The most noteworthy thing about my coming home from Vietnam was how few were interested in hearing what I'd been through. This was late in the war (Aug, 1971), long after troop withdrawls had begun, and I think most people had forgotten the war was still going on or, worse, they no longer cared.

I had gotten an early-out to go back to college and one of courses I took that first semester was Political Science. The Prof tasked us all with picking a subject of the day and commenting on it.

Naturally, since I had just come home from the war, I picked Vietnam. After I had presented my paper, the Prof threw it open to questions or comments. This is what I heard from the only person in the room who responded to my paper:

"Well...that's a dead issue."

It wasn't to me or to those who were still there, including my friends.

I've never forgotten that arrogant little bastard.

quote:

Originally posted by stillkit:
The most noteworthy thing about my coming home from Vietnam was how few were interested in hearing what I'd been through. This was late in the war (Aug, 1971), long after troop withdrawls had begun, and I think most people had forgotten the war was still going on or, worse, they no longer cared.

I had gotten an early-out to go back to college and one of courses I took that first semester was Political Science. The Prof tasked us all with picking a subject of the day and commenting on it.

Naturally, since I had just come home from the war, I picked Vietnam. After I had presented my paper, the Prof threw it open to questions or comments. This is what I heard from the only person in the room who responded to my paper:

"Well...that's a dead issue."

It wasn't to me or to those who were still there, including my friends.

I've never forgotten that arrogant little bastard.

Unfortunately Stillkit, it was never a dead issue to us. I too went to college during that time, and I was not surprised by those that were teaching and what they had to say. I pretty well expected it. I even had one TA at Fairliegh-Dickenson University that in front of the class threw out one of my papers on Vietnam to the trash can saying that it was nothing but lies to justify my working as a pawn for the US Government.

There were immediate and angry words from me on his remarks, and I started to move to the front of the room.

Luckily, there were four other Namies in the Class, and when the collective roar went up from all five of us, the TA ran from the classroom claiming that we were going to kill him.

The next class there was a new TA teaching the course, and the rumor around campus was that the former TA was beat up by some military Fascists that didn't like his exercising his free speech rights. Although it was not true, they believed it on campus all the same!

Welcome home Skillkit! Those that will not stay quiet will eventually have their story told, and the truth will come out! Whether anyone will believe it is up to them!

I believe I said before that the only ones that we could talk to about what had really happened were othe Marines, and Soldiers, and Navy Corpsmen, if they could be found!

Maybe now, some 35 years later, they will finally listen to us!

Most respectfully,
Joe Carey

quote:

Originally posted by stillkit:
The most noteworthy thing about my coming home from Vietnam was how few were interested in hearing what I'd been through. This was late in the war (Aug, 1971), long after troop withdrawls had begun, and I think most people had forgotten the war was still going on or, worse, they no longer cared.

I had gotten an early-out to go back to college and one of courses I took that first semester was Political Science. The Prof tasked us all with picking a subject of the day and commenting on it.

Naturally, since I had just come home from the war, I picked Vietnam. After I had presented my paper, the Prof threw it open to questions or comments. This is what I heard from the only person in the room who responded to my paper:

"Well...that's a dead issue."

It wasn't to me or to those who were still there, including my friends.

I've never forgotten that arrogant little bastard.

That was pretty da*n crude of that punk...

Man, guys like that are just freaking NO-GO's. He obviously doesn't know what brotherhood meant.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe_Carey:

quote:

Originally posted by stillkit:
The most noteworthy thing about my coming home from Vietnam was how few were interested in hearing what I'd been through. This was late in the war (Aug, 1971), long after troop withdrawls had begun, and I think most people had forgotten the war was still going on or, worse, they no longer cared.

I had gotten an early-out to go back to college and one of courses I took that first semester was Political Science. The Prof tasked us all with picking a subject of the day and commenting on it.

Naturally, since I had just come home from the war, I picked Vietnam. After I had presented my paper, the Prof threw it open to questions or comments. This is what I heard from the only person in the room who responded to my paper:

"Well...that's a dead issue."

It wasn't to me or to those who were still there, including my friends.

I've never forgotten that arrogant little bastard.

