There are stories to be told

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I visit a nearby VA medical clinic occasionally as the need arises and for periodic checkups. While I was in the waiting room today, a total stranger about my age came out of the lab area to meet his wife. He made eye contact with me, and logically assuming that I was a US Vet, said, “Thank you for your service.”

I asked if he was in Vietnam, and he said from 1968-1969. When I extended my hand to him, he walked over and gave me, not a shake, but a hug. He said, “Isn’t it nice to be welcomed with praise instead of spit the way we once were?”

My lab number had been called, so I had to cut the encounter short, but I thanked him for his overtures. I wonder what he would have said if I had told him that my “service” consisted mostly of avoiding shit details and wondering just why the fuck we were sent to Vietnam in the first place and hoping it could be avoided in the future.

This isn’t the first time I have had a random, pleasant encounter with ex-military at the clinic. I could never be accused of being gregarious, but I certainly won’t turn my back on someone who wants to make a friend. There may be a million stories in the Naked VA Clinic and this has been one of them.

2

In spite of your “avoiding shit details, etc.,” thank you for your service.

3

Now that’s what I don’t understand. It’s nice to be thanked instead of spit upon, but I served in what I feel was a useless capacity, against my will, supposedly defending a country – and that’s a laugh all by itself. I was against the war, against the US involvement, and was merely covering my ass and trying not to get in trouble I couldn’t get out of. I was this close to going to Canada instead, but chickened out.

And I am confident there were many others, including an overwhelming majority of my outfit, who felt the same. In retrospect, we were right.

It’s hard to accept praise for something you didn’t do.