Welcome Home Vets!

[cincibuck]

Willy, who, along with Wayne, made my tour in Vietnam a much lighter load, sent me a "Welcome Home!" greeting today.

45 years later I'm glad I served, but it wasn't always that way. My flight home was met by protestors outside the gates of Travis AFB. They threw dog dirt and stones at our bus. They called us Nazis and murderers.

My dad and uncles wondered why we didn't win and then talked about their own war again and again as if I wasn't there. The VFW and American Legion acted with indifference towards us. A perspective employer asked me why Vietnam vets were so screwed up and on drugs. The terms were obviously meant to make me fell included.

National statistics showed that we vets had lower employment rates, higher incarceration rates and higher divorce rates, but no one seemed to see the correlation between the first rate and the next two. Newspapers seemed to delight in crime headlines that began with "Drug Crazed Vietnam Vet..."

Most of us locked our thoughts deep inside and went on with our lives. A brave few remembered and turned their anger into a memorial, a "healing wall" on the National Mall.

From that wall came a new perception of Vietnam vets. I found my pride in serving and so did many others. Today I join my fellow vets - male and female - and wish them a "Welcome Home!"

I hope that in this current time of war American citizens will remember that in a democracy it is all of us who declare war and fight. It is all of us who are responsible to welcome home the warriors, help them in their transition, care for the dead and wounded and keep the promises made to the warriors and their families.

But above all, I hope that you will remember that if you don't like a war speak up and vote, but never take it out on the warriors. They go and serve at your request.

 

[The KSB]

I've managed to deploy to the First Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. When I came back from the first Gulf War we were hailed as a "conquering heroes." We were given parades, meals were bought for us, etc. As a 19 year old child I don't think I fully understood the gravity of it all. It just seemed that was how it worked. You go to war, come home and get a parade. There were still a few Vietnam veterans in my unit at the time that really didn't seem to handle it well. Myself being a 19 year old private, and them being ancient SFCs and above I never bothered to ask about it.

As I became longer in the tooth and my military experience expanded I began to hear more and more about the contrast between how we were welcomed back and how Vietnam vets were welcomed back. Both my parents served in the Air Force during Vietnam. They never went to Vietnam though. Several times before he died I spoke to my father about his experiences while serving. I had heard stories of vets getting spit on and being called baby killers. He told me he never experienced that, but there was definitely a cold attitude towards the military at the time. It was just assumed that he was a drug addict and a criminal. He experienced it in spite of him not being an actual Vietnam vet (his words, not mine).

When I came back from Iraq there was still a warm attitude towards the military. I remember the "support the troops, not the war" campaign. Our first stop in the U.S. was an airport in Minnesota at roughly 0100 in the morning. There was a local group there to greet us as we got off the plane. They cheered as we got off the plane and welcomed us home with warm hugs and firm handshakes.


When I returned from Afghanistan just over a year ago I could sense a change in the national conscience. While I was always treated with respect and courtesy, there was definitely a cooling from what I remembered from deployments past. While I can honestly say that it did not bother me, I am not entitled to anything special. It was still very noticeable. My point in bringing that up is I can’t imagine what it would have been like to go through the hell that Vietnam was only to return home and be treated the way Vietnam vets were treated.

To you Cincibuck and all other veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, Welcome Home!

 

[kippy1040]

I've managed to deploy to the First Gulf War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. When I came back from the first Gulf War we were hailed as a "conquering heroes." We were given parades, meals were bought for us, etc. As a 19 year old child I don't think I fully understood the gravity of it all. It just seemed that was how it worked. You go to war, come home and get a parade. There were still a few Vietnam veterans in my unit at the time that really didn't seem to handle it well. Myself being a 19 year old private, and them being ancient SFCs and above I never bothered to ask about it.





As I became longer in the tooth and my military experience expanded I began to hear more and more about the contrast between how we were welcomed back and how Vietnam vets were welcomed back. Both my parents served in the Air Force during Vietnam. They never went to Vietnam though. Several times before he died I spoke to my father about his experiences while serving. I had heard stories of vets getting spit on and being called baby killers. He told me he never experienced that, but there was definitely a cold attitude towards the military at the time. It was just assumed that he was a drug addict and a criminal. He experienced it in spite of him not being an actual Vietnam vet (his words, not mine).

When I came back from Iraq there was still a warm attitude towards the military. I remember the "support the troops, not the war" campaign. Our first stop in the U.S. was an airport in Minnesota at roughly 0100 in the morning. There was a local group there to greet us as we got off the plane. They cheered as we got off the plane and welcomed us home with warm hugs and firm handshakes.


