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Hi Ron... a small tale from last week.

I had not been to the VA clinic in more than 3 years. In the current procedures one must visit annually to stay in the "system" so when I arrived last week the Nurse Practitioner was not really happy to see me. The place was jammed and it was obvious I was just one of many she was going to have to deal with that day... and since I hadn't been in recently that meant a lot of extra paperwork.

She had a "far east" appearance but I couldn't quite "locate" her so I asked what her heritage was. She said "Vietnamese". When I mentioned my tours there her demeanor and countenance immediately changed. She became attentive, questioning, probing (verbally). Wanted to know about the battle for Hue and other places I had been. She was truly searching for some reinforcing information about what really took place.

Turns out she was working in the US embassy in Saigon in the early 70s and the information being passed around was really way out. She was evacuated just prior to the end of the war but has been searching for the truth about how the war was really fought and won by the US troops and her (south Vn) people.

The visit turned out to be a long one but very interesting. It is amazing how many people have no idea of what the truth is, even those who were seemingly "in the midst" of things. The stories, or lack thereof, by the media pundits (Cronkite and his descendants) and the lack of government clarity has hurt a couple of generations of Americans. I referred her to FR and some of your posts but have no idea if she will follow up.

In many ways the defeat of sKerry was the beginning of the parade the Vietnam vets never had.