Posted by Damos on March 30, 2006, at 15:26:28
In reply to Re: Freedom, posted by special_k on March 29, 2006, at 18:49:19
> That was a tragedy (one of the tragedies) of Vietnam... The soliders come home (after being traumatised fighting) only to find that people had been PROTESTING the war and didn't support it.
>
> I personally think the lesson to take from this is that if you go kill people...
>
> You might be popular for a bit but eventually... People might well change their mind and conclude that it wasn't okay for you to have done that.
>
> And we have to live with ourselves :-(
>
> I feel sad for the troops.
>
> Real sad. But personally... I don't support them if supporting them means supporting the killing of more Iraq citizens...I hate war too special, I hate war so much. I just need to post this and here just seemed like the right place.
I was lucky enough to speak long and hard to two Vietnam veterans a long time ago. And what hurt was NOT that people protested the war. It was that people protested them. What hurt was being spat on and having blood thrown on them and being called "Baby Killers". What hurt was the being made to feel ashamed, deeply crushingly ashamed of who they were, what they'd one, serving their country. What hurt was being looked at with disgust by people in the street, people even crossing the street to avoid them. Being ostracised. Being too ashamed to wear their uniforms in the street (instructed not to) because of what people did. What hurt was bringing home the genetic effects of Agent Orange and other things and passing that on to their children and their children's children. What hurt was not being welcomed home like every other generation of people who'd served their country with courage and honour had been. What hurt was being rejected by the RSL (In Aust) the Returned Services League and told "You wouldn't know what a war was!" and you're not eligible to join cause we've decided Vietnam wasn't one. What hurt was people who didn't know them making judgements about their morality, humanity and basic decency without ever having spoken to them. What hurt was being told that all of their feelings about everything that happened to them weren't valid. Being denied treatment and identity, that hurt.
I'm sorry this just really upsets me. I can still remember seeing the angels of death and despair circling in their eyes. I can still remember them recounting the names of those they had lost to suicide since the war. And I remember their pain. I have failed to do them justice here and I'm sorry for that.
I remember one of them telling me about the choice to do a second tour. A choice that was based on the fact that his being older and more experienced might mean that one less young man died. I remember him telling me of trying to explain this to his wife and children, and how they could never understand that choice - how no-one could ever understand any of it, unless they'd been there - been faced with those terrible choices.
I remember them both with so much pride - Lest We Forget.
You should be very proud of your Grandfather (I think it was) special, his strength and courage live on in you. It's people like you who CAN change the world.
poster:Damos
thread:625766
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20060322/msgs/626676.html