Corpsman I took care of force recon marines....It says corpsman above it! I let the Army know that in my inner being I will always be a corpsman! I took care of local nationals there and we very much did gather S-2 on Taliban locations, routes and strengths!! If you were CA you would know that it very much part of the mission. Have you ever been in the "sandbox" dude. As a corpsman I never took any crap from Marines.... Bob

Anonymous said...

PS, As for wearing the patches, ODA's DCU's swarmed with them dude.... We just wore them as morale patches.
I was a National Guard Medic and we worked directly for JSOC. They were our immediate OPCON. I thought I made that clear. I know "Big Army" did not there troops wear anything like that on their DCU's Bob (again)

Anonymous said...

PSS
And as a National Guard Medic, you are attached to SOCOM, not part of it, fact. I did not mis-state that. We, CAT-278 worked directly for TF-96..... I have Certs from ODA-733 and the German KSK thanking me for my efforts. And as for my efforts my Team Captain nominated me for a Bronze Star (M). I have the orders to prove it.... Bottom line regardless is that every Sailor, Airman, Marine and Soldier don't have the luxury of choosing where or with whom they serve. They just do their job as we did ours...... Bob

Beast said...

I have no choice as to respond to the marine who is being anonymous here. I served with Sgt. Pratt and after reading his post he was point on to every detail.he did not say anything about being anything other than being attached to these units. The sad part of his story is the brutal truth it exposes. Our mighty leadership O'Blessed as they may be left our ass on the line out there. If anyone cares to do there research they will find that Patika, Province was a main route for insurgents to pass thru from Pakistan. He never said we were trained Civil Affairs Personel. We were given the keys to a conex filled with medical supplies and teamed with other untrained persons who were also asked to pick up the slack left behind. Yes we were trained soldiers and above all else we were real people who knew how we wanted to be cared for if the tables were turned. Our C/A team onsite was told they were being pulled out to be returned stateside. There last instructions as told to us was to give us a crash course on their mission and wish us the best. What Sgt. Pratt did leave out in his modest recount, was him having a medical clinic named after him and the countless smiles of adults and children, men, women, boys and girls that i witnessed on a daily basis as we revisited village after village. And as for the patches yeah we wore them, more out of pride than for any other reason. I don't recall a single day that went by that Bob didn't remind me that he was a CORPSMAN FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In this everchanging world (and by that i mean the military) i find it hard for you to believe that our leaders would ask us to do something that is not textbook. Just as our own political leaders would never do anything that was not in our BEST INTREST!!! So before you go and bash another Oath-Keeper please take a deep look inside yourself and ask if all in life is always just black and white.

One other thing i must add is that Bob was instumental in obtaining the info that brought the persons responsible for purchasing and launching the rockets that bombarded our base and changed my life forever to justice!!!!!

As far as i am concerned he has upheld his Oath to the highest standard and we should only hope to be half as vigilant as he, instead of trying to build your own case as a know-it-all.

THANK YOU, BOB
Sincerly submitted

Sgt. J. Wilder
U.S.Army Med.Ret.

ps from Sgt Wilder's wife Candy
why be anonymous? Just shows a cowards way of saying what you want to say but can't back up. What Bob and John and their team did for those people was amazing, even though they will always have scars. So i say unless you have been in their shoes, don't pass judgement.

I do say a big THANK YOU to all our men and service women because without them I wouldn't be able to voice my opinion. I am grateful for my FREEDOM.

Marine said...

I took the oath before serving in Nam. I've never done anything other than bust my ass, be loyal to America and pay income taxes that I've learned are illegal (Google Freedom to Fascism - and watch it!) My quality of life (as everyone's) was lowered as a result while you blood sucking bastards sit high on your own pedestal.

The two party system is a divide and conquer technique that works for the uninformed. When this thing is over you won't have squat to tax. We "may" pay the ultimate price (as will you) but we will NOT be slaves to anyone.

We will yet again set an example for the world that free people are not slaves, you start this and all repressed people will follow our example on a global scale.

For everyone of us who sounds off in public there are thousands quietly waiting in the wings - you have no clue what kinds of numbers you're dealing with.

Free spirit is a gift of the creator not man. You can't take what is not yours to give. Consciousness lives on after the body dies - that is a fact. Know this and fear nothing.

I'll stand shoulder to shoulder with my fellow brothers and sisters in this fight - you want my freedom? Come and get it.

To my brothers in arms - cut off the head and the body dies.

Marine said...

Maybe it's just me but I'm thinking we're going to need just a "wee" bit more team work if we're going to stand together and address the issues at hand.

Semper Fi

The Bob said...

I agree with this Marine....There are much bigger issues that we need to stand shoulder to shoulder on. Unity and cohesion are essential. We don't need to be stomping on one another when we have D.C. doing their fair share.
I took that dudes attack on my
account personal.... But that is not important, America and Liberty are.

CaptGooch said...

