Viet Nam Vets

Just wondering now how You feel as some of our friends on this forum have come forth to Thank us for our service that we got scorned for?

Even when we transferred to civilian life we were to be out of uniform in 24 hours not to ever wear it again so even the military was ashamed of us, or was it because they were afraid of our safety.

I don't have the figures on the RA and US status at that time , but I'd bet 99% of the troops didn't want to be there, and only did what they had to in order to survive.. only to come back and although family accepted what happened others scorned your actions.

My thoughts are now ... Who was the lucky ones? The ones that made it back alive? ( and many of those have scars , wounds, missing body parts, and some with much dis figuration that they spent up until now in a hospital somewhere.)

I often think of how the world has changed, how we depend on previous enemy lands and their resources I sometimes believe the ones that never made it back are the lucky ones.

Roy, I appreciate your service.

Ex military here,

I work with a man that had been in VietNam, he'somewhat reluctant to say, and probably trying to ensure someone doesn't get him for "discrimination", but he does say a few things only a person who lived it, could tell.

I take the time to listen, and he is admantly polite, but some of the stuff that he describes is down right awful.

I am unsure that those that see our military as ruthless would feel otherwise. Seeing what this man, once younger, has had to deal with, on foreign soil, witness to tragedy, and still productive, and loyal to the American flag, well they prhap would be better server being silent.

Thanks to all,

D.

I came home in Feb. 1970 and there was nothing said about it. My parents were glad I was home but I never talked to them about Vietman and they never asked me about anything. Got a job and went to work and went on with life. Was drafted but signed up for another year to be a helicopter mechanic. Did my three years and didn't ask nobody for nothing and still don't want any handouts. I remember Vietnam as if it was yesterday and the friends I lost. I still see Vietman as a politcal war with 58,000 lives lost for nothing. But I feel that I did what my country wanted. Now today what have we accomplished with the last two wars? My opinion is just two more Vietnams. DH

BOY you hit it on the head ... I know I think that way ... for many years ,

THANKS for saying what really happen ....

a viet nam vet ... mark

If I were to start on your foreign policy at the time, Ho Chi Minh's desires and an answer that would have avoided the whole thing.... Your post would be wiped.

I don't believe our Country wanted us to do anything, just our leaders did.

French fought em for 30 years before we got there to no avail. I remember seeing their burnt out vehicles of the sides of the road.

In the 40"s our Grand Mothers and Mothers were building Airplanes and all automobile plants were put out of production only to build military vehicles.

Now we don't hardly build any cars that is all ours.

I can't justify time served and the losses only to become dependent on those Countries we fought and they still are the same Communist People we tried to change into a democratic country .

Don't know exactly to respond to this BUT
SALUTE ALL THOSE THAT HAVE SERVED! My hat and heart are to all you VETERANS.

I was "just" a little too young for Nam but have lost 3 friends from our small hometown - 1 service and 2 later.
I did have the opportunity to take my 88 year old Dad - WW-2 and Korea on the HONOR FLIGHT to Washington, DC.

Something I will never forget.
Jim
SAL Post 506 Emden, Illinois

I agree with you not country but leaders. Same today. Happy Veterans Day !!. I say that but no Veteran is happy about Vietnam. DH

Thanks Kruser.

The lucky ones, which include myself are the ones who have grown up in a free America, because of the sacrifices of those who went, and in many cases died. I wasn't born until 1966, and I have the greatest respect for those who served freedom, while so many less noble young men went to Canada, or woodstock etc. It refreshed me to know that in America's morally darkest period, the 1960's and 70's, there stood a remenant of those who were willing to die if needed to preserve our freedoms. For any of you who served in Vietnam, Thank you very much for sacrifice and your example.

I can't find my stats for US. versus RA. The Army had 38,209 killed, I was drafted & over there 1968. Naturally that was America's highest yearly total losses over 16,000 killed.
Just my luck
Led

I was on active duty in the Marine Corps during the early years of 'Nam, but the Corps saw fit to involve me elsewhere.

That being said, a couple of years ago, my wife and I were waiting to board a plane at Reagan in DC for a flight back to Omaha when they announced on the squawk box that an Honor Flight (from Indiana, as I recall) was arriving at the gate next to ours.

The members of the Honor Flight came off the plane to a standing ovation from everyone in sight. I don't think there was a dry eye in the place. It was awesome!

Long Binh Vietnam 1968.

To bad all these sharp people that makes all these decisions, don't have to serve.

There were also a few guys that got drafted into the Marines, too, but I don't know the numbers. They showed up at the Army induction station and several went to be Marines. I got drafted in '71, but stayed stateside because I was in the paratroopers and they were starting to "Vietnamize" the war.

