Had an interesting observation at the local Professional Rodeo last night.

[leanin_green]

Since I live in a very red state and region in So. Utah, a lot of the military was out in full uniform. I can remember being very proud of wearing my uniform home in 76' no matter what the times.

As I observed how the uniformed men interacted in the crowd, this is what I observed. There was a Navy enlisted in his blues, proudly displaying medals. It's always easier for the Navy when there is no naval battles to be fought. Unless you are a Corpsman, as I was, and serve with the Marines. The naval enlisted didn't seem to have a hard time being part of the goings on.

Soon, I began to stroll around the arena and noticed how some of the Army and Marine enlisted were interacting. Many weren't, they appeared almost apart and distant from everyone else, as if somehow strangers in their own country and hometown. I could tell that these were the ones who saw action and didn't know how to be around people anymore. There was one soldier, quite apart and by himself leaning over, elbows resting on a fence, looking out over the southern end of town. God, he seemed so sad. I wish I could say I went over to him and had a long profound conversation with him, but it only occurred to me to do so long after when he came back to my recollection. I felt regret for a missed opportunity. But now, when I think about it, what could I offer someone whose unit has definitely seen action when I have no experience of my own?

Here's the thing. The one thing I don't want to happen as a repeat of the Nam era. As we begin to rise up against this war, let's please not forget the ones who it really hurt. The innocent Iraqis and the mostly poor, uneducated and brainwashed men and women who were placed there to enact a flawed and illegal policy. They need to know that we honor them and welcome them back into the fold to help us fight the ones who caused this inestimable harm to their psyches, and emotional being. And if I see one more car magnet ribbon I think I'll scream. They should never become the enemy. It's always the gray-haired old ones who send them off to be either killed, maimed or scarred for life that is the enemy. I hope we never forget that. I won't as I hold the image of that young man in my mind and send peace and healing for the journey ahead. I hope I won't miss my next opportunity to be someone just to listen and extend compassion for what he/she may have experienced. There's been enough for them to go through without having to defend themselves at home too.

[babylonsister]

1. Great post and sentiments. Thanks. I have no gripe

with the soldiers at all; it's their leaders I loathe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Ah yes the RW has created his canard that the left hated the

troops.. I suspect that is purely reflection

As to that young troops who seem lost and strangers in their own land, they are... most of you (yes I have seen combat, tasted it, lived it... and thankfully not as long as any of those troops), it is an unnerving experience. The world slows down to a trickle as you try to do what you have to do. Every sound, smell and movement is magnified a thousand times fold... and time... just does not move.

Your training takes over, but your brain registers every thing you do... and at times you remember these things at the most inconvenient of times, such as sleep. When you are rudely awakened by those sounds.

The fourth of July, you go to the fireworks and enjoy them, for those who have seen combat them same fireworks can be hell on earth.. as your mind races looking for a place to take cover, and for those trained in the combat arms for the non existent weapon that should be there.

So yes you to a point have no idea, even though you served. Next tame approach them, don't ask, some they will talk on their own, and just buy them a cold one...

Oh and the big disclaimer of the day my combat experience did not come under this flag, but as a medic of the MRed Cross (no, not the ARC... I think this is obvious) during that other war... the war on drugs... but combat, as I have been reminded by other people who have been there, is the same.

Oh and on edit, if they decide to open you will do wel to mostly listen... and they will thank you, and they don't expect you to truly understand, but listen, and listen carefully... their truth can be very powerful and one that we as a country refuse to listen to, why they are strangers in this land

[leanin_green]

7. Thank you soooo much.

You know, I have been with a lot of Gunny's and staff-sargents during my hitch from 76-80. You could always tell the ones who saw combat, they always had respect for the corpsman and seemed to look at me with admiration. I always carried that with me whenever I was in training because I had a sense that a great deal of corpsman that went before me earned that respect for me.

There were quite a few times when I'd be in the Ville in Okinawa and after a few shots those same sargents would begin to share with me. It's an honor to be trusted with such personal information. It just bothers the hell out of me to see such young people no longer capable of sharing in the everyday enjoyments of the country they believe they are fighting for. I won't miss the next opportunity to just listen and offer a willingness to allow them into my little part of the country.