Unfortunately Stillkit, it was never a dead issue to us. I too went to college during that time, and I was not surprised by those that were teaching and what they had to say. I pretty well expected it. I even had one TA at Fairliegh-Dickenson University that in front of the class threw out one of my papers on Vietnam to the trash can saying that it was nothing but lies to justify my working as a pawn for the US Government.

There were immediate and angry words from me on his remarks, and I started to move to the front of the room.

Luckily, there were four other Namies in the Class, and when the collective roar went up from all five of us, the TA ran from the classroom claiming that we were going to kill him.

The next class there was a new TA teaching the course, and the rumor around campus was that the former TA was beat up by some military Fascists that didn't like his exercising his free speech rights. Although it was not true, they believed it on campus all the same!

Welcome home Skillkit! Those that will not stay quiet will eventually have their story told, and the truth will come out! Whether anyone will believe it is up to them!

I believe I said before that the only ones that we could talk to about what had really happened were othe Marines, and Soldiers, and Navy Corpsmen, if they could be found!

Maybe now, some 35 years later, they will finally listen to us!

Most respectfully,
Joe Carey

Guys, this is exactly why we made these forums up.....this is for all the guys that have the right to be called Hero's. We want you guys to tell your stories and make friends with guys that have had similiar experiences. And, this will also give the younger generations a chance to know what the truth is.

God Bless....and thankyou for your service....

When I came home in 69 for some unknown reason I was authorized to travel in civilian clothes. When I landed in San Francisco I had to change back into unifirm to travel to New York. I arrived in San Franciso the day they landed on the moon. Nobody was paying much attention to anything else. Sat at a bar for awhile and went to change into my uniform and went back to same seat at the bar. You would have thought I had the plague. The people I was talking to and drinking with were now not the same friendy travelers I had been with earlier.

When I arrived in New York I was met with "Baby Killer", "War Monger" and all the usual unkind sayings of the day. It stopped when I finally found my wife and my 1 year old son who I had never held in my arms. I quess then I looked more human to the people around me.

The USCG had a very small group of volunteers in country serving on the 82' WPB's. As we came back and reported to our new units we were treated as heros. Most of the USCG units are small and pretty much a part of the community. No fences, guard shacks, etc. Not many people knew that we were in Viet Nam. We didn't have to deal with leaving a large installation everyday to face all the protestors at the main gate.

All of our fellow shipmates were anxious to hear about our experiances while in Nam. You didn't have to hold alot of your feelings in for fear of getting into a confrontation with some protester.

I had the oppturnity to attend the 25th Anniversary of the Viet Nam Wall with fellow members of the USCG Combat Veterans Assc. We honored our fallen shipmates who's names are on the wall. But, I think the most important part was the inner healing that all of us went through that weekend.
I had never seen the wall. I didn't know how I would react when seeing it. I found out I should not have waited this long.

"Welcome Home"

quote:

Originally posted by stillkit:
The most noteworthy thing about my coming home from Vietnam was how few were interested in hearing what I'd been through. This was late in the war (Aug, 1971), long after troop withdrawls had begun, and I think most people had forgotten the war was still going on or, worse, they no longer cared.

I had gotten an early-out to go back to college and one of courses I took that first semester was Political Science. The Prof tasked us all with picking a subject of the day and commenting on it.

Naturally, since I had just come home from the war, I picked Vietnam. After I had presented my paper, the Prof threw it open to questions or comments. This is what I heard from the only person in the room who responded to my paper:

"Well...that's a dead issue."

It wasn't to me or to those who were still there, including my friends.

I've never forgotten that arrogant little bastard.

Although I am not a war vet, welcome home brothers. Your sacrifices are greatly appreciated. Hoo-ah!

I came home on the day following the stand down at MACV,29 or 30 Mar, 73. We were scheduled to land at San Fran but diverted to Travis to evade demonstrators, not our wish. I guess we all must face the fact that VN was not popular with those who did not wish to visit that lovely AO. I have been fortunate to have had 2 or 3 individuals try bringing up the same garbage from the 60's, it still makes me feel warm and fuzzy to stifle the rhetoric by whatever means necessary.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GerryRM3,

quote:

Originally posted by sfcrvn:
I came home on the day following the stand down at MACV,29 or 30 Mar, 73. We were scheduled to land at San Fran but diverted to Travis to evade demonstrators, not our wish. I guess we all must face the fact that VN was not popular with those who did not wish to visit that lovely AO. I have been fortunate to have had 2 or 3 individuals try bringing up the same garbage from the 60's, it still makes me feel warm and fuzzy to stifle the rhetoric by whatever means necessary.

