If
you have read the book Catch-22, the
Viet
Nam
war, at times seemed like the book. Things should not be like they were
there. Much of it was caused by politics at home, such as trying to build
a “Great Society” and fighting a war at the same time, without getting
the public engaged. The National Guard, as units, were not called up to
prevent a backlash from the public and the governors of the states. Combat
tours were limited to 12 months. Most of the troops in
Viet
Nam
never got their boots dirty. They lived in camps, with air conditioning,
PXs, swimming pools, and clubs to drink in. I was even lucky to have many
of those amenities in base camp. When I crossed the barbed wire in my
aircraft every morning tho, I became a target. I
could be in the middle of a fire fight along side the road to
Saigon
getting my aircraft shot up. And the next day be in an unarmed jeep going
down the same road to
Saigon
to visit the PX to look at stereo equipment. You could buy a case of beer
or Coke for $2.40. Hard alcohol was just as cheap. Drugs were available,
but being in aviation units, no one did drugs because they were flying and
were required to take random, frequent drug testing. I never saw drugs in
Viet
Nam
.
When we were with the ground troops in the field, we never saw any drug
use. Seeing some of the movies like PLATOON made me think that movie was
made on the moon.
We
flew to
Viet
Nam
in commercial leased Boeing 707s. Most of us came home that way too. In
February 1967, I flew to
San
Francisco
wearing my uniform. Then got on the military Charter at Travis AFB and
flew to
Viet
Nam
.
Returning in February 1968, we landed at Travis, and then was told to
change into civilian clothes, which I did, then flew to home. On my second
tour, I flew from
Tacoma
in civilian clothes, got to Travis, then put on a uniform. Upon return in
August 1971, we wore civilian clothes the whole way. Leaving Travis in
August 1971, the buses were assaulted by “anti-war” protesters. I did
not get spat on, but others did. Not a good welcome back.
Every
military person I know, that has been shot at is “anti-war”. It is not
an academic thought process to a person in the military. When someone
decides to use military power as an element of policy, then we know it
will be a military person that pays for that policy in blood. The
“anti-war” movement got fired up in the mid-60s and that was fine.
This is a free country. That movement turned bad in the early 1970’s
when it started attacks on the members of the
US
military. I will never forget that time. It was not till I worked for
three years in the
Midwest
in the early 1980s with Army reserve units did I change my mind about the
“American public” view of the military. Working in little Midwestern
towns then, when I went to breakfast in uniform, I could not pay for my
breakfast. Someone always from the restaurant paid for it. I am starting
to see a bad anti-soldier trend in the anti-war movement in the
IRAQ
war. Making personal attacks on members of the military because they
served, to most of us that served, is the most distressing part of the
“legacy of the American involvement in the
Viet
Nam
war” and no monument or parade, after the fact will make up for it. Jane
Fonda’s apology years later is not accepted nor wanted.
