National Vietnam War Veterans Day: One Veteran’s Perspective

Editor’s Note: National Vietnam War Veterans Day is a national observance, commemorated every year on March 29. It is a day to honor the military who served in the Vietnam War, many of who didn't receive a proper welcome home.

When the Bulletin asked me to write something in honor of National Vietnam War Veterans Day a thousand thoughts raced through my mind.

I asked myself, can you do this. Can you handle the memories that have been asleep in the closets of your brain?

Can I give that day a proper story?

I decided that I could write it.

When those of us that served in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War returned home, we were not the same people that went.

Good, Bad and Ugly.

GOOD: A bond that only those that served can truly understand was developed from boot camp to separation. A brotherhood.

Having experienced the horrors of war and watching each other’s backs brings us closer together. You knew you could trust that guy in the fox hole next to you. You knew you could share things that you could not otherwise say or do.

“I’ve got your 6!”

I recently met a fellow Air Force veteran who had served in the same country I did but a few years after me.

I knew his airbase and he knew mine.

We instantly bonded. Telling of things only a veteran would know or understand.

A veterans bond that does not diminish over time.

The good work our men and women did for the children and people of the countries in which we served. From working with orphanages to medical care.

Personally, I used to go to orphanages to play soccer or basketball with the children.

I also taught English to the blind. I once took them on a field trip to the local flea market. Quite the sight of this 6’4” American leading the group connected hand to hand.

We learned to appreciate what we had “back in the world” more than we ever had before.

The war experience can make you stronger.

THE BAD: I believe most of us did not want to go but if you were 18 and of good health you were drafted. No choice.

You can love your country and be willing to serve her but a war in a foreign country? Any right-minded person does not want war unless that is the only alternative.

And once you are there watching your buddies die, losing body parts and suffering the hidden injuries of the mind, it can’t but deeply affect you.

Agent Orange. Confusing orders of engagement. Fragging.

All these things affect you in so many ways.

And living conditions were not great.

Those that went on patrols had to deal with the humidity, snakes and other not so nice critters.

For those that were on a remote base it was living in a hootch and having to burn barrels of outhouse excrement.

I lived in a barracks that was in the middle of rice fields. No air conditioning and many of the Casa Blanca fans did not work well. We had to sleep under mosquito netting which, with the humidity, was quite unpleasant. We always had to be on the lookout for cobras and other venomous snakes.

In the chow hall, we would take pills to prevent malaria and salt tablets to fight dehydration.

For those of us that were stationed on bases our duty hours were 12 to 14 hours long, 6 days a week.

THE UGLY: The Vietnam War was the most political one this country has ever encountered.

Massive protests, men dodging the draft, returning soldiers being spat upon and called baby killers.

It was hard on us for those that served. Unappreciated by a country that sent us to fight and die in a war we did not want.

PTSD was very common, destroying some families and other relationships.

We were even shunned by some WWII vets because we had “lost the war”.

WWII was a good versus evil war. The Vietnam War was not defined as that.

There were no parades for the returning soldiers.

When we landed back home, we would all go our separate ways and return to our homes.

To this day a Vietnam War Veteran will greet another with the phrase “Welcome home”. A sentence we did not hear when we came back.

I do not regret one day of my time spent in the service. As ugly as that time was, it made me a stronger and more appreciative person.

Would I do it again?

In a heartbeat.

The next time you meet a Vietnam War vet be sure to say, “Welcome home”.

I have used terms in this article that some of you may not understand. I recommend you look them up because to fully explain them here would take up a lot of column inches.