I’m fine, thanks
However my 1st cousin that went in a year before I did is a mental wreck. We both graduated from the same college but after he got back the best job he could hold down was as a janitor. He has never shaken off the experience.
Me neither, but in a different way. I went from a naive, opinionated 20 year old who held certain political and racial views to someone who was humbled by what he saw there: that a lot of the world doesn’t give a shit if there’s grape Koolaid on the store shelves or if their friends don’t use deodorant; they’re too busy trying not to starve to death or avoiding being brutalized by yet another tinpot dictator; that a car is an unimaginable luxury, and a flush toilet is just a rumor they heard; that in some parts of the world, working hard guarantees absolutely nothing but blisters and an early death.
It was my political/social awakening and it’s still with me. It’s why I’m the only Democrat in my entire family.
I have a Vietnam veteran email pen pal in Louisiana who custom built my computer system for me. An ASUS P8 Z68 VPro, talked with him this evening and it was real good to hear it was a very good day for him which I was very glad to hear, as he is also having problems with his kidney’s and pulmonary problems. For a while his doctors thought he might have to go on dialysis. From what he passed on to me a large amount of Vietnam veterans had to be on Bactrim for years after returning from Vietnam
A recent trip to the VA hospital showed me that many Vietnam vets (as well as Vietnam era vets) are aging very poorly. At the VA I go to, hepatitis among that age group is higher than average and many of them are suffering from the ravages of years of smoking and substance abuse. That they have affordable health care (of mixed quality) is a blessing in disguise for many of them.
Within the next 15-20 years, all but the youngest vets from the late 1960s and early 1970s will probably no longer be among us. The ones who will be will likely suffer from myriad medical issues and they will cost the American taxpayers billions for their upkeep.
Rough water ahead, it seems.
Some Nam vets post here.
There were times I held the theory that the “true believers” had it worst because they lost their faith. Some never had any faith in the first place and came back feeling the world owed them something for what they had been through. Some figured they came back with the same amount of body parts they had when they got drafted and, considering what happened to some of their buddies, they had nothing much to complain about.
I figure everyone saw the war through different eyes and processed what they saw, what they did, and what happened differently.
I blamed Norman Rockwell for a lot of the shit. He led us to expect joyous welcome homes from a grateful nation.
I got better.
I know it’s cliche these days, guys, but thanks for your service, seriously.
I think I started losing my faith when my passed away in 1988 from cancer. I was her 24/7 caregiver for the entire year and half she battled cancer. I was also holding her hands when she passed in the hospital. Do I feel the world owes me a living a HELL NO, did I ever feel the world owed me a living HELL NO, I would however to have at least of the joy in life returned that I felt before being drafted, but unforunetly some never have any of that former returned to them.
I think I started losing my faith when my mom passed away in 1988 from cancer. I was her 24/7 caregiver for the entire year and half she battled cancer. I was also holding her hands when she passed away in the hospital. Do I feel the world owes me a living a HELL NO, did I ever feel the world owed me a living HELL NO, I would however like to have at least some of the joy in life returned that I felt before being drafted, but unfortunately some never have any of that former returned to them.
Apologies for the double post
He’s asleep on the couch, in front of the TV, thanks.
Still quite a few in Thailand. But they tend not to age all that well and may be dying off faster than their counterparts back home due to the rather, um, particular lifestyle they often adopt here.
If your speaking of drugs and “Russian Roulette” if I’m not mistaken Christopher Walken starred in a movie about Vietnam veterans called The Deer Hunter could be wrong on that though who adopted that type of lifestyle. Some drown it in street drugs and some drown it in alcohol, for some odd reason I never could get hooked on either of them although I did try the milder ones in my younger days as well as alcohol. Prescription med,s that control it with minimal adverse side effects however I’m all for. I do wish however the VA hospitals would add a GLBT veterans support group, it one of those areas I feel the VA hospitals are sadly behind the times on.
My brothers and a good share of my buddies are Vietnam vets. I know a whole bunch of them who are severly damaged.
Something a guy told me several years ago stuck with me. He said he killed a lot of men and never lost any sleep over it. The ones he looses sleep over are the ones he feel were murdered and did nothing to step in and prevent it. It haunts him worse than the fear and terror he experienced in battle.The Deer Hunter was filmed here in Thailand. The wife always laughs at the scene where the guy is loading the bullets for Russian roulette, not during the war, but later when Christopher Walken turns pro, because that’s a venerable old Thai actor being the “referee,” and he’s speaking Thai, not Vietnamese. And the bar scene was filmed in the old Mississippi Queen Bar, now defunct, in Patpong. The girl who went upstairs for sex was an actual bargirl working in the bar, not an actress.
Anyway, I don’t think Russian roulette is very popular anymore these days, if it ever was in real life, but there are bars whose regular patrons are all Vietnam vets. It’s a little spooky to be in them, because you’re like a ghost. No one chases you out, but it’s like a big party where everyone seems not to see you. They just don’t know you, you’re not “one of the boys.” They spend their days drinking and whoring. Some are successful at business. So many settled in the Northeast, where a lot of the bases were, that there was an actual VFW post in Nakhon Ratchasima province, although I’m not sure if that’s still there. One night at JUSMAG (Joint US Military Advisory Group) here in Bangkok, I met one who claimed to be on his third 18-year-old wife. Said he traded them in regularly. Probably an exaggeration but not by much from what I can tell. (Disclaimer: I was not at JUSMAG in a military capacity.)
It’s largely drink that does the local Vietnam vets in over here, particularly if they settle in some of the more hedonistic areas such as Pattaya. Some do have families though. But I’ve seen quite a few who were really down-and out.
A lot of Viet Nam vets were baby boomers and just now entering their 60’s.
My dad was career military and only six years away from retirement when he was sent to Viet Nam. He was in a much different situation than the 18 year old draftees. He was almost 40. He died a couple years ago and was 82.
Ah, here we go. The bar used in The Deer Hunter, the Mississippi Queen, is now called Goldfinger’s. You can see the outside of it here, but the whole place looks better at night. It changed to Goldfinger’s by the mid-1980s. I have been known to frequent it on occasion. Great music, especially after 10 or 11pm. An ex-Marine named Randy is the manager and maybe owner (he’s a bit murky on that point) and has been since at least 1987, maybe a little earlier. I don’t think he’s a Vietnam vet, but he does drink a lot. Some say too much. A gathering of shady characters can be found in here just about every night, some of them Vietnam vets. But Randy’s quite affable and always makes you feel welcome. It’s a good place.
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Baby steps.
They only allowed gay members to openly serve a few years ago. Last time I was at the VA, they had a small kiosk for LGBT vets.However, I heard a number of “enlightened” individuals making snide comments about it when I was waiting for a prescription.
Well my VA social worker, discussed this very topic with me at my previous appointment with her. Won’t have any further news about it until my next appointment in March. As for the snide remarks, those have been around since the spoken language and not just about GLBT people and will be every time something new comes along that society doesn’t feel is the norm. There was a time in history when Native Americans and Blacks faced those same kind of remarks and worse, but they got through them. When the military was desegregated, NCO’s weren’t even required to salute black military officers but that to changed. A slow process perhaps, but none the less it will hapen. Interracial marriages faced the same kind of remarks.
Guess I should have mentioned one of my nieces is married to a black man and has a daughter by him, my great niece M who is also one of my favorite great nieces. Spoke with her a couple of nights ago about how she is coming along in school, if I’m not mistaken I think she is in the 3rd grade now.
This guy seems to be doing OK: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/203657.htm
I will add my thanks to all vets here, for your service to your country.