Goose - You are right!

I never saw action in Viet Man but did hear a lot of the flack that was given to the vets back then. I am classified as a Viet Nam vet due to when I went in. Sad how back then we got spit at and now they thank us

You are correct, Induction stations were taking guys for Marines in 1966. They didn't take any the day I was had to report for duty. But I heard from others how they had guys count off, then told every 10th guy they were in the Marines. All depends on numbers I guess.
Led

(quoted from post at 23:23:08 11/09/11) I never saw action in Viet Man but did hear a lot of the flack that was given to the vets back then. I am classified as a Viet Nam vet due to when I went in. Sad how back then we got spit at and now they thank us

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Then you are not really a Vietnam Vet. Only a Vietnam era Vet. There is a difference.
But THANKS for serving.

I would wager that 99% of the folks at home supported the troops in Viet Nam but that other 1% was pretty vocal and got all the media attention. Those were difficult times on the home front and people were really confused about the war and the politicians and the media.

I"ve read a lot about that war and there were lots of heroes there that were never recognized for there heroism because of the da** politics here at home.

If you Viet Nam Vets haven"t heard me say this before, Thank You for your service and sacrifices in Viet Nam. You have always be heroes to me!

I joined the Army in June of 1968. I did not even turn eighteen until Aug. 10th of 68. I joined for several reasons: 1)I believed in trying to protect Democracy and help others to have it. 2) Sence of duty to my country. There is a cost for having freedom. Many don't want to pay it but want to enjoy it. That does PO me. 3) Farming at the time was just a living not a rich man's game. As the oldest of five children and plus being married with a child on the way, I joined to get a college education.

I then join the reserves in 1978 when I left active duty. I just hated to see what Carter did to the service. I retired in 1999 from the Army reserves.

I have never been bothered by my actions in Nam. No flash backs or night mares of the fighting. I DO have them about the women and children killed/starved/abused. Those I see in my night mares.

As for what the people here thought about what went on over there. I could not care less about that. They did not get "real" information about what was really going on. The media had a big hand in causing the war to be lost. Walter Cronkite was a man I hated for his bias coverage of the war. We would win a major battle and he would go and say we had lost it. We where inflicting casualties at a 40-1 ratio in many of the battles and the reporters would say we where getting the short end of the battle. I have helped bury whole villages that the VC killed just because they though the village supported the South. I have always wanted to take Old Cronkite and Hanoi Jane to see some of the things their friends did.

I have two grand sons in the service now. I am proud as can be of them. My oldest is back on active duty after being wounded in Afghanistan. I have other grand kids that say they want to join when they are old enough.

So I guess my family will be protecting many of the ones that raise cane about how it is done. While they set on their butts and do nothing. This occupy wall street bunch are prime examples of what is wrong in this country now. Everyone wants the good life but few are willing to do what it takes to have that good life.

My dad served in Nam in 1971 or 72, not sure which. Don't know much other than he was a crew chief on a huey. My dad has never said much about his time over there, and I've never really asked. There is a lot I'd like to know, just out of curiosity and because I think the history should be passed on. Future generations will only know what the media has taught them about Vietnam, and we all know how accurate and unbiased the media is. My dad has talked and shared some with my brother, but Mike served two tours in Iraq with the 3rd ID so they have some related experience.
The stories I have heard from my dad and other Nam vets, I think you guys may have had it the roughest. Those who were lucky enough to make it back home had to deal with all the hatred back here, and lack of support like there is today for the service members. I have even heard that WWI and WWII vets sometimes looked down at those returning from Vietnam, since Nam wasn't a war declared by Congress.

I have a lot of respect for those who have served, especially since asthma kept me from doing the same.

I disembarked the bus at Parris Island in May of '65. My company was the last to receive 12 weeks of boot camp. My training platoon had several draftees. They were obligated for two years active duty and four years of reserve participation.

My recollection was that an inductee could choose his branch of service. I think that quotas were established later.

I was given a 0141 MOS (admin man) based on my ability to type. I was always assigned to a grunt company. Draftees, who were mostly assigned 0311 MOS (rifleman), were always shipped to Nam after one infantry training cycle. I saw a bunch of them come through my company (I Co, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines) while in Nam. There was no discrimination and they made rank on an equal basis with the willing enlistees.

