Did We Learn Any Lessons from Vietnam?

I was a kid in the 60's and there was a lot of stuff going on that I just didn't understand... stuff like "free love," "free sex," "hippies," drugs, protests, campus riots, Vietnam... It was as far away from my "upper middle-class" life as Venus or Mars. But of all the things which I DIDN'T understand, the one thing which violated me the most and moved me to anger, resentment, shame, and tears was the disrespectful/abusive treatment of our Military Warriors (Heroes) who returned from Vietnam.

Even though I was not very politically astute, didn't really understand why we were fighting a battle in Vietnam, I figured there was a good reason why our government sent young people into harm's way and that it must have to do with helping to protect the innocent people in South Vietnam from the horrible aggressions of their Communist neighbors to the north in North Vietnam. Without really understanding it, I was proud of our Military Warriors (Heroes) who were willing to jeopardize the most precious part of themselves, their very lives, to protect the FREEDOM of innocent victims from abuse, enslavement, and death at the hands of Communists.

The political ideology of Communism was something I had been hearing almost from my earliest memory, and I just understood that it was BAD and that there were some of us on the GOOD side fo the ledger and some, not us, on the BAD side of the ledger. I understood from early childhood that Democracy was on the GOOD side and Communism was on the BAD side. That was about as basic as my understanding of politics was during those early years of my life.

When my parents watched the News, I also watched. I didn't understand why weird seeming-misfits were protesting the war and running around half-crazed on drugs and booze, dressed outragiously, carrying signs of huge disrespect against both my country and the Military Warriors (Heroes) who were sacrificing their lives in the name of FREEDOM in that part of the world so far away from where I lived, but I also knew that those very same "protesters" were also carrying signs extolling the virtues of "free sex" and legalizing drugs, and other moral issues which were in direct conflict with the value system I had learned from my parents from my earliest memory.

Not understanding the politics, I looked at the people and it seemed to me that the sign-holding protesters were on the BAD side of the ledger and the Military Warriors were on the GOOD side of the ledger. So, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the anger and aggression they showed toward our returning troops. I was ashamed and I felt personally hurt by it.

When I saw the disrespect and the abuse, which then appeared to be coming from what seemed like the "normal/average" public, and then the very same government which had sent them into harm's way in the first place, I felt compelled to find a way to do *something* to make up for the crimes against the troops who were fighting for my FREEDOM, too, and find some way to erase/neutralize the atrocities against them and give them the respect and gratitude they deserved... Somehow I felt compelled to represent all the criminals and crimes against them in some positive way that could make up for the unforgivable abuses against them... abuses which go on right up to today..

And I worry that with more unpopular wars in the Middle East, the returning troops will also suffer similar abuses as the public cannot vent their frustrations against the EVILDOERS who have brought about the circumstances of these awful wars. Instead, it's much easier to attack the Warriors then the EVILDOERS who were the causes of the wars.

As a Social Scientist, I look at these defective human responses and, in my frustration to do something, ANYTHING, to help and to understand, I wonder if these destructive traits fall into the same category of traits such as "greed" and "corruption" which have brought both our country and most of the rest of the "Free World" to its knees...

And I wonder if we began to see this tragic self-destruction during the "Vietnam Era" when Americans began to show their ugliest faces to the world... and if maybe that was the start of the deconstruction of our culture and the beginning of our losing ourselves and our beloved country. I think it's an inescapable fact that if you disrespect and abuse anything, you are laying the foundation for destroying it.

I wonder how the "hippies," who are now finally "grown-ups," view the current wars in the Middle-East... and I wonder if they feel the same way about the returning Heroes... and I wonder if they have even the slightest twinge of guilt for the part they played in abusing our troops and our country and it's citizens....

While it's in my heart to do so, I know that I can't make up for their crimes, but I can certainly point them out with my words to those who were not yet born and to those who have buried their heads in the sand....lest our ignorance allows us to support them through indifference... and allows us to repeat them....

I wonder if they learned anything when they grew up, or was this EVil trait in them part of the selfish, sociopathic exploitation of what they saw as an opportunity to drag someone else down to make themselves appear more powerful?

We Psychologists see this in human beings who are "losers" all the time.. They were "losers," no doubt... but they dragged the entire nation down with them and we still have not even come close to recovering.

Vietnam Vets are still homeless and suffering by the thousands. How can that even be possible that Heroes who fought for FREEDOM could be left in such a shameful condition? And what about those who are returning from unpopular wars today? There are no jobs for them, no appropriate services to support them, and already we see them becoming homeless.

When I was doing Housing Foreclosure Prevention Counseling for 3.5 years and I counseled any Military Warrior (Hero) in jeopardy of losing their home, I cried after my sessions.. But when I counseled Vietnam Vets in trouble, I could never contain myself to the end of the session and I cried during my sessions with them... and usually they cried with me, too.

Yes, I know... very unprofessional of me, but I was not a Counselor during those sessions.... I was a fellow American, proud of them and ashamed of what my country did to them, and is still doing. They willingly went into harm's way to sacrifice their lives for FREEDOM, if need be, and they were only still alive because of lots of skills—and lots of good luck. There, but for the "grace of God," they would have come home in a box. How could anyone who is human not see them as the HEROES they are and not treat them with the greatest of respect and honor due them for their valor?

If you were a "hippie" back in the 60's and carried protest signs and disrespected our brave, returning Vietnam Vets, you need to do something meaningful to help them.. It's never too late for GOOD!! Otherwise, you will die with this black mark on your conscience....

And now... what prompted this diatribe is an email which I just received and which I am going to post here. If it makes you feel guilty, there's still time for you to do SOMETHING which is GOOD.... Better late than never!!!

The betrayal of SEAL Team 6 is finally our very own military and government committing atrocities against our most elite Warriors and Heroes. First the public and now the Military itself and at the highest level of our government? It makes me question all of my belief system, my values, and whether or not I truly do have FREEDOM ... and if I am at all safe in my country...

And I am more than ever passionate about a "Quiet Revolution" fought by an "Army of Entrepreneurs," one "Cottage Industry" at a time.... so we can save ourselves, our neighbors, and our beloved country.

*****************************************************************

And now, the email I received:

You're a 19 year old kid.

You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam .

It's November 11, 1967.  LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away,
that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you'll never
see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But.. It doesn't seem real because no MedEvac
markings are on it.

Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

He's not MedEvac so it's not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he's flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He's coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at
a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!

Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient,Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho


May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a whole bunch   about Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods and the bickering of congress over Health Reform and Budget Deficits.

Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman

Shame on the American media !!!

Now...

YOU pass this along to YOUR friends, family, neighbors, and your mailing list — if you cherish your country and if you feel any gratitude for your FREEDOM.

Coach Judi ~*~

PS: I can feel this personally because when I was 19 years old, I was given 6 months to live so I also expected to die...and my being alive today is a miracle given me by a hero.

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