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.....
Tell whoever sent you this that I am glad they wrote and glad you shared it.
I had only a brief plunge into the cultural chaos in my 17th year, 1971. As I saw the hate of America escalating under the guise of free love I snapped out of it and joined the USAF right out of high school.
I served stateside during the waning years of Viet Nam. I was a warrior in a different war, the Cold War. I encountered the hate anytime I travelled to a major city in uniform. I'll always remember an incident at LAX. I was called a baby killer by someone who looked like I had looked only a few years before. Only an old WWII vet who had bought me a couple of drinks on the flight kept me from probably getting arrested. Had it not been for the Vet, a hippy would have been hurt.
God Bless all those who served and serve today. Whether in combat or stateside, active duty or National Guard, every branch, including the Coast Guard. Wearing the uniform is sacrificing freedom for freedom.
I hope the FReeper someday forgives her father for his deception. In some small way he was probably dealing with an undeserved guilt of not seeing combat. I doubt he avoided combat but just wasn't chosen to send.
God Bless all who serve and those who wait for them.
In '63, at 10 years old, I was still trying to figure out what the JFK assasination was all about, and while pondering that question I discovered politics.
And again, at 10, I was uncaring, but aware enough to stay tuned, well at least until I discovered "girls". <|:-)~~
Semper Fi
To all the Vets on this board (and off):
THANK YOU
To all the Vets on this board (and off):
THANK YOU
You're Welcome and Thank You as well.
Your poster name is confusing. Are you the third 01? Who are the Primary01 and Secondary01? Is it a family name?
So many questions and so little time.
This is just another fear tactic with the DemonRats. Funny, I've only heard them talk about a draft. After Bush lays out social security reform, they will start scaring seniors as they always do too.
Good..... a very good group of guys! Take care.
But Kerry hasn't. I know some of you could never forgive him for what he did with the VVAW. But I would be willing to overlook that as the excesses of youth. However, even today he refuses to point out the devastation he caused, and he continues to undermine our national security by opposing missile defense, defense budget maintenance, and other weapon systems. He also gets his nose into Vietnam, Cuba, and other 3rd world issues that leave our enemies wondering if they can take advantage of us.
Kerry hasn't grown up!
Reminds me of one of my favorite anecdotes:
"When I was 17, I thought my father was the most ignorant, pigheaded individual on the planet. But when I came home after college and sat down and talked with him, I was amazed at how much my old man had learned in four years."
"But don't let the "code" be the be all, do all."
You couldn't buy a clue. Like sKerry I think you watch too many Movies.
Test me.
Tears just ran down my face. When I think of all the guys who fought, and died, I have no words. What they did changed the world just as much as the Berlin wall coming down.Its time they get the honor that they deserve!
I know uncbob remembers the following post from last night. I think Stashius's words bear repeating. Thanks to your friend, stockpirate. Threads like this one and last nights have brought me to tears all week.
The following is from this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1201884/posts
I was at my combat ptsd group on Friday. I'll tell you how we are doing.
Most of us are really getting torqued up. To hear that man's testimony again, and hear that he 'stands by it' is almost too much to bear. You see many of us came back with some very painful memories. We had to do things to survive that were not pretty. It is normal to be affected by that.
However, the reception we got on our return, convinced most of us to just try and forget about it. That is the WORST thing you can do with war trauma. You have to be able to process it so it will not haunt you as much.
I, and many other Nam Vets, hold Kerry, the VVAW, and Fonda personally responsible for this. What they did was despicable. The damage is irreparable. That is not even counting what they did to the POW's.
I am so sick and tired of seeing guys with that 1000 yd. stare who have had a living hell for the past 35 years. Most of this was preventable. This is Kerry's legacy.
On Friday, one of our guys was finally able to talk about when his chopper (he was a door gunner) went to extract a copter team that had been shot down. When they got there, the crew had been stripped, strung up my their feet, genitals cut off and in their mouthes. They knew all of them. As they returned, they came upon the VC wearing the clothes of the copter team. There were no prisoners taken. A crew member had to pull him off the .50 caliber gun.
He still is dealing with the sting of being called a war criminal. Was that a war crime? Go witness what he did, find the perpetrators and tell me what you would do.
You see, Kerry never presented any information about the VC or how any of these 'war crimes' happened. He never related the horror stories of how the VC treated prisoners, dead, wounded or alive. He doesn't talk about a whole village's children who had their left arms cut off, because the US Medics had gone there to vaccinate them, and the VC found out. He didn't talk to a Vietnamese woman who did some work for us whose 3rd husband had been killed by the VC because she worked on the American base camp.
Anyway, he will not be getting many votes from his 'band of brothers'.
43 posted on 08/28/2004 3:47:36 PM MDT by Stashiu ( Yeah, I am a Vietnam Vet, not a War Criminal.)
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Oh yeah -I'm married to a VV -69
Perfect timing with that post, it was one of the Movies that must have motivated Joenobucks to write the latest sKerry Screenplay (Working title "Codes")
I really think you two should read this PING!
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