George Z. Bush wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

Yes, there is a point in pursuing it. I am demeaned by every dirty,
bearded, fatigue-jacketed, drug-addled wannabe who claims to be a
Vietnam vet and has become the stereotype of what happens to men who
experience war.

Well, that's where you're wrong. Every one of those dirty, bearded,
fatigue-jacketed, drug-addled Vietnam vets left this country as clean-cut
American kids. Many of them may well have been volunteers as well. We as a
society are responsible for failing to adequately equip them to cope with the
conditions we were going to throw them into. If they were weak-willed to start
with, they should have been weeded out and not sent there to be destroyed by the
experiences they were exposed to. You can't blame the victims for having become
victims. Who in his right mind would consciously choose to come back so badly
damaged if they could have handled it or otherwise avoided it?

I know some of the type being refered to here and I assure
you, they were pretty much screwed up *before* heading off to
Vietnam. Have no idea what the percentage were and certainly
the war messed up good people.

It's been said military service in general can either straighten
you out or really screw you up!

IIRC, the average age of the Vietnam grunt was quite young
compared to previous American wars; something like 20 or so for
the Army, as opposed to 24 or so during WWII and perhaps 26-28
for Civil War.

I'm probably off in absolute age values here but my point
is that the American Vietnam war soldier was youngish, and
that might contribute towards combat experience being a more
mind scrambling experience, if indeed Vietnam vets have minds
more scrambled than vets from other wars Americans have fought.

I might add that the treatment of at least some of these Vietnam
vets by their peers (the *important* people in their lives) was
not always as favorable as it ought to have been, especially in
comparison with WWII. Korean vets were largely forgotten about,
but Vietnam vets were "baby killers", to be shunned.


SMH