When I returned from Afghanistan just over a year ago I could sense a change in the national conscience. While I was always treated with respect and courtesy, there was definitely a cooling from what I remembered from deployments past. While I can honestly say that it did not bother me, I am not entitled to anything special. It was still very noticeable. My point in bringing that up is I can’t imagine what it would have been like to go through the hell that Vietnam was only to return home and be treated the way Vietnam vets were treated.

To you Cincibuck and all other veterans, especially Vietnam veterans, Welcome Home!

I read your post here with great interest in trying to get a feel for what it was like for all you vets who did time in the middle east chrisis. I salute you for what you went thru and at this time in our lives, when I see a vet out in uniform and on the streets, I get a lump in my throat, knowing he or she, has returned home, hoping they are given the honor and respect that they deserve.

In 1960, I was such a young kid growing up, amidst the ever growing threat of Russian forces coming into Cuba under Castro and his regime. Yet, little did I realize how close the United States came to blows with Russia, when Kennedy announced how real that threat was. Three days later, my ship was deployed out of Norfolk and headed down somewhere off the coast of Gitmo. But however, thank God, Kruschev finally backed down and took his missiles the hell out of there and went back to Russia. Now I realize how close I came to never coming home again. In 1964 I made the decision not to re-inlist and went back into civilian life. And yet a lot of my buddies then,were signing up to go and fight in Vietnam . Most of them never came back and I was so sorry for that and I think about them all the time. And I think about You (KSB) and all the rest of you Veterans who are with us today and can have the fortunes to tell the stories of your experiences of what you went thru. Thanks for so much of that. Peace.

 

[OSUK]

Thank you for your service Cincibuck and The KSB. You have my respect and appreciation for all that you sacrificed to serve.

I didn't serve. My son was 12 when 911 happened. He came home from school and asked what was going on. I turned on the TV for a few minutes, and when I turned it off, he asked me, "There's going to be a war, isn't there?" I said, "Oh yeah." He asked, "How long will it last?" I told him I thought it would last long after he had children (He just had his first child 3/30/14). He replied, "Good - cause when I'm old enough, I'm enlisting."

He went to college for one semester, enlisted in the Army, and was deployed to Iraq in 2008 in a convoy security role. He earned his combat patch a few weeks into his deployment, and earned it many times over during the span of his deployment.

I had no idea what soldiers actually go through in that situation - what they see, hear, smell, and have to do. I only knew about it in an impersonal way, but it is a hopefully necessary but dirty, dirty business - essentially killing people, seeing death in gruesome ways, and breaking stuff. He was able to email me every few days, and described his experiences, usually in general, but sometimes in detail. I often wept that he had to see, hear, smell, and do those things.

He came back home and he was different. He had always been a very talky/social kid. He didn't want to talk about his deployment (still doesn't). Occasionally, he will tell me a little something I didn't know, but almost everything I know about his deployment, he told me in those emails in real time. He didn't want to be around people when he came home. He later confided that people just wanted to ask him about Iraq, and he wanted to try to forget it, not talk about it. He also said that if people knew the real truth about the dark places he had to go to function as a good soldier, they wouldn't feel comfortable around him. It was a rough transition back to civilian life, but he gradually returned to (mostly) his old self, but I can see that war changed him in ways that he tries to hide. One thing I can put my finger on is when there is some kind of perceived threat, he gets a look in his eye that is scary. I see a hardness, and a potential for violence in him that wasn't there before. Killing people changes you, and I don't think it matters too much what the context is.

My overall point is that because of my son's experiences, I have at least a partial understanding of the struggles and sacrifices that soldiers experience when they have to go into hell and come back. It's more than just separation from loved ones or delaying a career/education. There are hidden and quiet difficulties, and fundamental changes in who they are that veterans have to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

It's inadequate, but all I can say is "thank you" to those who live with those challenges.

 

[matt_thatsme]

Two of my buddies that I served with when I was enlisted recently returned home from Afghanistan. We served together as Scouts during OIF 3. I got out and went to law school. They joined the Army National Guard as OH58 D pilots. Glad to have them back and proud to call them brothers.

I kept up with them as much as I could while they were deployed. Here is an article about one of their missions. 27 confirmed enemy kills. Good shooting gents.

http://www.nationalguardmagazine.com/iphone/article.php?id=1842229&id_issue=230140&src=&ref=https://www.google.com/

 

[BoxCar_Willie]

Made it down to Kuwait for Christmas and went to The Avenues mall. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory and the manager (an Air Force Vet) bought our meals and cheesecake as Christmas gifts. I usually don't like being noticed or having things bought for me (don't get me wrong, I always appreciate it, it's just not my personality) but I sincerely truly appreciated the gesture and it caught me off guard.