Midnight-I DISLIKE these moments, but I understand them!

@Daddy_Freddie

 I remember loading body bags on choppers as well as stretchers for those brothers who were wounded. There weren't any ceremonies at that time because the VC knew that landed choppers were a prime target & our job was to get the Hueys filled & off the ground ASAP.

The tributes were saved for when our soldiers came home & they are tremendously sobering. Even today when I hear "Taps" it brings tears & chills to my body.

@Midnight1

I was born in 1965, right in the middle of it all and had four uncles that went over there. Two came back okay. One used alcohol to escape the memories and really suffered. There were stories of nightmares and physical attacks on my aunt at night. The other one refused to ever discuss it. Luckily for me my service time was really "Boy Scout Camp" I do remember going on alert the morning of April 5th, 1986, when the Disco was bombed in West Berlin and everyone thought that we were going after Muammar Gaddafi. Everything else was just like having a civilian job.

It's GREAT to see you guys finally getting your recognition and just due. The media really had such a strong influence and sadly people could not see the forest for the trees in actuality to what was really going on and ever since then every military campaign has just been for profit. Not sure if you seen it, the World War II veteran that spoke at the RNC the other night...those guys are the ones I REALLY LOVE talking to for hours when I go to the local VA clinic and hospital here in Las Vegas. We are losing them at too fast a rate, at the end of this year they project that there will only be 87,343 left.

Take care my good friend, God speed to you and yours! 

@Daddy_Freddie

 Only recently have I decided to discuss some things. I was out fishing with some vets & we weren't catching anything. So we started talking about all kinds of things & we eventually got to how horrible war is & if people only knew, perhaps we wouldn't be so quick to start one.

The dreams were horrific but I haven't had one in about 2 years. The smell of death & burning flesh is impossible to forget. My biggest fear wasn't getting shot or maimed by a boobytrap but rather making a mistake that cost the life of another soldier. Another fear was running out of ammo & that happened to us twice during my stint. Being told at night to affix bayonets will make any man soil their briefs.

I was one of the lucky guys that returned home. Everyone in the neighborhood wanted to buy me a beer & offer a job. That shit went away pretty quickly as these folks had lives to live & I was old news.

The vets in the VA clinic are amazing as is the staff that attend to their needs. Talking with a member of the Greatest Generation at the clinic leaves you with a certain awakening to what these men & women did in their lives. When in Michigan we visited the clinic in my wife's home town & I met a vet from Albuquerque who spent the time making Native American jewelry & he was wearing these beautiful rings. I told him which one I liked the best which had a turquoise color & he offered to give it to me but I couldn't take it. We talked about him being a Dallas Cowboy fans & we laughed about the Lions. That Christmas I sent him a Marino Miami Dolphins jersey. Then sometime in February I received a package from him. It was the ring that I had admired.

Many don't have a reason to visit a VA clinic. But I'm telling ya'll, making a visit & spending time with a veteran will cleanse your soul & jump start your heart.

@Midnight1

 It was great to read your comment here. Thanks for sharing that with us guys here at Covers. One of the things that really sticks with me too is how people get all caught up in the "RA RA" image of "Born in The USA", if they would listen to the words. It presents a whole different side of being "born" in this country. On a brighter note, Have a great week! Hopefully soon there will be another fishing video to share with you! 

Great read

Indeed, a great read and thank you for your service.

@umgmu @IntenseOperator @Daddy_Freddie

Thanks but I'm no hero. I was just a kid like thousands of other American kids that were drafted into the shithole of what was Viet Nam. Nam is a beautiful country with wonderful people but I never saw that side of it. 

Hell, I should have been killed before I made my 3rd week in NAM. I was one the NFG's (New Fucking Guy) in the platoon & the sergeant had me on point. I remember it was pouring rain & hard to see. Then I heard 3 quick shots from behind me & it was my sergeant who neutralized a VC camouflaged in a tree. Have you ever been looking in a direction but not really "seeing" what's in front of you? That's what I believe happened to me.The only thing my sergeant said was "Let's call it a day Chief." l would learn later he would call everyone Chief after they fucked up. It was another month before I was on point again. Hell, by that time there were plenty of other NFG's to take on that extremely dangerous role.

Prior to Nam. the only things I had ever killed were fish & cockroaches. But the government taught us all the various ways you can kill another person & that is what I did. As kids we were now lethal. We had periods of absolute boredom & firefights that seemed to go on forever. Most of our platoon was high on marijuana & there were reports of opium & heroin use but I never saw any of that. Strangely, I never turned to drugs until I got home & had various issues to deal with including a quick trigger temper that had to be controlled. To this day I still have to control it especially in the Politics forum. Sometimes I don't do so well. 

War destroys the lives of children. They lose siblings, moms, dads etc,.They lose their homes, their pets & the family livestock. Villages were torched & barrels of rice were overturned into the dirt. I remember this one NFG from Beaumont, TX pissed on the overturned rice & was laughing hysterically. No one said a word. Later while he was napping with others, I pissed in his helmet. 

Nam was horrible & IMO we had no business being there. To this day Nam soldiers will forever be known as the Americans that lost a war.  

And that really sucks!

@Midnight 1-You might "not" think you a hero, I'll accept that. Veteran to Veteran "YOU HAVE MY RESPECT!" I've heard MANY of the wild stories from there during the war from coworkers or people I have struck up a conversation with and one that I'll never forget was when someone told me they used to strain the rubbing alcohol through slices of bread so they could drink the alcohol. As you can see by my avatar here, I was in from 1985-1988 when you could still enlist for 2,3, or 4 years. I don't know what the enlistment terms are now, other than they are giving HUGE bonuses. I was in a Mechanized Infantry Unit at Ft Lewis Washington that has been deactivated and has been since started up again. We spent a LOT of time on field operations at the Yakima Firing Center. (hated the night in the tents freezing my ass off) 

Have a GREAT weekend. Keep your powder dry! 

I watch a lot on Youtube etc.

One ends up getting into these rabbit holes....then their algorithms take over....and they show more.

I think this guy does a ton of vids on Apocalypse Now. This one is very interesting. I'm going to watch all he has over time.

My main point.......look at the comments. Some really good reality there. Much about the movie of course...... But then REAL people that lived it or something similar chime in.

(I have an interesting story about the father of my neighbor friends and Nam. I'll go into that another time.)

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