A nice place to visit

[wroughtn_harv]

One of the regular haunts I hit at least weekly is http://www.vietvet.org/army216.htm

For the Nam vet it's an interesting cruise.

For the human nature fan it's a very revealing place.

For the father of a daughter it's a window into just how important a father is to a daughter. Some of the most heart wrenching searches are written by daughters trying to find anything about their father.

If you want to read about real life heroism every now and then a survivor will finally start searching for that person who stepped in and made the difference.

You get to see a lot of them from guys who've finally slowed down enough to look around and start considering why instead of what.

People don't live in a vacuum. And they sure don't die that way either.

 

[pajoube]

Harv,
Thanks for the post, very interesting and I have only just started into it.
PJ

 

[Boone]

I hear on the news reports of how the Nam vets do not feel the public feels they were heroes, the no parades and the animosity when they returned home.

I can tell you this Harv, I admire greatly those that served in Vietnam. Many others probably feels as I. Just had a thought maybe that is why I have been told by so many over the years that they had served in Nam, when in fact they never served.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It has taken many, many years for people to even start thinking about Vietnam and it's vet's, what was it really a bout and so forth. Unfortunately, now that it isn't too bad being a VN vet, we now have the wannabee's coming out of the word work. I am treasurer for a large helicopter group which, we have members world wide now.. The stories and war stories we hear now are just atrocious. Some are so far gone, we have to sit and laugh about it rather than get mad or into trouble. Unfortunately, a lot of this is from fellow VN vets that can't understand, not everyone was front line combat.. It took 11 men to support each front line combat soldier (avg number by pentagon records),, someone had to cook, deliver mail and so forth. Nothing wrong with serving and NOT BEING a front line soldier. It takes many to make the wheel turn correctly..

 

[Anonymous Poster]

A word to the wise. History is prepared to repeat itself with our soldiers in Iraq even as we speak. I for one will be prepared this time around. When our boys and girls come back, I want to see someone say something derogatory to them. Go ahead. Do it when I'm around.....please.

Those petitioners and protestors have no idea the damage they do to our armed forces when they start an anti-war campaign. Patriotism starts at home.

 

[RichZ]

Well, Cindi, I'm not so sure about that. I can easily see the differnece between protesting the war, and not supporting the troops. Not to get political, I am not in favor of this war, but my stepson is in Iraq, and has been throughout the war. Obviously, I support the troops. They didn't choose to be there. My stepson was not for the war, but like a good soldier, he went where he was ordered. I did not take part in the current war protests, but most of my friends did. In no way, did I think they were not supporting the troops or my stepson. In fact he wrote us asking if we'd been involved in the protests, and surprised me when he acted disappointed when I told him no. He said that none of his buddies had any problem with the war protests, because most of them were not in favor of the war either. But they were where they were ordered to be.

My favorite political cartoon during this war, was that of a bumper sticker saying "Support our troops, keep them out of Iraq!". I actually sent it to my stepson (it came out days before the war started). He told me that all the guys in his company loved it!!

But, like you, Cindi, I would be real upset if someone said something negative to my stepson (or any other vet of this war) about being in the war. He didn't want to go, but he had to.

I felt the same about Viet Nam vets. In those days, I WAS involved in protests, but when a protester called a vet a babykiller, I had something to say about it. The Viet Nam vets had no choice either. I narrowly avoided becoming one myself, but many of my friends went there, and several came back in boxes. Even then, I was against that war, but supported the troops. I even have a few scars from a few "disagreements" I had with my fellow peace protestors, who made derogatory statements to vets. But I know they have some scars from me.

So I believe that you can support the troops, and not support the war. You don't need to support a war to be a patriot, you need to support our country. I believe there's a difference.

And please, this was not meant to start a debate about the war. There are many arguments for both sides. Everyone has an opinion, and to disagree does not mean there's a need to argue.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

No I don't want to debate the war either. But I do believe the war was necessary. When I say protestors I refer to the element of extremists that we find in all walks of life. I heard some real horor stories about some of the protestors, and once again I find myself guilty of categorizing people and should have said 'some' protestors.

Too many folks can't make the division between protesting the war and blaming the soldiers. I hope I'm wrong. I hope our military men and women don't see any backlash when this is all over. We're probably more on the same page about many of these issues than we realize at this point. But even if we're not, we don't have to agree on everything. That could get boring, right?

Maybe one day we'll sit down on your new front porch or my old one, and debate these things over a cold glass of
iced tea. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[SimS]

Rich;

Very well put. We all don't have to agree on every issue, heck if you want a good argument just start talking about green, orange or blue tractors!!! Some of the best mud fights on TBN have been about synthetic vs. dino oil. I really appreciated your thoughtful response.

Sim

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Cindi!!! I'm looking forward to that!!! I think you and Fred and Karen and me would have a great time!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Sim!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif You and Cindi are sure making me feel better. It took me a long time to press the "continue" button to post that statement. My finger hovered over it for a while, while I considered that I might start a political debate, which is that LAST thing I want to do!!! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif