Posted on 08/29/2004 4:44:09 AM PDT by stockpirate
To: stockpirate I am not sure this is the proper place to put this...but here goes... To All The Vets of Viet Nam,
I was born in 1955, a baby boomer...into an alcoholic and abusive family. I was 14 years old when Woodstock rocked this nation. I remember standing in front of a 12" black and white set watching it unfold on the 6 o'clock news. I also remember my father using the term..".long haired hippie pukes" and being totally disgusted with the whole mess. Being 14 with a father who like to use his fists..I naturally rejected anything he said as any kind of truth. He had lost my affection and my trust many years ago. My father also told the story of being wounded in the Korean war...he even had a scar to prove it. I later found out when I got older, that he had spent the entire war in England..so much for his credibilty.
My mother thought it would be good to alert me at that tender age of 14 about the drug scene that was waiting to prey upon me. She handed me a bunch of Life magazines with an expose of the underground culture of drugs. Living in a small town in Central NY..this was definitely a foreign concept. I was mesmerized by the pictures of hippies and the freedom they appeared to have. Oh how I longed to have a place in this world where I could breathe without fear of being hit. I was ripe for the picking.Within 6 months I found myself hobknobbing with drug dealers and the like.
The next couple of years I was entrenched in the drug scene..my friends were of like thinking..we had all bought into the Love, Peace, Free Sex and drugs doctrine being perpetuated on the youth of this nation. I became a sympathizer of the likes of Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. Their books became gospel for me....I devoured the book.."Soul on Ice" by Eldredge Cleaver. I hated the Viet Nam war...not because of it's political significance...but the idea of war and chaos in general. I had seen too much of that as I was growing up...I longed for peace in my soul. I drank and drugged to relieve some of the inner pain.
I bought into anything that my father hated....and hated anything he bought into. My father was a veteran and stood by the President..even though he was a democrat.....He stood by his brothers in arms. So it was natural for me to take the opposing view. I hated war. Our little town had 3 casualties in the Viet Nam war..two of whom rode on my school bus....they were older than me but each had made a distinct impression on me as I rode the bus....I remember Joe who used to make the sound of a cricket as he ran his fingers along the roof of the bus...he was so tall!!..and Ron was the cute older brther of my sister's friend. Both gone, both dead and for what purpose? My teenaged brain couldn't comprehend the whole idea of death and war.
In 1975, I was 20 years old...a survivor of years of self abuse through my reckless lifestyle..and now a mother of two children. I sat in front of another TV and watched as they were airlifting people out of Saigon. A plane full of refugees were taking off when the plane, carrying children, crashed on takeoff. I sat in front of the TV set and cried...sobs coming from somewhere so deep inside of me....I realised as I was sitting there...that this was the first time I had ever cried for anyone else but myself. My heart was starting to unthaw from years of guarding it.
When the war ended I didn't abuse the vets who had served bravely for my country, no my attitude was worse than any abuse bestowed on them...mine was one of indifference, one of apathy, a "so what and who cares attitude." I never spoke a word that brought shame to a vet, but my heart was full of hatred for anyone who would willingly go and make war.
On Memorial Day, my father would put on his legion uniform and march in the parade and shoot his gun off at the village green in remembrance of those fallen. I watched with a mocking spirit within me. It was a big deal to him (dad) when he became post commander..all I could see was another opportunity for him to drink. I saw him as a hypocrit..a man who espoused peace and freedom ...who oppressed his family with violence and bondage.
But something happened to me over the years...an ideological change, a paradigm shift of thought. I woke up in the mid 1990's and I found myself with the same ideals my father had about his country. I fell in love with where I live and what it stands for. Maybe it was watching my children growing up and wanting better for them or Maybe it was watching CNN during the first Gulf war knowing my brother was in a tank somewhere inside Iraq... or maybe it was the day I sent my youngest son off to the Marines for safe keeping. Maybe it was coming to have faith in Christ. But something definitely changed within me. Maybe it was turning off the TV for a moment and allowing God to speak to me without all the static.
I joined Free Republic over a year ago at the request of a friend. And today I watched a video clip of the VVAW throwing their medals. I must have watched it 6 times. It was this clip that prompted me to write this piece. After so many years I wonder if it would really make any difference to the men and women who served our country by going to Viet nam, if I were to say.. from the bottom of my heart...that I AM SO SORRY for not giving you the Honor you so richly deserve. I am sorry for the indifference I showed you when you returned...of turning my eyes and closing my ears.. when I heard a derogatory remark aimed at you. Would it make a difference if I told you that I am proud of the service you gave to us on behalf of our freedom..that I appreciate your sacrifices and the blood shed for the freedom we all share today. It is 30 years late but I couldn't let another day pass with writing these thoughts down.Please Forgive Me.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1062437/posts?q=1&&page=818#818
Kerry File
http://ice.he.net/~freepnet/kerry/index.php
(Winter Soldier.com)
Searching for the truth ..check this out.
Take care.
You are forgiven. Most of the "anti-war" movement of that time were simply "prey" of folks using them. The bulk were into the open drugs and sex, few truly were in it because of the war. They were by and large what Lenin labeled the 'useful idiots'.
Most have realized they were lied to and duped and were ignorant of the world around them, have grown up to become responsible adults and contributing members of society and turned their back on their shameful past actions.
However there are still a few radical ideologues that continue to perpetuate the myths that the anti-war movement was anything more than a Communist attempt to undermine the United States. They tell the lie that their actions helped end the war, when in fact the facts are they caused it to drag on at least another 2 years costing another 10-15k american lives.. They continue to lie that the "war was for nothing, and people were dying for nothing" when history again proves this wrong... The "re-education camps" of Vietnam and the Killing Fields of Cambodia were directly related to communists expansion across south east asia! We went there to stop that from happening!! To argue that we were not there for a noble cause is a LIE!
These ideologues to this day refuse to face the reality of their actions, they continue to stand by the lies they spoke all those years ago! Folks like Kerry and Fonda and the like. They continue to try to perpetuate the lie that they were the Patriots, when in fact they were communist sympathizers and traitors.... Not ignorant dupes or pawns, but cold, calculating and conscious traitors, and continue to be to this very day.
They continue the lie that the anti-war movement was anything but a small subculture... and that they were the main stream.. They NEVER EVER WERE ANYWHERE CLOSE THE MAJORITY, OR THE MAIN STREAM! Nixon won in a landslide in 1972, because they were always nothing more than a loud fringe group.
I am glad you have seen the error of your youth, and I am sure many here will forgive you without any issue. All I would ask is that you now make every effort to make sure the truth about what happened during that time comes out finally once and for all... So that these perpetual myths that the anti-war movement was some noble patriot thing will be dispelled once and for all, and america as a whole will know the lies that they are. Most kids born in the early 70s or later have only heard the protestors were helping america... few have been given the TRUTH about it. Teach the next generation to be wiser than you, do not let this sort of nonsense EVER happen again.
It will be good for all of us!
Someone said that the anti-crowd was "working toward what they believed was a higher calling" and there is no way in hell I'll ever believe that unless hedonism and cowardice have been elevated while I wasn't watching.
I even have to stop and think about posting this.
But your theory about a 'code' requires some retort:
"My feeling is even if Kerry's testimony was spot on in '71, the Swift Boat folks would have come forward to slay him, because of the "code". Frankly, I don't know if how close to being accurate or far from being the truth it was."
You truly do not have a clue!
Pray for W and Our Vietnam Troops
Bien Hoa Air Base, Vietnam. 14 July 70 to 10 July 71.
I was born in 53. Your words ring true to the era. Living it and maturing through it, I'd like to remind you that a teenager's life back then was molded more by friends than family, only because of the extreme newly found avenues of the media to get into our heads.
Who you were, what you thought, and how you survived those years, those feelings, and the peer pressure, has made you, me, and everyone else of our generation stepback and look at our presonal reality.
We are who we are because of our history. Never be ashamed of what or who you were. It was a heartwrenching decade and a half and those of us who survived have a responsibility to our kids and their peers to keep them more enlightened then we where, because of the brand and scope of media we had available.
The sad part is that we have not brought those times to a conclusion as out parents did of the WW2 era. We (returning and former military) were denied the homecoming every other generations' warriors had in the past.
But better late than never.
My first ecperience of civilian appreciation was 27 years after I hung up my uniform when, while in a Memorial day honor guard (2001), a woman standing with her children spoke the words "Thank you for your service" directed at me as we marched by.
I had never heard those words spoken directly to me from anyone. I was in shock, but being in the honor guard at the moment gave me the cover I needed not to show complete disbelief and shock.
To that young lady from 2001: I was never in combat in Vietnam as I'm what is known as en "Era" veteran, (73 - 75) so I never believed I was due any thanks at all, but Mame, you and your children are more than welcome. I never realised what a simple thank you was really worth.
Semper Fi
"indifference" never brother me, what I didn't like was the "look" I'd get from cute hippy chicks, that brothered me.
05G here one of the Blue Falcon (BF) brigade Started as a 990/984 at the schoolhouse at Devens and then was reclassed as an 05G in late 63. Spent time in Korea, Nam, and Germany himpin the ole Black B!tch TA 49.
They took away my cans in late 72 and sent me back to the "Regular Army" hung around as a Trans Corps NCO for 26 years and retired as a 1SG. No regrets.
Joe, There were ASA troops in Nam as early as 63 (personal rememberence)but if you listened to the ASA recruiters there were "no ASA in Viet Nam" true because we all took off the rose and dagger before we arrived and put on Signal Corps brass.
A sincere apology would not include all of the excuses and rationalizations. We are the choices we make. Many of us came from the same environment and did the right thing.
You'll find a few more of us here on FR.
The relativistic opinions you espouse show an incredible lack of discernment and are evidence of a lack of critical thinking skills.
You're a sitting duck for Marxist DemocRAT propagandists. Lenin and Marx had a name for such mentalities.
How old are you?
You joined FR on July 22, 2004 ... that wasn't a year ago but welcome. I hope you mean this and if you do welcome again.
Ah ... tell your friend much love is sent her way. She will now have peace.
I was a naive coed attending Cal during this period and could see that it was mostly outsiders that kept revving up the student agitation. It was so easy and exciting to get caught up in it. I forgive the anonymous freeper, it almost happened to me.
Also, I have talked to so many Vietnam Vets who actually thought Hanoi Jane's participation was a good thing. They actually thought she had their best interests at heart. I hope they have changed their minds by now.
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