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MillRatUSMC
04-13-03, 12:13 AM
On a rather chilly Saturday, I rode my mountain bike to Munster, Indiana.
To see a Vietnam Memorial that I had seen on a winter night.
It was lit at night but it was too cold then.
So with the warming of the weather.
I decided that Saturday would be a good time.
Armed with a ditial camera and a 35mm camera I rode off.
When I got there it was under renew construction they're adding some paths to several sites that make up this memorial.
There's a huey helicopter and a 105 arty cannon.
The huey sits next to a republica of a Vietnamese house front.
It rained and snow here recently so the huey was sitting with water alll round.
To the mind eye of this old nam vet.
It almost gave a flash back.
I was the only one there so I wander alround this memorial.
Only the American flag was flying and the laynard was beating a sound of it's on.
There's a mural type of a woman waiting.
Another site was all covered up, so I don't know what that site will be.
I took pictures from different angles will await the results of the 35mm because I'm not at all pleased with the ditial pictures.
I than decided to return home.
It was a great day.
I've been think about nam because many might return with some of the same baggage from Iraq as many returned from Vietnam.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

MillRatUSMC
04-13-03, 12:25 AM
Some thoughts taken from my military history in Vietnam.

http://members5.boardhost.com/MillRatUSMC/msg/98.html
Taken from my military history in Vietnam.

After awhile we learn that life was too short and death came very quick.
You could be here today in the next few hours you could be gone!
So you did not get too tight with anyone to avoid heartache.
We all had fear, but you had to function, in spite of the fear.
If you did not have fear either you were dead or insane!
Wars are all the same, death does not care who he take.
Young, or old.
In war,death is seldom pretty, in fact it is quite nasty.
My opinion of the war change, after we started to lose men to mines and endless stupid operations.
Where all we did was walk around in the sun.
Then when we lost the M-14, it started to sink in that we were just there so some sorry butt holes back home could make some money.
All we were doing was dying.
So all you did was try to survive as best you could.
You did not take too many chances.
On clearing air space on our departure from Vietnam;
All hell broke loose, because we knew we were never going to come back to that hellhole.
The Vietnamese knew that our bodies were leaving but our minds would always be there.
I had started to drink to excess so I could go to sleep.
I started to fight and argue with those that did not understand what we had done or seen.
There was really no one that I could speak to about my experiences in Vietnam.
So I drank to forget.
Effects;
Good and Bad?
That would be hard to answer.
We cherish everything that we now have.
I think would be a good effect.
From when we had very little.
Re-acting to loud noises and the smell of fireworks.
Because they make me thinking of the night that young Lance Corporal died.
I had to call a medevac to take his body out
and we started to receive incoming fire.
I answered with mortars and machine gun fire that got me in trouble.
Productive time since Vietnam?
You try to live your life as best you can.
Because you have seen the worst.
So all now is gravy!
A few words from me to you.
All that was written years past.
On reading them now.
Reminds me that I served with many outstanding young men
that did what they were asked to do.
Many came back with their physical and mental state forever changed by their service in Vietnam.
They seek no monetary or personal rewards,
but a few words of thanks from kin and folk.
That we did not receive when we came home.
I only ask a favor of you...
take a moment of every week or month
to REMEMBER those that are listed
as Prisoner Of War/Missing In Action,
Killed In Action and Wounded In Action
From a time that many of us cannot ever break out from.
Our minds are still back in Vietnam.
These memories were answers to some questions a friend gave me to answer when I was being treated for my PTSD...
Would I do things different knowing the outcome of my service?
I don't believe I would...would I caution any of the hazards of serving...than we would have none served and we would lose the Nation...sacrifice comes in many shapes and forms...
I placed these here to show you what many endured
for I'm only a copy of many that served in Vietnam...regardless of where you served...your mental state was forever changed...

Some of this might relate to the military in Iraq.
Because wars have a way of altering the mind and character of those serving.
Some might come back with survivor guilt.
Others might have nightmares because they cause the deaths of women and young children in Iraq.
Some might come away with the smell of fire works recalling to the minds the events of given days.
In the war in Iraq, snipers were more danger than mines or booby traps.
One thing that might help offset all this.
Will be the return of whole units instead of an individual by him or herself.
May God bless all those serving in Iraq.

Semper Fidelis
Ricardo

firstsgtmike
04-13-03, 03:51 AM
AMEN.