I am a Viet Nam vet , May 67-May 68 . I went thru some awful fighting during my time there and yes i was wounded . Yes i still have the Flash backs . I still remember when i came home and the greeting i got at the airport in N. J. with the anti war hippies , If the N.J cop would not have stopped me i would have cut that guys throat. And i would have not lost a min.'s sleep over it . He came up to me a spit in my face and it started me and the four other guys that were with me , Duffel bags AWOL bags and everything else we were carrying got dropped and we lit into them , don't really remember how many there were but we put the hurting on them and the one i had down i was tryen to get my BUCk knife out of my AWOL bag and i got in my hand when this cop garbed my arm and said now don't go and make a mess on the floor, So i just gave him a light shave . and was escorted to the ticket counter and go on a flight to Pittsburg. and not knowing what to expect when i got there.

I agree with your thoughts, I have never put my uniform back on, I could talk for hours on the evils of the Viet Nam War or conflict.The older I get the more it bothers me that I had any involvment in it. Your Government pulls a guy off the farm and sends you to a foreign land that you know nothing about and have nothing against the people there and then it's either kill or be killed! It haunts me ever day, that's why I stay so darned busy, keep my mind off of it. Back then the people back home were not behind it, now were in the same kind of a deal and the whole country is behind the troops 100% I don't get it. Are all these conflicts doing our country any good???? Is all the suffering and death of our troops helping this country in any way????? Sorry but I'm not proud I was in Nam and come Friday I will buy My own lunch!!!!! I don't hunt or even fish, I don't want to hurt any thing or anybody!!!! Those who were not there can never join the ranks of us who were!!! It was a nasty deal for sure! I don't care how tough you think you are, nobody can come back from living under the conditions of a combat zone and live a normal life, and then be hated by every one you meet when you get home, You will be a different person fore ever. Now I will step off the box.

I was far too young to have served back then. I served, but not that early, and never combat.

That being said, I was taught respect and taught to give respect when I got home from Germany, ETS'd from the Army a day or few before Thanksgiving, 1985. I will never forget that night for as long as I live. Never ever.

1985, stationed at Coleman Barracks in Mannheim, Germany. East and West Germany still existed, but things were falling apart for communism, and East and West Germany were headed for unification big time. I was there watching these guys fighting and gaining more and more freedom day in and day out, at the same time I was reading daily in the Army Times about things going on back home in Elkhart, IN, and the rest of America, things that I didn't like. Freedoms being lost. That was disturbing as all get out to me. I'm from America, and reading about freedoms being lost left and right. At that time, I was being asked to stay in West Germany to work for a military contractor, and was going to do it. They were going to pay me in American dollars and at the time, it was 4 Deutchmarks to 1 U.S Dollar, and in my mind, Germany was becoming freer, and my home was going the other way. I told the contractor OK, I would stay to work for them, but wanted to go home for a month to see my family.

A day or two before Thanksgiving, I outprocessed from Ft. Dix, NJ, and had just arrived home in Elkhart, IN at night via bus from Chicago Ohare. Was cold and snowing, and I wanted to surprise my family and just pop up, but they surprised me and no one was home. I'm at a phone booth calling everyone, no one answers. I picked up my duffle bag and started hoofing it in the snow. A mile or so down the road, there was a bar that wasn't there when I left and is gone now, Gubi's on Cassopolis St, so I stopped in. I didn't know what to think. I knew what happened to Vietnam vets and how they got treated when they got home, and it wasn't good. And while I was in Germany reading the Army Times, I got the idea that I wasn't going to be welcome when I got home either. I guess that it came from being isolated from American society, and having nothing to go by but what I read.

So, its cold and snowy, and I carried my duffle bag up to the side door, and set it down off to the side, and walked in wearingmy Class A's for the last time. I wanted my family to see my ribbons and spit shined jumps for the last time and thats what I was wearing when I walked in the door and stood there looking around. Its like everyone at every table quit talking and just sat there staring at me and I honestly didn't know if I was in trouble or not. I just stood there taking it all in and trying to figure out whether or not I was welcome. There was an elderly couple, in their 70's I would guess, sitting at a table nearest me, and the gentleman looked at his wife and they both sat their flatwear down, and he got up and walked over to me, reached out to shake my hand, and said "Thank you", and then went back and sat down and picked up his flatwear and began eating again. His wife winked at me and picked up her flatwear and went back to eating aw well. I looked around and most were smiling at me I guess, so up to the bar and had my first Amrican beer in a couple of years. The owner of the bar, restaurant, Craig and his wife, Joyce, and a sister, Linda all welcomed me, and let me bring my duffel bag in and set it behind the bar. A couple of beers and few phone calls later, my mother answered and the whole family was now at her house. Craig had his bartender drive me and my duffle bag home, and what a Thanksgiving that was.

I never made it back to Germany, and I learned a lesson from that elderly gentleman that I will never ever forget for as long as I live. I don't care what I am doing or where I am, when a soldier passes by in eyeshot, I stop what I am doing and go over to shake hands and make it very clear that these United States Of America ar their home, and for as long as I'm alive, they will always be welcome here.

Thanks all, and may God always bless.

Mark

Why are there no WWII era Vets ?? Any Vet who served during that time period suffered the same stigma by being in uniform!!! They were treated just like the rest of us f@ck-up Namvets.
Led

Mike this is the reason for my topic here... to bring others like you and I to to confide in our comrades and let them know we don't stand alone in our thoughts and feelings. I am hoping this don't turn too political as to be poofed, But I do feel it better to come out and say what you all really think.
I know now I am not alone in my thoughts, but many times it does bother me as I get older.

I was on my way home by Greyhound bus from the airport in uniform, around 1966. A couple jerks started mouthing off at me. I just let it go. All I wanted to do is go home for a couple weeks and see Mom,and Dad, and my girl. I was in the Navy, and spent a month at Cam Ranh bay Vietnam on a sea plane tender. I wasen't involved in any fighting, but I have a lot of respect to those who did. Got out in 68, and went back to the farm. About that time Dad didn't do much more farming. I got a job in a factory, and life went on. Stan

The world has changed hasn"t it? At least people are not spitting on returning vets like they did for Vietnam vets. I was lucky, I came back on a Medivac plane so avoided the spitters. Probably a good thing, as I would still be in jail. Served in 1970. 2/501st, 101st Airborne. Infantry of course. Have a goodun. Bart in Vermont.

My father was stationed there, about that same time frame.

I was on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Vietnam 1970-1975.Worked on the flight deck. Long hours and hazzardous work. We did alot of bombing and delivered alot of support to the ground troops. We were lucky and usually got a warm welcome every time we returned from a deployment. We were off the coast of Hanoi alot and never once did "Charlie" venture out to bother us. Makes you wonder how when we owned the skies and the ocean but managed to dragged out that war far too long. Just my two cents worth guys.
God Bless all those who served and may your days be filled with happiness.

Roy, thanks for your thoughts. I live a normal life and have a good family, but when it's mentioned I hang my head. Lost buddies and classmates there, they got cheated out of life, and for what, what good did it do, and nothing was learned from it. I have friends right here that it ruined their live, there still dealing with it. I have a blood brother in Wisc. that never left there, never married, he's a good guy but he's still fighting that war every day with himself. I also have a friend in Pa. us three were all blood brothers and by watching out for each other all made it back here, we still get together on occasion. There are no closer friends than the ones that you stared death right in the face with. Now I'm done, don't remind me of it till next year.

Still cant go hunting with anyone, if they were to be behind me and fire, I might blow their head off, Almost happened in 1970.

I served in the USAF (newly created) during the Korean War and the foot soldiers and Marines suffered greatly. The communists treated the prisoners horribly. I still haven't figured out why so many people blamed our boys for the Vietnam war. We were fighting to contain the communist horde from overrunning the world. I for one thank each and everyone for their Vietnamese service. We probably committed some bad things but nothing like the enemy, just as today. Look what is happening. I bet no one in this country would like to live under those proposing sharia law. Wherever we fight it is better than here. We need to stop it before it gets here. Also can you believe that Iran would not nnuke us if possible? Thanks to all veterans who have fought to maintain our freedoms wherever they fought.

I'M REALLY SURPRISED THAT THIS THREAD HAS LASTED THIS LONG WITH THE LIBERALS THAT RUN THIS SITE

The Hell's angels broke up a spitfest when my dad came home from Vietnam. He was an airforce medic. I remember my dad telling me that the cops just kinda disappeared before the angels showed up. One reason that Harley is the only bike I will ride.

(quoted from post at 12:51:27 11/10/11) I served in the USAF (newly created) during the Korean War and the foot soldiers and Marines suffered greatly. The communists treated the prisoners horribly. I still haven't figured out why so many people blamed our boys for the Vietnam war. We were fighting to contain the communist horde from overrunning the world. I for one thank each and everyone for their Vietnamese service. We probably committed some bad things but nothing like the enemy, just as today. Look what is happening. I bet no one in this country would like to live under those proposing sharia law. Wherever we fight it is better than here. We need to stop it before it gets here. Also can you believe that Iran would not nnuke us if possible? Thanks to all veterans who have fought to maintain our freedoms wherever they fought.

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Amen

Volunteered, enlisted, USN, had orders to a destroyer. CDR decided he could use me better in Recruiting Service. Little tough but he actually took care of me like a son. God bless all the vets and the ones I filled out papers on. Dave