Freeper Says she's sorry to Vietnam Vets. Many who believed Kerry and VVAW lies, now are crying.

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.....

Trying to recall the sixities now....Where was I? I was entering college in 1967, had friends and a cousin in Vietnam. Wrote them letters, they responded and returned home safe. Never ever smoked pot..still haven't. Had my first social drink at 21. One of my sisters was kind of a hippy, Soutern style. Also lived close to an Army Base, Fort Benning, Georgia, never ever remember seeing anyone spit on a Veteran or speak badly about them. Finished college in 1972, as Vietnam was coming to a close, and I think that was due to the efforts of President Richard Nixon, and if I am wrong, I am sure I will be corrected here. Speaking of Nixon.....Watergate started in 1972.

She had courage and sincerity behind that post.

I never bought into the stereotypes because I had my father and uncle were in the army back then (father stationed in Europle, uncle served two tours in Vietnam). I grew up with them teaching me how terrible and false the stereotypes were.

With the media saturation of the liberal lies about Vietnam vets (greatly helped by Kerry), I don't understand how folks without the personal knowledge influence could have seen through the lies. Cronkite and ilk have as much to be responsible for as Kerry who was a stupid, sniveling trust brat with easily investigated fraudulent comrades... he should never have gotten a voice in the media.

Much of the protest happened long before 1971. Even Nixon was trying to get out early in his first term; he simply tried to do it with the crazy notion of "Peace with Honor"

What Nixon wanted was the integrity of South Vietnam maintained. The whole purpose was to maintain that integrity, and prevent the expansion of communism to the entire area. That was the thrust of the negotiations with the North. Nixon believed it could happen. True, there were protests before 1971, as there are in any war, but Kerry and his ilk supported heavily by communists around the globe raised the level of intensity immensely.

The leftists in Congress saw their chance and made the most of it. Those efforts by the left kept Nixon from prosecuting the war as it should have been prosecuted. And the feeding frenzy never let up until by the time the treaty was enacted, few in Washington had any will left to continue, and would have left under almost any circumstances. So yes, my friend, the war was lost here at home, not on the battlefields.

The code is often used to, and as a tool of, coverup.

You said you were not there, yet you know a lot about this "code". Not sure where you "learned" about it, but do yourself a favor and "learn" about what the Swift boat Vets have to say. You will find it's a bit more than just code talkers.

I was. And I loved your writing. And, like you, understand how being drawn into 'the big lie' just sort of happened.

In my heart, I blame walter cronkite, the liberal media cabal who NEVER gave both issues in the war, both sides as it were, stressing what we were trying to do, and I blame the people like john kerry who devasted our troops and broke our natinal resolve.

And, of course, I blame my 18 yr old college self, at that time, for buying into the emotion, the body bags, without ever considering what was going down.

I often wonder if the leftists of that era ever, even once, had broken hearts as the last few people of Vietnam tried to escape, as the killing fields, the slaughter of over millions of people occurred after we pulled out, and over the fact that PEOPLE were SPITTING at returning Vets, hurting them so badly that many still suffer to this day.

I know I will NEVER TRUST the major networks in the reporting of war.

That they applaud kerry for having his picture in the Ho Chi Minh Museum, in a place of HONOR, by not telling American about this....TELLS THE WHOLE STORY. They know it evidences a traitor to his country-and they LIKE THAT IN A CANDIDATE!

They are doing the SAME thing now regarding Iraq. Always they report ONE SIDE, the down side, and CHEAT all of us regarding the wonders of our troops and what is happening over there. WE never get the GOOD along with the BAD.

I hope the major media CRUMBLES FAST.

My father was a WWII Vet. He drank very heavily. He was in effect an 'absent' parent. My homelife was not pleasant.

I enlisted in the US Army 1968. I was 17 years old. I went to Nam when I was 18.

It has only been in the last few years that I found out that my father had done Graves Registration for 4 years in England. His chronic PTSD is now really obvious to me as I have been getting treatment for it.

It is so true that some very ugly things happen in war time. The appalling thing about Kerry's testimony and statements about Vietnam, is that they are very limited (the ones that are true, any way). The "code" that is mentioned here is called "HONOR".

Combat areas carry their own set of rules. The primary one is survival. You are trained to react. You do not have time to think through every response. That will get you killed.

