DGM
Member
- Location
- Willow Spring NC
I just finished writing an article about my wife's passing and my blood is still boiling and I come upon this thread asking about the predicament of women in America. So, forgive me if this has already been mentioned, but I'd like to rant about the treatment of women. My wife was one many THOUSANDS of women who were in the Vietnam war/conflict/fiasco or whatever else you want to call that atrocity. She and her likes, many of them becoming sisters in arms, volunteered to go to Vietnam as Department of Defense civilians. My wife (before we met) became an admin assistant to the CG of Engineer Command at Long Binh for 18 months, 70-72.
In 1984 her back problems began. Over the years she had MUCH pain, four back surgeries, a neck surgery and a hip replacement. She also was a type2 diabetic and she succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. They used Agent Orange frequently where she lived and worked. If she had been in the military she would have been 100% disabled and I would have been getting $2500 per month for her care. No VA benefits for civilians or contractors. 32 sued and got nowhere. A Florida Congressman introduced a bill in 2016 and it too went nowhere. These women were one of the best kept secrets of that mess.
Had it not been for 35 "Defense Attache' Office, Saigon" personnel who died during Operation Babylift on April 4, 1975 (Google it) there would be absolutely NO mention of these women, none, nada, zip.
My wife had a reunion with a dozen of so of her Vietnam coworkers. Collectively they knew about twenty of the women killed in that crash.
And this crap still goes on. A friend, inspired by my wife, signed up and worked in Afghanistan just a few years ago.
Sorry for the rant
In 1984 her back problems began. Over the years she had MUCH pain, four back surgeries, a neck surgery and a hip replacement. She also was a type2 diabetic and she succumbed to Alzheimer's Disease. They used Agent Orange frequently where she lived and worked. If she had been in the military she would have been 100% disabled and I would have been getting $2500 per month for her care. No VA benefits for civilians or contractors. 32 sued and got nowhere. A Florida Congressman introduced a bill in 2016 and it too went nowhere. These women were one of the best kept secrets of that mess.
Had it not been for 35 "Defense Attache' Office, Saigon" personnel who died during Operation Babylift on April 4, 1975 (Google it) there would be absolutely NO mention of these women, none, nada, zip.
My wife had a reunion with a dozen of so of her Vietnam coworkers. Collectively they knew about twenty of the women killed in that crash.
And this crap still goes on. A friend, inspired by my wife, signed up and worked in Afghanistan just a few years ago.
Sorry for the rant