I saw this photo on FB this week and it stirred some memories and thinking. It was of a visit I was honored to host in 2008 when I was the Chief of Security Forces at Andrews AFB, Maryland. Our guests that day were Air Force Vietnam Security Police Association members who came to D.C. for their annual convention. We did some cool demos and displays for them which they flat out loved. The photo shows one of the weapons displays manned by one of my superb combat arms instructors, Justin Haggerty. Funny aside, the Public Affairs folks were hesitant about letting us host these folks at the home of Air Force One – after all (they assumed) they ARE Vietnamese right? Good Lord… some of the Public Affairs folks I knew were pretty sharp, but not all of them.
Anyway, here is what struck me. These guys kept telling me how grateful they were for our service, how much they appreciated and admired us. Now I served for twenty years before I was ever “thanked” for my service. It was after 9/11 and I remember struggling for an appropriate response. “Your welcome?” I croaked awkwardly. After all, I was a professional airman (insert soldier there if you want, I consider it an honor to be mistaken for a soldier) and I didn’t need or expect thanks. By 2007 though, I was used to it, and could at least respond without sounding like a boob. But thanks from these guys?
I mean, where is the bitterness? The envy? No one thanked them contemporarily for their service. There were no parades for them. They were mostly draftees who honorably served when called by their nation, but they were seen as the visible symbols of a war the nation did not support. And so they were not supported. Some of them were spit on when they returned home. I can’t even imagine what that must have felt like.
While I was stationed in the UK, many of my British friends commented on the tremendous support the troops have in our country, how well we take care of our armed forces members. True, but our treatment of our Vietnam vets suggests that support can be fickle.
And yet, who are these guys in their denim and leather vests, emblazoned with unit and service patches, riding in Rolling Thunder or Utah’s Ride for the Fallen events? Who are the guys standing at attention, silently standing to honor the fallen at Arlington National Cemetery, or hundreds of other places, silently standing to honor men and women they never knew, silently standing to protect the sanctity of another veteran’s funeral from the crazed few who would ruin a funeral if they could to publicize their extreme views?
Well, many of them are Vietnam Vets. The generosity of spirit they show just amazes me, and I see it over and over. Remarkable!
You know who else I don’t get? Native Americans here is a group that has been treated poorly long before America was even a country. But in every war Native Americans have done their part and towed the line. I have been to Native American cultural gatherings “Pow Wows”, and been impressed at the level of deference paid to the Stars and Stripes in their flag ceremonies. I have been thanked by this group of people for my service, when in fact I feel I should apologize for the trials they have faced. The Native American community has great respect for their veterans and the flag they have fought and died for regardless of the injustice of centuries of miss treatment. I don’t get that!
Good point Tim! There are a number of groups like this. African Americans and the Japanese Americans who served after being detained in camps come to mind. Remarkable!
Well Tim and JS, the both of you are correct, Native Americans and a number of other groups do deserve to be highlighted, but you know what I don’t get, I don’t get you! This article is called “Those VIETNAM VETS-I don’t get em!” After serving in Vietnam I was one of those who was spit AT. Also while hitchhiking home one day I was picked up, then beaten up! They said it was the uniform it made them crazy, and while laying on the side of the Ma. turnpike I WATCHED THREE PEACE LOVING HIPPIES GET BACK INTO THE CAR AND DRIVBE AWAY. Now I mention this only because I felt that same sting when I read your replies. You did not reply on the subject written about, but on another. You see, I am still just a little bitter, so when I see anything written in a positive format about Vietnam Vets, I feel good again so when I read the above article, I felt good for a moment, that is until I saw the replies. I hope you one day get a good article written about the issues you mentioned, but for now this article was and still IS about Vietnam Vets.
To some I may sound like a cry baby, well no one listens to them anyway, but try this on for size, when you get your article written, say on Native Americans, and the first two response speak only of Disabled and /or combat vets, let me know if you feel just a bit slighted! I’ll be looking for your response to my response on your Article. Have a nice day! Welcome Home Viet Vets!
Thanks for your comment Doug, and, more importantly, thanks for your service. That piece was written with the sole intent of honoring Vietnam Vets. When I said “I don’t get ’em,” I was talking about the way many of them have stood up to honor and thank their modern comrades in arms. The honorable way they conduct themselves makes me feel humble. Tim’s comment includes Native Americans as another group whose service in wartime is admirable, but in my mind, it does not diminish at all my intent to honor people like you. With Respect, JS Bateman