Sometimes these basic rules of survival are governed by rules of engagement which put you in a tremendous amount of danger. For US troops, that happens more often than not. Very often we are subjected to a double standard.

Sometimes the rules of engagement are overcome by emotions. I am aware of several ugly events in Nam. In each case, they were preceded by horrific atrocities that the troops witnessed done by VC to their buddies. The VC had no rules of engagement. They used women and children to get at us. They ROUTINELY did unspeakable things to our wounded and dead. Our guys reacted in a rage that most folks would consider a normal response in an abnormal situation. Yet, Kerry calls us all war criminals.

So, this 'code' called HONOR, usually inhibits one combat vet from criticizing another for what he may have done. That is because we may not know all the facts about the situation. There were guys who were cowboys, who appeared to revel in the killing of others. They were people to be feared because their lack of human connection to what they were doing, put you at risk. One of these was John Kerry.

It is not within the realm of normal in a combat area, to film/reenact your exploits. That demonstrates a severe detachment from reality. That is a dangerous person.

The miracle of John Kerry's Nam service is that one of his own 'band of brothers' didn't take him out. Apparently his chain of command recognized this and got him transferred.

I could say that our guys never acted out of anger, but I would be lying. I could say that the VC did not routinely commit atrocities to our dead and wounded, but I would be lying. I could call our Nam Vets war criminals, but I would be lying.

I was born in 1956, a year after this writer. Like a lot of folks in my age group, the draft was still a scary possibility, although becoming more remote. Also, the lib media continually portrayed Vietnam as "Nixon's war" and made him out to be a demon, and I bought into that. But only between ages 14 and 16. And even then, I could not bring myself to feel anything but admiration for those in uniform. By late 1973 and early 1974, I was actually participating in several "Freeps" in support of a beseiged Nixon.

A few years later, I had the opportunity to wear the uniform myself (Ronald Reagan was president, and it was a whole different atmosphere by then, of course).

Hi all, I too am new after looking on for 3 years, I've decided to jump in. I was impressed to write an open letter to all Viet Nam Vets on Friday, however I waited too long because someone else has so beutifully expressed what is in my heart. I've decided to post it anyway as a confimation that many of us want to express our heartfelt thanks to our Viet Nam Vets and their famlies. Here it is...
An open letter to all viet nam vets

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about all the news we all are hearing about the Swiftboat vets and this is what I have come to a conclusion about. For myself, it has brought an awareness that I didn’t have before. I was in high school during the Viet Nam days, I was into boys and fast cars, totally oblivious to what our Government was doing, what the war was about. I knew that protests were going on at campuses, but really didn’t know why or even care to know at that time. Now 30 some years later, there is a man that wants to be our President, he introduced himself by saluting and saying “I am John Kerry and I’m reporting for duty”at the Democratic convention. Since then we have heard about a time period that we thought had been forgotten, until we began to hear the voices of the viet nam vets in one accord saying this man is unfit to be commander and Chief. As their stories began to unfold it became clear why they were speaking out. We have heard the saying that sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. Well that is proving to be untrue. The words that that were voiced by a fellow viet nam vet over 30 years ago hurt deeply and men and woman have lived with that hurt for all these years. I had no idea how these vets were treated when they came home due to the words that people believed. In the last two weeks, I have been hearing e-mails that have been written by different viet nam vets with the courage to speak out and it makes me want to say to these men and woman that went to war to serve our Country so that we could be free today, I am so sorry for the way that you were treated when you came home. You did not deserve to be treated by your fellow Americans that way. You went to Viet Nam to put your lives on the line for all of us in America and I want to say thank you from the depths of my heart. I now understand why you do not want this man to be your Commander and Chief, I don’t either. Keep speaking out, some of us are hearing you!! We will know the truth and the truth will set us free!

How wonderful it is to be able to seperate the bad from the good, to be able to differentiate between those things that should be cast away and those that should be saved and cherished!

My situation was not nearly so extreme, but my parents were terribly confused, especially my mother, and they gave me mixed messages that were terribly confusing to me.

When I was a teenager, I was seriously suicidal.

Fortunately, I was able to sort through the chaos and decide for myself the relative value of things, from the evil to the worthless to the valuable to the useful to the sublime and everything else on that vast, multidimensional spectrum of chaos.

