As Im writing this my students are watching, "TO HEAL A NATION" Every year I teach about the war. As long as I am in education no student of mine will leave my classroom without knowing not only about Vietnam but all the sacrafices our military has made for us. Any thoughts from any of you that i can share after the movie.

Bless all of you and welcome home.

Thank you!
Thank you for caring.

We were just a bunch of kids who had to grow up in a hurry. Some of us were drafted and some of us volunteered. But mostly we just did what we thought was our duty. Sometimes we didn't have a clue why we were doing what we were doing, we just followed orders. when our government sent us to Vietnam, we went. We didn't go hide in Canada. We went and did our duty.
For those of us out in the jungle, a hot shower was an unbelievable luxury. I had 2 showers the whole time I was there and they were both in cold water. most of the time we were wet, either from sweat or from the rain. Those who have not lived through a monsoon season in the jungle can not understand what it is like. Dry socks were highly prized. If we could get 4 hours sleep a night we were lucky.
But we did our duty to our country. And when we got home, we were treated like we were criminals or totally ignored. We didn't expect to be treated like heros-but a "Thank you for doing your duty" would have been nice.

So Thank You for caring.

A VIETNAM VETERANS PERSPECTIVE; "ASK NOT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR COUNTRY, ASK WHAT YOUR COUNTRY CAN DO FOR YOU"

Thanks both of you for your responses.

Hello Teach,
If you really want the students to know the truth ask them if they know why a soldier does what he does. After they give their answers tell them this.
For those who fought for it .
freedom has a flavor the protected shall never savor. We fought for those who could not fight for them self. Then ask them if they want to know more about war, ask them to get their leaders to tell them where all the MIA's and POW's are they swore to return to our home land.
Then teach them how a soldier can keep his /her head high knowing there was no real reason to die.
Swalli