This forum is not P/CP so don't treat it as such. It's for memories of where you were and what you did.


As far as Vietnam, we were winning when I left!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GerryRM3,

Posted by: J. Carey

quote:

As far as Vietnam, we were winning when I left!

I agree with that.
I was never incountry, volunteered but never went. I do believe we continued to win on the battlefield and the military side was a success.
The polititions, peacenicks in the streets, along with the media threw it all away.

Keep your eyes wide open and watch history repeat itself.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GerryRM3,

Welcome Home, I Thank You for your military service and sacrafice. I apologize for the studpidity of too many of our own country men who disrespected you and mistreated you. I hurt in my heart upon the rememberances and disgrace to our military. I too was mistreated because my husband was a Marine, I worked on base and also with the Red Cross when Nam fell. I was hatefully refused housing while pregnant with my son who is now an FA/18 pilot. I never saw any honor bestowed upon our military until we went to a parade honoring our troops from Desert Storm. There was a contingency of Viet Nam Vets walking in this parade. EVERONE rose to their feet and applauded them as well as cheering for them! The look on these Vets faces is something I shall Never forget. Nor will I forget the tears I had. It brought back to mind all of those times people were terrible to us. Or when strangers screamed at me in my face at a family restaraunt because I had forgotten to remove my security clearance (from exhaustion of working my job and with the Red Cross) when the refugees first flew in 1975.

Kudos to each of you and God Bless you and yours mightily!

quote:

Originally posted by Coutaux:
Welcome Home, I Thank You for your military service and sacrafice. I apologize for the studpidity of too many of our own country men who disrespected you and mistreated you. I hurt in my heart upon the rememberances and disgrace to our military. I too was mistreated because my husband was a Marine, I worked on base and also with the Red Cross when Nam fell. I was hatefully refused housing while pregnant with my son who is now an FA/18 pilot. I never saw any honor bestowed upon our military until we went to a parade honoring our troops from Desert Storm. There was a contingency of Viet Nam Vets walking in this parade. EVERONE rose to their feet and applauded them as well as cheering for them! The look on these Vets faces is something I shall Never forget. Nor will I forget the tears I had. It brought back to mind all of those times people were terrible to us. Or when strangers screamed at me in my face at a family restaraunt because I had forgotten to remove my security clearance (from exhaustion of working my job and with the Red Cross) when the refugees first flew in 1975.

Kudos to each of you and God Bless you and yours mightily!

Thank you!

My wife spent 6 years as a U.S. Army Nurse. Part of that time was in West Germany.
She had the honor of treating and caring for a good number of troops wounded in Vietnam that were airlifted to her army hospital in West Germany.
This past spring when we visited D.C and the war memorials we happened to discover the statue of the Military Nurses not far from the Vietnam Wall.
God bless to all who served and those that took care of those who served and were wounded.

We came back in 1969 also at the height of protestings. We were thrilled to the thought of liberty but all Vietnam returnees were restricted to base. NO freaking liberty. They were afraid we would have gotten into trouble. It was just plain outrageous how these freaks demoralized our spirits...

quote:

Originally posted by ohana10:
We came back in 1969 also at the height of protestings. We were thrilled to the thought of liberty but all Vietnam returnees were restricted to base. NO freaking liberty. They were afraid we would have gotten into trouble. It was just plain outrageous how these freaks demoralized our spirits...

was this in Oki?? in'66 we were also told we couldn't got into town, only E5 and above could..we were pizzed, we're sitting and pounding down some beers, when someone? came in and told us that there was a way to go over the fence, we got to the spot, and sure enough guys were helping each other over...went into town, got shiet faced and laid, fugg the rules..

we never had problems in oki but in hawaii. The protest was high that year and NCO's were ordered to keep check of others. I guess in oki, the rules were more laxed than in the world? btw, remember those kamakazee cab drivers?