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"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.

I wish my father had chosen your path. He was infantry in '70 in Pleiku and Tuy Hoa. He had a substance abuse problem that he beat back at times but never conquered. He was diagnosed as manic depressive, but I wonder if it was just his demons manifesting themselves as part of a bipolar personality.

I remember some of the stories he told and I shall not repeat them, suffice to say they are terrible to hear. He died on October 9th, 1991 a week before his 42nd birthday.

Last night, after drinking a little and having a good deal of fun, I played a few songs and became depressed. I cried for hours remembering him and the untold nameless men who suffered, often unappreciated or despised, to bring freedom to others. I had even contemplated posting a vanity asking for FReeper prayers because I felt so awful. Fortunately, it passed and I can post with a heart unburdened by tears.

Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam
He comes from the city, the towns and the country
a regular reservist or a draftee
He doesn't like to fight
But he knows his cause is right
He's ready to fight or to die

He doesn't carry a placard, he only carries a gun
And he'll be the happiest when this war is won
He doesn't understand some of the folks back home
And sometimes he feels that he is all alone
Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam

He fights for your children, so that they may live free
He battles an enemy, that he seldom sees
He says a prayer each night, that he may see the dawn
He lives for the day when he can go back home

Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam