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Back during highschool years and a few years after, I was dating a guy in my hometown whose dad had done 3 tours of duty in Vietnam, one as a door gunner, if I remember correctly. My boyfriend's parents were long divorced, but I met him a few times when he came up from Florida to visit. I remember one time we went water skiing in New River, and this being Camp Lejeune, right near the main gate, there were helicopters always flying around, and I remember he never said anything or made any references to anything military, we were all just having fun, but he would look at those helicopters, each and every one that flew by. It was like he was watching them out of the corner of his eye, or glancing at them when he thought no one was looking at him, but I still remember it.

This was right around the time that the movie Platoon came out, and my boyfriend told me he and his brother and his dad went to see the movie, but his dad fell asleep while the movie was playing. He also expressed absolutely no interest in going to see the Beirut Memorial.

From what I gather, he didn't totally fall apart after Vietnam like many did, but it probably cost him his marriage, and he was a big-time drinker (his Austrian/Native-American heritage is a deadly combination as far as alcohol is concerned) and I was told he had the nightmares. He's probably never gone to see the wall, either. I think he's one of those who just doesn't want to bring up the past--at least not for public consumption, anyway.

"I think he's one of those who just doesn't want to bring up the past--at least not for public consumption, anyway.

Like I said in an earlier post, dying is easy, living is hard. I would be worried about a person that has participated in war, and it did not have an affect on them.

Fortunately I never turned to drugs are drink for relief form my demons I just learned to live with them, and that is easier done when you push the memories out of your mind.

Perhaps that is one reason I don't watch Viet Nam era war movies.