Re: How were you treated by veterans groups after returning from Vietnam?? -- War Stories!

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Date Posted: Tue, September 04 2007, 20:48:31
Author: Dave Wright
Author Host/IP: NoHost / 65.54.154.44
Subject: Re: How were you treated by veterans groups after returning from Vietnam??
In reply to: Jeanne Ridgway 's message, "How were you treated by veterans groups after returning from Vietnam??" on Tue, September 04 2007, 10:53:51

I went straight to denial after I got home, thought that was the way to get on with life. Wanted to never let Vietnam bother me, so if I buried it deep enough and denied it bothered me strongly enough - it wouldn't.

Vet groups were for old geizers to sit around, drink and tell war stories. I didn't need to impress anyone and I didn't want to cheapen the deaths of those I knew by handing out their short life story to just anyone. I was sent to an infantry unit in the jungle, survived and came home alone. Nothing else was necessary to succeed back home.

I had heard that WWII vets thought Vietnam wasn't really a war. We were just winers and cry babies. I didn't need that or anything else that might force me to face the past.

It was 30 years before I could admit that I needed help in resolving all that was still buried inside. Talking to other vets let me slowly see that I wasn't going crazy and I wasn't the only one carrying a heavy load. There are still things I don't like about vet groups, but there is a lot of good they do.

I wish the kids coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan could listen to the lessons we've learned over the years, but, they are kids, not unlike us. They want to get on with life and avoid any implication that they can't handle it by themselves.

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Replies:

Re: How were you treated by veterans groups after returning from Vietnam?? -- GA de la Torre (Capt. Keoki), Thu, October 18 2007, 5:56:13 (uu194-7-244-84.unknown.be.uu.net/194.7.244.84)