The Vietnam War-I Can’t Say Enough

I saw a movie about the Vietnam War on or around Veterans Day. It was hard to watch but I made myself-it was just so sad. To think how the nation treated these soldiers at the time is just a horror. Did families really learn of the death of loved ones from taxi drivers? If wounds were bringing the soldier to a hospital, did families even know this? Did America ever thank these soldiers or just protest the war? Remember, the draft was still a reality then. Some just went ahead and some just waited for their number to come up. Either way it doesn’t matter-they went. But what horrors awaited them, we are just now realizing and appreciating. Napalm, helicopters,and many guns against an enemy that couldn’t often be found just was not enough. We lost many in the war that started as a ‘conflict’ ,which was the term used, but for what reason were we there? I to this day don’t know. I was very young then and certainly didn’t know.

I do remember great outrage in the country about Vietnam and this hit on the soldiers too. Like it was their idea to be in the rain, mud, and tropical heat seeing other guys being blown to bits. Or killing others to keep from being killed. I know one vet that slept on the floor for a month after he came home-he didn’t really sleep but, rather, screamed with nightmares. I am sure many Vietnam veterans still suffer. Talk about post traumatic stress.

Every war is horrible rather in the snow, the sand, the mud, the water, the sky, the forest, or the dirt. The thing that makes Vietnam different is that the country’s support wasn’t really great. The protests made were really political but carried over to the soldiers.

Now we are trying to make up for all this with the Vietnam Wall, etc. But, when these guys came home, where were the Americans? Win, lose, or draw we support our soldiers or lose our way of life. That’s how it is, ALWAYS.

So to the soldiers everywhere now, we, as a nation, need to thank them a million times over for enduring things we cannot even imagine. The country I hope, learned this from the past. Are you supportive or critical? Just hope and pray these people get to return home soon.

Remember, every day, the men and women in the Armed Forces fight for America. That means you and me. I often wonder would I stand tall or rabbit. Thankfully, we stand tall.