[swheats]

Now they're not being spit upon and shouted down. We'll never forget but we can put a troubled era to rest, hopefully, finally.

As far as my statement about time. I should have said further that it was John Kerry who started all of this with his testamony. It is now John Kerry who has caused this to surface again for a full hearing from the same men that he stole their voice.

[chuckles]

I am a VNam era vet. I didn't go to Nam, but have always felt that they deserved something better for their service. I have thought about this for 30 years, but came up empty handed. How can we honor these men if nobody even wants to discuss what happened there. I've always felt we woulda, coulda, shoulda, won the war, but the political pressure back home was just too great.

There is a documentary called "Viet Nam, the Ten Thousand Day War"that played on PBS years ago, and the one statement that stood out was the N Vietnamese honcho saying the people wanted to give up because of the bombing, but they knew the protesters( Jane and John) were going to wear down the politicians in the US so they hung in there.

All these years we have put up with "Full Metal Jacket", "Apocalypse Now", "Platoon", type movies where the soldiers were rapist, dopers, that were weasels. "We Were Soldiers" was a begining, but that's 1 movie. The impression still remains that Viet Nam was a mistake, fought by idiots and criminals.

The discussion going on now is long overdue and should continue even after the election. Beating Kerry and humiliating him is a start to reconciliation for our long overdue parade that they earned. If it is proven that Kerry is a weasel that lied to get his medals, and got a discharge less than honorable, That is as good as a marching band to me.