> Bill, > > > We haven't even begun to absorb the effect of that war on > our troops. > > The opinions of those that have been in battle or are close > to those who have served seems to differ greatly from those > who watch from afar.
It's just about impossible to find words to explain what it's like for every emotion we feel to be stretched to the breaking point over and over. It's all exciting at first, which in a nutshell explains why they got away with launching this war with a new generation of kids who didn't know any better. The "truth" of it all came together for me one day, in an instant of profound realization: while walking around looking at bodies piled up in the aftermath of the Tet offensive, the thought that "this is insanity" hit me like a lightning bolt. There were many other emotional experiences leading up to that, but that was the crowning moment. Others had different moments, but that was mine. So talk to me now about war and my knee-jerk reaction is going to be: "don't even think about going there". I did try real hard, short of coming across like a nut case, to tell anyone who would listen that we really didn't want to do that again. I even did homework and came to terms with the motivation, thinking I could argue the case against both the motivation as well as war itself, but found that people are generally inclined to believe what the media barons say then some 'disgruntled' veteran. > Steve is a vet from the Vietnam era that was given a medical > discharge before being shipped out, so he never went to > Vietnam. He and I both know a lot of people that did, and he > worked a lot with homeless Vietnam vets when he was studying > for his masters in counseling. My last contact with other vets was at a reunion in Peekskill NY some years ago. It's possible that those events attract the worst off, so what I saw was probably skewed. The typical conversation would start with "when were you there, and where were you?", and when it was established that you would understand, the floodgates opened and otherwise very tough looking people were reduced to tears. Everyone had their story, and none of them were good. > What a nightmare for so many. And Iraq has more conflicts > every day than Vietnam ever did. What a horrible stain on our > national psyche. There were people in Vietnam who rarely fired a shot. I see movies and hear about people who spent their time in the bars in Saigon, and I suppose the same is true for Iraq (in the 'green zone'). On the other hand are those with the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so like everything else, "it's relative". Bill > Kristyne McDaniel _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
