I Ain't Marchin' Anymore

The BBQ Pit
21

I came back without the physical or emotional scars that many experienced. It was confusing to me to see that people were so violently against the war, since I thought I was doing something necessary.

I was able to compartmentalize the whole experience to a large extent and put it behind me. It time, I came to realize what a mistake the whole thing was and to resent the unnecessary deaths. My trips to the Vietnam Memorial are always emotional. It evokes the futility and senselessness of a war we shouldn’t have been in.

I’ve never marched with vets. I don’t belong to a VFW. My uniform is in a box somewhere with other relics of that past. I don’t think about it very often, if at all. I also never demonstrated against that war (despite my feelings about it), since it would have dishonored my comrades who fell there, and it was all just too fresh. Looking back, if I had thought it would help end the mayhem sooner, I would have been there with John Kerry in protest.

So I’ve been able to scrape my shoe and move on. Except. Unless. When a clueless blowhard sounds off on something he knows nothing about, and about brothers in arms he never knew, my temper flares and I’m fighting a war all over again. I try to walk away from confrontations like that, but the names on the wall won’t let me.

Now I see another unjust war with soldiers dying, and the horror of that last mess comes unbidden to the front of my mind, and I fully understand the protests of that generation. I have sons. I will not allow them to die in George’s war.

Now I march. I march with words, with letters to newspapers, with arguments with colleagues who brand me a ‘liberal’ and ‘un-American’ because I won’t support an illegal war on a sovereign nation. But they don’t understand that I have an obligation to the names on the wall. It’s not a blind obligation to support any war, right or wrong, but rather an obligation to their grandchildren not to allow it to happen again.

Chefguy
B930806, U.S. Navy Seabees, FLC Red Beach, I Corps.

22

Wow. Can I just say wow. I am not American and I have nothing substantial to contribute to this, but I am touched by the emotion. Welcome home.

23

I’d love to go back, and see those beautiful places without the ravages of war. The Vietnamese were pretty nice people, overall, but the Cambodians and the Montagnyards were the best. Who knows what I can yet fit in my life? It’s on my list.

24

Cool. I’m glad you feel that way.

And though I’m not really qualified to say it, welcome home.

25

I hope you can soon. Like the guys jjimm met it might do you some good because it sounds like you haven’t completely come home. And I have no hard feelings about the “dipshit.” Been called that and worse and it’s often true, though it’s probably best if you save it for guys like me with thick skins and whom you only know through the internet. :slight_smile:

26

I really hope this is just emotion of the moment in this post and not an actual statement that you forbid your 18+ year old children about what they can and can’t do. I would not think that someone who is as you seem to be would be that controlling in practice. I’m sure they know how you feel and take that into consideration.

If your children are less than 18, then they will not be forced into service anyway.

My son was US Army from 87 to 00
I was US Army 61 to 64

27

BS - you’re qualified. I don’t care where you’re from, one thing I know is that you’re from ‘home.’ And thanks. Thanks a lot; maybe more than you can imagine. It’s good to be back (as far back as I’ve come, anyway… pieces of me are still over there, in more ways than one).

“There’s no place like home.”
“Home is where the heart is.” (and it keeps moving about)
“Home is what makes it all worthwhile.”
“Eventually, we all end up back home; lucky are the ones who realize it.”
“‘Welcome home’ is the ultimate expression of acceptance.”
“Home, where you never ask ‘why?’”

As good as it may be to be ‘home,’ it ain’t complete without the welcome.

And I don’t care, this one deserves my full sig.

SnakeSpirit

28

[Also not qualified, but posting anyway because I didn’t have the opportunity then]

Welcome home, SnakeSpirit and other veterans.

29

I would encourage, aid, and abet any effort by them to avoid, dodge, object and refuse to participate in any fashion whatsoever in the furtherance of the global aggression and ambition of G.W. Bush and his cronies. Happily, I believe they believe as I do about this pretender, and understand that there is no honor in this endeavor, only the prolonged misery of urban and guerilla warfare. Your son was smart (or extraordinarily lucky) to get the hell out once Bush got into office. Pray that he doesn’t get swept back up in this mess before it’s all over.

30

Chefguy, now that is eloquence.

Snakespirit, nobody gets their “stuff” together once and for all. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If a newspaper referred to the soldiers as “baby killers,” that would have been an editorial piece or a report on a specific incident. Since you didn’t do that, don’t rent that comment space in your head any longer. It didn’t apply to you, thank God.

I hope that you find a way to work past the things that have hurt you. I don’t think I said it myself before, but welcome home.

Pax

31

Snakespirit, on behalf of myself, my brothers, my parents (who both served in the Navy, my father for 26 years), and whoever else I can speak for:

Welcome home.

32

I like this thread, and am impressed by everybody in it. Just not feeling eloquent enogh to make a sensible contribution though.

33

Zoe, excellent OP. I thank you for it.

If there’s anything that I hope people have learned from the various experiences of the Vietnam conflict it is that protesting the war doesn’t mean that one has to protest the people serving in the military.

SnakeSpirit, Welcome Home, buddy. And thank you. I’m a Navy vet (1989-1994), and I don’t know how to respond to that when people tell me it, so don’t worry about saying anything to me about the thank you - it’s just something you deserve. I’m sorry and ashamed that emotions about your conflict were so high that you and people serving with you were treated so poorly.

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{{{{{Zoe, Snake, Chef}}}}}

35

Thanks. I’ve been told this by others, particularly since joining this board, never in “real” life. I don’t think I’ve ever felt the alienation that many felt upon returning, probably because I continued my military service for another 20 years after Vietnam. My community was the military community, their values pretty much my values. My family welcomed me back and was grateful for my return, which was all that mattered at the time.

36

Welcome home, all.

37

I participated in a repatriation ceremony today. My first.

As a V.V.A. member I was part of a group that formally welcomed home seven sets of unidentified remains. One was from the Phillipines (WWII), one from Laos (VN), one from Korea and the other four from VietNam.

The honor guard in great ceremony brought those seven flag-draped caskets from the plane to the waiting busses, which would bring them to the Central Identifications Lab (CIL) where attempts would be made to figure out who they were based on ID of the remains, location where they were found, MIA reports, carbon dating and such stuff.

Welcome home.

maybe too little, too late, but welcome home.

SnakeS

38

Snakespirit, that is really moving. How often are remains returned? Do they usually come home in groups like that? Is that at Andrews?

39

Bellows AFB Honolulu.
Honestly, I don’t know how often.

40

Sorry, the brain went on autopilot.

Hickam AFB, Honolulu. Bellows is in Waimanalo…