WELCOME HOME!
Much has been said about the generation of Americans that fought in the Second World War, even less to those who went to war in the frozen hills of Korea, the Forgotten War, and then there are those who will remember our Vietnam Veterans. This is about the Flags Of Our Vietnam Veteran Fathers!
As the son and a nephew of Vietnam Veterans I grew up in a time when the controversy of the War In Vietnam was in the papers, in the news, on the televisions of the time. It was the first time that war entered our dining and living rooms, the terms body count, MIA, KIA, Tet Offensive, Seek and Destroy were first introduced into the American culture. It was also the first time our government laid at the feet of our men and women Vietnam Veterans the fault of the outcome of the war.
Even though I was not nearly a teenager yet I was also saddened and then angered by how rediculous our government behavior of the war and our soldiers was portrayed. I have never known our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardsmen of both the United States Coast Guard, Army and Air National Guard to have ever wavered in their call to arms, their dediction to preserve our ideals and freedoms and to assist others in achieving their own personal freedoms.
I have always found it difficult to blame the soldier when they were asked to fight but only given one arm or one leg to work with in the case of issuing rules of engagement and then informing the enemy as to what it was so they could easily cherry pick, snipe at and then run across the Ho Chi Minh Trail back into Cambodia where they knew our soldiers were never issued orderes to pursue. Why simply give them all our intelligence maps, areas of operation, the location of every fire base, the starting times and locations of operations or hell while we are at it the names, call signs and intelligence of our forces and strengths wherever they may have been. Sounds like a good idea? Hell no.
So while our government with its Senators and Congressman who would never send their own family members to the heat and insect infested jungles of Vietnam were not less hesistant to send your sons and daughters to defend what they described as the stopping of Communism and the toppling of the dominos in Far East Asia. In retrospect it didn’t work then, it doesn’t work now with troops being sent to fight a new battle, a new enemy to preserve the interests of corporations and their congress elected officials they put into office. You spend a few billion dollars to hire a politician you better make sure you get a return on that investment.
I am not going to put some cutsey meme about the Vietnam War here nor some stupid ass quote about how important the war in Vietnam was. What I will say is that regardless of the circumstances, the reasons good bad or indifferent that our soldiers were called and like every generation before them they went and they got the job done. Simple. Over and out. They may not be recognized as the “Greatest Generation” becasue they did not see the hardship of growing up in the The Great Depression and maybe they wore their hair long, drove around in hot rods, hung out at the local burger and malt shake join on the street corners of America but don;t be fooled into thinking that their job was any less difficult than those that fought the Japanese and Germans. This enemy was dug in, holed up, had fresh supples coming in from China and Russia, hid in theor holes, used their own forms of IEDs, and fought on their land in their backyards and in their own gorilla like manner. They were just as skilled as any American adversary in the past and they knew it.
So when you meet a veteran of Vietnam, speak quietly to them, excercise good judgement, and remember they went when asked. They did what most would not. Don’t thank them. Simply Welcome Them Home!” They earned it.