Quote:
Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen
From a British perspective (for now, at least, a 'foreigner') we don't have the complex issue of Vietnam added to this. But nowadays, when each and every serviceman or woman serving in a Middle Eastern warzone is automatically awarded the epithet of "hero" by the press, I do kind of feel for the people who were called up and thrown into past conflicts, having basically been civilians all their lives.
If you join the service voluntarily as a job, then you join knowing what might lay ahead; it still takes a lot of courage for sure, which I don't have, but don't the conscripted 'vets' of the past deserve a special kind of respect?
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Well said.
In keeping with what you, August and others have said, Vets that have served, whether drafted or enlisted, answered the call and served and earned respect. It's not a gimme.
Sadly, a lot of the Vietnam Vets received no respect at all. They neither expected nor received the hero's welcome their fathers had received upon returning from WW2. Further, most in the Vietnam war didn't believe in fighting in it but did so because it was asked and expected of them. The treatment of those returning vets was reprehensible with regards to access to medical care and in general. PTSD was generally unknown then or ignored and those vets suffering from it were left to languish in deplorable conditions in poorly equipped vets hospitals.
Many vets, because of their experiences were left homeless upon their return or worse, took their own lives. I'm guessing the Korean war was little different.
With regards to what Platapus has said as a veteran, most vets quietly go about the business of their lives like that gentleman you met in Florida. I'm sure this gentleman who is a WW2 vet would rather forget the war and not think of those friends he lost. I have personally seen people walk past vets in a VA hospital without even saying hello. One particular gentleman named Jim was a vet with both legs amputated. People wouldn't even look at or acknowledge him. I thought, " what would it have cost them to say hello to this man or give him a few moments of their time" as you did in Florida with that elderly gentleman. I got to know Jim and many others during my visits to the VA and I'm richer for it. The men I met didn't feel any sense of entitlement that I could see and were always grateful for any little thing that you did for them. It goes without saying that they were certainly entitled to the best medical care for their respective conditions. In the military, it's called " keeping the faith "
War is an ugly thing and that's good. That's what makes it something to be avoided and only engaged in as a last resort.