First, I have to say how proud and grateful I am for those who have and are serving to defend me and mine.
I’m proud to have also served my country, but it wasn’t always so. I am a Viet Nam era veteran. I didn’t tell people for a long time, because my ilk was reviled more than revered.
We came home under a caul of shame. We didn’t receive the benefits that previous or subsequent vets did. I did educate myself under my VA benefits, but mine is the only era whose benefits expired.
Whether one agrees with the action or not, those who serve must have our support and love. Do something nice for a vet today, even if it’s only a smile and hello.
Hey, sweetie. I want to thank you as a fellow Viet Nam vet for what you’ve done for your country. You have always been a special friend of mine, but now even more so. Many, many hugs to you, }}}}}picunurse{{{{{{{ from your pal, Bill!
Thank you to the Veterans out there. Also, thanks to the servers who had to wait on me at the five different places I went that had free food for Service Members.
Thank you for your service. I’m a fellow nurse and was honored to spend time today taking care of a man who waded ashore on Omaha Beach on D-Day. When I think about what he went through, it sends chills up my spine.
I also thank you for your service. By saying that you were a Vietnam era vet. I take it that you may still be a little reticent to say that you were a Vietnam Veteran.
I too am a Vietnam Era veteran but the closest I got to Vietnam was Baalbeck, Lebanon, just east of Beirut, having been assigned to duty on the Sixth (Mediterranean) Fleet Admiral’s flagship, homeported on the French Riviera (before De Gaulle pulled France out of NATO and ousted all US Forces from the country.
When discussing my service with friends, I do not refer to it as haiving been during the Vietnam Era. That fact goes only on any government/VA forms on which that check box appears. Our involvement in Nam was just starting to increase in late '64 and only several months later did they start transferring personnel from the Med to Nam.
Thanks again, Picunurse. Get a free meal at Golden Corral on Monday, if they do that in your area.
Also, yeah- me and D (walking with her cane, bless her heart) tried to go to Applebee’s this afternoon, but they were packed. I had my DD214 and my pic (shorn of my locks) with me, but there was a line, so we gave up and went to the Huddle House instead.
Mixed emotions about that one: glad on the one hand that they were feeding the vets, but sad on the other, because the 2 of us can rarely afford to dine at Applebee’s.
Good to know that The Corral will still be serving us on Monday, though. I like those little “tweezly” round, crunchy things that go in your salad.
Let me add my thanks to all the people that served. My daughter and son are both veterans. The Vietnam War was the first war I remember. I still remember staying awake all night to watch the footage of the POW’s being interviewed. War is a terrible thing.
Thank you {{{{Bill,}}}}} I knew there was a reason I thought you were cool! The hug looks great to me.
Ignatz, I spent my entire time in the Air Force in the US. I was mostly in Amarillo TX.
I was in pediatrics even then, except for the times we had large influxes of ill and injured airmen.
My, husband at the time, was called up to go to Guam and another undisclosed location as support for B52s, but the first time was a week after our wedding, so his commander pulled strings to keep him there. Then the next time, our son was about to be born, so he got out of that too. He was also assigned to Japan, but it would have meant he’d have to reinlist. So, no exotic ports for us.
And thank you all. Get out and hug a vet. It feels good.
At the VA center where I volunteer, we’re seeing a bigger influx of vets from your years of service now that they’re getting older. Many of them didn’t recieve the recognition that they deserved when they came home, given the social and political atmosphere at the time. Most have a different mindset than the vets from other eras. Regardless, your service is appreciated by a lot of us.
The hug looks great to me.