At a very early age, I realized that I was in a mess and that only one person could or would get me out of it--me.

I thus learned to think for myself and to take full responsibility for myself, my actions, and my decisions.

I learned to deal with reality--and illusion.

I learned about people, when to trust them and when not, how much, how much to rely upon them. I learned that anything that one can imagine--and a vast amount that one could not imagine--someone will do and very likely someone has done--both good and evil. There is no depth to which some human being will not sink. And heroism is as inherent a part of human nature as is evil. All in all, I learned to love people and to see the goodness in them.

Ultimately my parents were proud of me, and this pleased me, but it was beside the point.

My life has been absolutely wonderul.

Self-reliance and thinking for myself were of vital importance, but in fact it was more a question of not accepting without criticism the opinions of other people.

Also at a very early age, I had wonderful spiritual experiences, in which I understood that, although I had to think for myself and rely on myself, God was always with me and would guide and protect me. I perceived him through the lens of Episcopalian Protestantism and the family subculture in which I found myself, but I knew that that was merely ovelay, and I sought to understand Him in my own way, finding truth beneath the cultural overlay.

He has never failed me.

When the time comes for me to die, I'll be looking forward to what else is to come, fully and completely comfortable in the knowledge that He is with me and bringing me ever closer to Him. That's also facing reality.

"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 have no idea what you are talking about. JFKerry was an officer, "IF" his testimony was on "spot" he was duty bound to report it post haste. NOT use what he now claims as that "Detroit" testimony as basis for his Senate lies.

These lying crooked liberals went after the "smoking" CEO's for their lying before Congress, yet JFKerry is held to a different standard. Why didn't Fullbright bring forth those who testified in Detroit if what they claimed were honest? No he brought forth a lying crooked commie who had not yet fulfilled his 6 year sign up, and got himself out of the military by scamming medals to speak as leader of this bunch of despicable bunch of liars.

GUESS you had to live through the "lunacy" of this bunch of demonics seeking to plant their seeds of communism to understand this is not about a "CODE".

Thanks for your post. I was born in '45 but not eligible for draft because I am female. However, I grew up in the VN era and was a conservative from age 22. Unfortunately, I believed Kerry's testimony.

I was a fool, but am so glad that the SwiftVets came forth because now I know that Kerry lied and that there were no more atrocities in VN than in WWII or Korean War. What a relief, but what anguish to know that I believed his lie all these years!

Kerry's testimony also had an effect on law enforcement in the US. I remember the movies portrayed the police/FBI as brutes and stupid. It took a generation to work this out of American's mindset.

I remember also that kids would give me the finger just because I had a flag decal on my VW bug. Peers called me a hawk and war monger, yet I know I am a gentle person who appreciates all life.

The media did not do a good job of helping the situation. IMO, they seemed to aggravate the clash between the young people and the establishment. They also supported Kerry's testimony. Back then, the great majority of people believed what the media said (my perspective of the times). Conservatives became bad, awful people.

For about a year now, it seems that those old feelings of the 60s are returning. This time, we conservatives are expressing ourselves via talk radio, FR, and FNC. We need this because we have been shut out of the dialog for 35 years. I do believe that we have turned a corner. I give thanks to God for this. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime.

Hoe dare you? After all that we Vietnam vets have been put through, you want to insult and spit on us again with this sewage?

Here's the "code", pal. The "code" is that we don't intentionally target, harm or kill non-combatants. We don't torture, rape, cut off ears, cut off heads, do any of the disgusting things Kerry lied about. And, unlike, Kerry, we don't chase down and murder frightened, wounded, enemy teenagers. We offer them aid and take them to a medical facility for treatment.

The "code" we were taught is the one that the greatest majority adhered to: do anything in your power to avoid unnecessary harm. How many of my brothers lost their lives in 'Nam trying to do that? Jerks like you don't and will never know.

No, those things didn't occur. If they had, I promise you that more than just John Kerry who would have spoken of them. There would be proof; even the Vietnamese would have sought some form of remuneration had they occurred. They haven't. What they have sought is remuneration and redress for the Agent Orange that was sprayed on their country and continues to have terrible health effects today. The same Agent Orange that has caused so much illness and disability among the Vietnam vets.

Your ignorance and arrogance are beyond despicable. Go back to DU where you belong.

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