On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 16:08:28 GMT, wrote:

that is crap. it has nothing to do with how they are treated when they "get home".

I disagree with this. I think if a country has the guts to send soldiers to
fight a war, it OWES them at the least a welcome home of some sort. The welcome
they got from Vietnam was a disgrace.

all this nonsense about how badly the Viet Nam veterans were treated is bushwa
distraction for the real problem which is that government did almost nothing to help
them deal with their drug addictions (started in Viet Nam) nor their post traumatic
stress syndrome... for which there is really no cure.

It might not be a cure, but treating veterans like pariahs probably doesn't help
them get any better, either.


The correlation is how much
horror they have seen or committed and how crazy they are going to be afterwards. And
medical and mental care for many is going to be a lifetime of support. something our
citizens seems to be unwilling to think about much less make sure it is going to be
there.
the gov'ments response to agent orange, gulf war syndrome etc is the fund a
commission to look into it and take enough time that most of the victims die before
getting help. it has started already for our kids coming home with parts missing or
dead... we are not allowed to even see images of the coffins. and the seriously
injured are already dropping thru the cracks and due to the extended tour many of
them have lost their jobs.
I dont know anybody who treated returning VN vets badly when they returned.

You mean other than ignoring them as if they didn't exist or hadn't been gone?

Maybe
there was a couple incidents, they made the news but it sure wasnt the norm or
average. Warm welcomes by strangers really isnt therapy for the horrors they have
seen and been thru. The real bad treatment was our gov'ment abdicating
responsibility for them after they returned home.

It's not just the government I hold responsible, but the government had a
responsibility there. As an example, our local reserve unit went to Iraq last
February. They left on an icy February morning around 5:30 in the morning, and
there were still a bunch of local people there to see them off. We brought food
and coffee, and gave them a send-off. In June they returned. Many local people
were there to see them return, in addition to their family members. We'll also
be having an official Welcome Back ceremony in a couple of weeks. I still think
whether anyone supports this war(or any war) is irrelevant. Showing support for
the soldiers isn't the same as supporting any war.
(The Watcher) wrote:
The emotional damage could be a lot less if this country treated them better
when they returned.


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