Re: Vintage Vietnam Pics
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Greg Langelius *</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I always view these sorts of images with highly mixed sentiments. I took the time to review them all, and it was, honestly, very hard to follow it through to the end.
I already know I'm gonna have to double up on one or two if my PTSD meds when I sack out tonight.
Most of these pictures are new to me, probably because of my reluctance to indulge myself in such images. Some of them were taken in my own vicinities at the time; and for all I know, I may even be in the background of one or two...
I Entered Country in late '66, and made it back home unscathed in time for Thanksgiving of 1967. I never got very far from being within sight of the DMZ. When March of 1968 arrived, I had already been a civilian for a little over a week. As a Draftee Marine, my 13 months in combat constituted the majority of my active duty.
Dead is dead; you either are, or the best thing to do is get on with life.
When I say I came home unscathed, I mean there were no new marks on my body.
Over the past 45 years, the Agent Orange has continually changed that. Two helpings of Lymphoma, with generous serving of Heart Disease for dessert.
The VA gives, and the VA takes away. So far they've managed to take away everything due to the Lymphoma; and they've been fighting me for six and a half years about the Heart Disease. That claim finally appears to have entered the endgame just this past week.
I suppose I could be bitter, if I could actually find some way for that to serve a useful purpose.
I have no regrets, and have managed to keep an open mind about our significance there. That is also a very hard thing to do, and sometimes I wonder why I actually try.
Of the collected images, it is the ones taken here at home that give me the most trouble.
I won't go into specifics, but I have probably received as much adversity from my fellow citizens as I had received from the Vietnamese. I am unswervingly proud of my comrades, and less so of many of my fellow citizens. To my mind, that's when my country came off its rails, and pretty much everything I see and dislike in my country today had its origins then and there.
I actually remember what this country was like before that war, and it's not like that very much at all anymore. That's pretty mostly not to its benefit. Some opinions may vary some from mine. That's fine by me.
I recognize that it's not sensible for me to demand that my country conform to my every desire. It's not satisfying to see it conform to so few. I realize I could be wrong about a lot of things, but it's another very hard thing to accept that this is one of them.
Greg</div></div>
Glad you made it back, Greg. Though I disagree with that war, I hold in high respect all my brothers and sisters who served and gave of themselves. Thank You.
Semper Fi, Marines.