Has all the "out of uniform" flack settled down ?
Sheesh ....
Can we get back to "the mission" now ?

Just in case it has been mislaid let me remind us all.

Reach, Teach and Inspire.

Reach out to all of our fellow Oath takers and ...

Teach them if they didn't know or have "forgotten" the responsibilities we agreed to when we swore that Oath.

Inspire is the proximate goal. Inspire all oath takers to become Oath Keepers.
Inspire all of our Active Duty or Reserve Military and Active Duty or Reserve Peace Officers to Keep the Oath they swore and to refuse to Obey any unlawful order no matter the source of that order.

Carry On ....



For the Republic

O.K. said...

Bob, I can't blame you for being a bit ticked by anon. And anon, now that Bob's buddies, who served with him in Afghanistan, have stepped up to set the record straight, I think you owe Bob an apology (since you were insinuating that he was some kind of fake or liar, right?).

That kind of pettiness over patches and such is just silly. Many units improvise, and unit traditions and insignia evolve in the field. And they don't always do it "by the book" or as usually done either, with men often times winding up multi-tasking. What's he supposed to do, NOT gather intel when it's right in front of him just because it is outside of his formal MOS?

But as Bob said, there are much bigger issues at hand, like saving our Republic.

Bob, thank you for your remarkable testimonial. I have a serious soft spot in my heart for medics, since our young Company medic did me right when I had my parachuting accident, ignoring the CO's instructions to not cut the expensive kevlar lined rough terrain parachuting suit I was wearing. The medic cut it right off of me without a second thought to avoid moving me except to slide the back board under me.

There is a reason medics win so many medals of honor - their love of their fellow man and their commitment to saving lives is legendary and common place among them.

Bob, "Beast," Sgt. Wilder, Marine, I hope you gentlemen can join us for our Oath Keepers Muster on the Mall in Washington DC on June 13. Men of honor such as yourselves are very much needed at this time and I would be honored to shake your hands right there in DC and stand with you to send a message to the politicians that we veterans and current serving are committed to keeping out oaths, and we will not bow down.

And Capt. Gooch, I know you will be there, right?

Stewart Rhodes
Founder of Oath Keepers

CaptGooch said...

Quote
Bob, "Beast," Sgt. Wilder, Marine, I hope you gentlemen can join us for our Oath Keepers Muster on the Mall in Washington DC on June 13. Men of honor such as yourselves are very much needed at this time and I would be honored to shake your hands right there in DC and stand with you to send a message to the politicians that we veterans and current serving are committed to keeping out oaths, and we will not bow down.

And Capt. Gooch, I know you will be there, right?

Stewart Rhodes
Founder of Oath Keepers
==================================

Without a doubt ....
Unless they have moved the Mall since I was last at The Wall ....
I'll find You Guys no problem.


CaptGooch
OK's sd

For the Republic

Anonymous said...

I got a phone call tonight from a budd I served with in Afghanistan. He was telling me all about this post that SGT Bob Pratt had on some website. He was all up in arms about some comments that had been made in reference to Bobby's post.
I am out of town and said that I would check it our using my cell phone, but wouldn't be able to comment until I got to a PC. Well, after reading the anonymous Marines comments I decided to sit her on a park bench and 1 in the morning and respond.
I served with Bob Pratt, and he is as genuine as the tide. On the other hand, whom ever this Marine is, is limited in his reasoning ability by some sort of defiencency. I don't think he lacks intelligenc based on some of the comments he made in his posts. I think he lacks wit! I'd be willing to bet next months salary that this guy couldn't respond to an intelligent question if his life depended on it. You sir are limited by your wit. You are what an inconsiderate person would call and idiot!

(Former) SGT Denson Goff
USARNG

CaptGooch said...

.... Ahem ....OK This has gone on far enough.

This is NOT a chat room for two year old children.

Sgt Goff I recognize and respect your determination to defend your teammate and or squad member BUT let us NOT let this devolve into a name calling match.

We are being slowly pushed back into a corner by this administration which not only has not removed the worst of the executive power grabs by the previous administration but has begun to add to them with it own power grabs and unlawful edicts.

Let us close ranks and concentrate on the enemy we all really do have and who's "out of uniform" is not IT.

Instead of bickering at each other let us Reach, Teach and Inspire while we still can.

You would feel really silly to be still arguing about what someone said about your teammate while you were being hauled off as an enemy combatant under a "preventative detention" order wouldn't you ?

Sgt Pratt, May I request that YOU tell your supporters to "stand down" and let's all get back to the Real Fight that is on our hands shall we ?
Thank You.




For the Republic

Sgt. Bob said...

Capt Gooch,

Here, here!! I couldn't agree more! We all need to focus on our common adversary, the effort of a certain cadre of select elitists determined to destroy in this great Republic.... Again, Unity
and Cohesion are essential. Folks
don't worry about some short sighted, unfocused people. I support the principles of OATH Keepers whole heartedly. Reach, Teach, and Inspire!!!