I saw plenty of guys with that attitude in Vietnam, and they did all the things Kerry said they did when he testified before the Senate committee in the 70s.
From 1962 on I served 11 years in combat and other high risk areas overseas.
Here is a little comment I made a while back.
"Vietnam Vets got shot at in combat, got spat on by American demonstrators when they came home, and got shit on by Kerry and the phony "Winter Soldiers".
Many used the GI bill to attend college. I did too using night school and the bootstrap program for active duty folks. I never told anyone in college that I was a nam vet much less that I was on active duty and a Special Forces Officer. I know many other SF Officers, NCOs, and other nam vets who say the same thing.
At parties when asked about nam, I always say I really enjoyed my time there. My wife heard me say that once and later told me I can't tell her friends that. That generated months of (probably) long overdue discussions about the nitty gritty of my job. The nam was not just about Patrols, Combat, Killing and Dying. For me it included all of that but it was also about building schools, getting supplies to clinics, feeding hungry kids, etc. Now my informed wife will tell you I enjoyed my time in Vietnam and she knows why.
The media still talks about destroying villages. They never told about the villages we built. The water supplies we provided with wells, cisterns and aquaducts. They don't know about my friend who at Nha Trang beach saw a group of Vietnamese drag an apparently dead young girl from the surf. We were manning a machine gun on top of the IDC bunker across from IFFV HQ at the time. He looked at me and asked if I want to help or should he. I told him go ahead, you spotted her. I got your back. He ran down the beach, swished the vomit out of her mouth and gave the girl mouth-to-mouth while I called for an ambulance. The girl was breathing on her own when the medics arrived.
There are so many wonderful nam stories that never got told. There are so many nam vets who hid their service after returning so as not incur a hassle from American civilians. Bastards like Kerry who abandoned his men and vessel in combat and then lied and lied and lied, and his phony wannabee lyingass non-vets stole the spotlight that these men deserved.
Kerry throws a tantrum whenever anyone mentions his service. I have seen him on tv demanding that nobody question his service stating angrily, "I will not stand for it." Yet Kerry has repeatedly and publicly impugned the service of every American who served in Vietnam. He wrongly accused all of us of the most hideous war crimes. And he did it over and over as President of V V A W and as the "Winter Soldier" spokesman before the US Congress. Kerry has never apologized for that. He has never admitted he was wrong. Nobody can discuss it with him because he will not stand for it. As a US Senator, he continues to abuse our servicemen by voting repeatedly against the very weapons, equipment and supplies that our troops are using to stay alive and win on today's battlefields.
John F Kerry has awakened the Vietnam Veteran community. But this time, he has the real Vets to contend with not the phonies in Detroit and we "are not going to stand for it." His own combat unit made a clear statement this week. Every American war Veteran will have to consider their statements about Kerry. Every Vietnam Veteran is now (finally) going to feel free to tell his personal story and it will not be about the torture, murder, and mutilation that Kerry falsely accused them of when he testified and lied before congress." |
