I am a Viet Nam vet. And I realize people protested the war. I don't have a problem with that. And I don't have a problem with people protesting the war in Iraq. After all the troops fighting in both wars were and are bothered by it. When I made my 2nd cruise to Nam on the USS America, it wasn't because I wanted to. It was because I was ordered to by my government. There were protestors at the gate to the base spitting on the cars and shouting "Baby Killer" when my wife drove me through the gate to the base. I was off the coast of Nam when the war ended and the POWS were released. But the ire of the protestors has always stuck with me and made me feel somewhat less than human. But I am not sorry that I supported and served my nation. But what I am saying is that it does demoralize the young men and women over there fighting to protect the rights of everyone, even the protestors. The school program I went to on Friday for Veterans Day had a total of 18 vets there from WWII to the currant Iraq war. The total number of years of service to their Government was 196.5 years. These are the type of men and women serving in the Armed services of the US.
I am very proud of you and men like you that was trying to make things betteron everyone concerned.I salute you and all the men in uniform .
Thank you Capt Kirk, I sincerely appreciate you sharing this perspective, and in fact, I think we may be in close agreement. As the daughter of a Marine Corps pilot who did 3 tours in Vietnam, and for 30 yrs now ( oy!!) the wife of a U.S. Army inductee, who spent 13 months there, I have a very real appreciation of the distinction between the politics of wars and the honorable men and women who serve in them. My "issues" have always been with the politics, not with my nation (which I hold dear) nor those in service to her. I sincerely hope that my views (then or now) were never hurtful to our fine service people, who I genuinely do respect.