[maine_raptor]

3. leanin_green,

I lived through the Vietnam Era on the side of the protesters. Now you may have heard that many of us anti-war types despised the troops, spat upon them and called them names.

I can't say that NEVER happened, I don't know, I wasn't everywhere when the troops came home. But I do know this; during all those protests I attended, all those rallies, during all those days, one theme was parimount.....Bring the Troops Home!

A lot of us had brothers who got drafted, we knew they weren't baby-killers, just kids caught up in a web and sent off to a strange land to fight some other mother's son. We didn't want them there. We didn't want them doing what they were told to do in our names, we just wanted them home. To a lot of us in the anti-Vietnam movement those friends, brothers, and sons were just as much victims of that war any else.

Here we are 30 years after the end of that war. The Right likes to play up the myth of "spat upon returning troopers" because it feeds their political agenda and brings disrespect upon the proud American tradition of dissent.

We do not question their service, we question those who made them perform that service.

Then and Now.

S! (salute)

[rosesaylavee]

5. There is a brave guy in our local paper who has an open

invite to ANYONE who ever experienced the spitting, or saw it, or knows someone who did experience it to call him or write him and tell him where and when - so far, nothing. Not one person has a first hand experience to relate. He suggests that it may be an urban myth...

Anyone out there experience being spit upon during/after Viet Nam? Just curious.

[leanin_green]

8. That's exactly what I want to hear at this time, however. . .

I served right after Vietnam. I was part of a military that had lost its bearing and direction. Drug use was rampant(me included). You couldn't walk through a barracks without smelling marijuana. They had to let a lot of it slide. Hell, I can remember Captains being speed freaks. I know, I worked in the pharmacy(choice duty for a budding addict).

As for all the stories about how the soldiers were treated? I don't know for sure either. But I will tell you how it was for me and my shipmates in San Diego, Camp Pendleton and Camp Lejeune. By the time the Nam was over for good it was late '75 early '76. I know the mood of the country was sullen, angry and looking for someone to blame the whole mess on. We were easy targets. I was beaten up in San Diego and rolled by a group of kids downtown when I was out in my dress whites. If I remember correctly, there were a few shouts of encouragement from some of the by-standers. Things like, "Kick that fucker for me, and "Give em what he deserves." That sort of thing. That's not a friendly crowd and mentality toward the military. I was around for all of it, too. I was just a little too young to get involved and it was over by the time I was. But I was a young teen and remember hanging out in Palo Alto listening to the Dead outside one of the local cafes'. I watched all of you guys and believed in most of it. I still do. I haven't let go and I won't give in either.

But your attitude is exactly the kind I'm hoping to encourage. And because it comes from personal experience, it's that much stronger. Thanks, and spread it around.

[calimary]

4. Damn. You are so correct. They mustn't be stigmatized because they

fought here. I'm tired of those who said "well, they enlisted so they asked for this. They should have known to expect this." Most of the enlistees - enlisted in THE NATIONAL GUARD, and also the RESERVES. We can painfully see, with the Katrina coverage, what the National Guard is supposed to be doing for our country, and that's what those enlistees intended to do. With the Reserves, it was practice vigilance. But they're most not fulltime Army as I understand it. Neither of these groups, its my understanding, is set up to do the heavy lifting, warfare-wise. Isn't that the jurisdiction of the fulltime, hardcore Armed Forces? I mean, this is hardcore fighting, isn't it? Sure seems like it to me.

Both Private Lynch and "Pointy Girl" - Lynndie England - got into the service for the same reason: NOTHING awaited them back home. No jobs. No opportunity for advancement or enrichment (and not JUST monetary), no future.

Very lovely writing. Intense (and certainly widely shared) feelings, well-articulated.

Too bad it isn't fiction.

[seabeyond]

6. this fight is FOR those very soldiers. during election, i said

a vote for bush is turning your back on the soldiers

yes, i will always remember the soldiers. they are our brother, father sons.