[El Gato]

But this I now understand in my heart- that instead of the understanding and forgiveness they so desperately needed and deserved, they were met with vicious disdain and disrespect for their sacrifices.

Forgiveness? For what? For going when their country called. For doing their duty honorably. For acting like American soldiers have always acted, before and since Vietnam? No they need no forgivess, but they do need appreciation. You can see that by their reactions when they finally get some, as many did in various parades and such after Desert Storm/Shield, when the nation began to see how shabbily it had treated them. Most of course weren't devastated by that treatment, but it still hurt.

[Sisku Hanne]

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Of course all of them deserve appreciation, but I think that some did feel they needed a sort of personal "absolution" too.
The word "forgiveness" stuck in my mind because I just finished reading "The Five People You Meet In Heaven". The main character, Eddie, was a WWII soldier. In the book he meets a little Phillipino girl who he had inadvertently killed when setting fire to a building which he thought was empty. It literally broke my heart to finally comprehend what our soldiers go through, especially when confronted with an instance of causing a civilian casualty (Especially nowadays when the liberal MSM seems to just love wringing their hands over that sort of thing). I can't begin to imagine the pain of bearing that knowledge. When I read the chapter where Eddie releases this burden and finally forgives himself (as the little girl had forgiven him), I felt as if God have me one moment where he laid that soldier's burden on my heart. Just one moment, and it was like a hot branding iron; an excruciating and overwhelming moment of grief and sorrow that fairly took the breath right out of me.

I'm understanding that some of these vets have born a psycholological burden so heavy that it has driven the to take their own lives or destroy themselves with booze or drugs. Some came home with feeling of shame, made worse by the treatment they received. I think some are like Eddie in the book, and spend their lives punishing themselves, when it shouldn't be that way at all. But if you come home only to be spat upon and cursed, what other choices do you have?

They absolutely do make the most noble of all sacrifices- another point the book made. The book made a point that what is most important in your life are the sacrifices you make, not the rewards you may expect.
They should be properly honored for that willingness to lay down their life for something greater than themselves. It was heartening to see proper recognition in the Gulf War, but it disgusts me to hear of leftie protestors disgracing some of our soldiers who have been coming back from Iraq.

I hope one of the things that comes out of this, besides the SwiftBoat Vets getting their personal well-deserved victory, is that more people do realize the enormity of the Viet Nam soldiers' sacrifice on so many levels. And maybe some protestors (who still have any remaining semblance of a moral compass) will start to realize the consequences of their words and actions. How many more dead soldiers do we have because of the MSM, the left, and their continual politicized bashing of the Iraq war effort? As far as I'm concerned Kerry, MM, the NYT, Hollyweird, and the whole pathetic lot of them have the blood of our brave soldiers on their hands.