Things that offend veterans

Trade said:
Times have changed and these days it has become quite fashionable to be a Vietnam Veteran. Which brings me to another thing that I find offensive. About half the dudes claiming to be Vietnam Veterans never set foot in country.
Click to expand...
You got it. (y) Takes a combat vet less than a minute to figure out the fakes.
B-2-3 199th infantry here. (and a couple of months in the 25th infantry). 11B and I've paid a heavy price.
 

squatting dog said:
You got it. (y) Takes a combat vet less than a minute to figure out the fakes.
B-2-3 199th infantry here. (and a couple of months in the 25th infantry). 11B and I've paid a heavy price.
Click to expand...
I know they call that stolen valor. For so many years I would never even speak about Vietnam. When I finally learned to just own it, so that I didn't keep it hidden it was like a weight off my shoulders. My kids finally felt that they could ask me about it and I think it made our relationships stronger. Quit pushing it down, it isn't going anywhere may as well just get used to it being there. Fellow asked me once when I was there, my answer of Last Night caught him off guard. After a moment he smiled and said yeah I understand.
 
jujube said:
I'm not sure if it's still true, but non-citizens ( but with a green card) could serve in the armed forces. It was a "short-cut" to citizenship. I knew one person who did that; he served with my late husband.

In the early days of WWII, before the US entered the war, a lot of flyers served with the Canadian, British and Australian Air Forces. When the US entered, they were required to join the American armed forces.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure of details, but lately I've been reading about veterans who are being deported. It sucks. If someone is willing to serve our country, that should mean something!
 
Trade said:
Like I've said many times before I was an Air Force REMF. (Rear Echelon Mother$%&*&%)) so my time over there was kind of like a camping trip.
I have to say a part of me feels guilty for having taken the safe way of joining the Air Force. I did that after I got my notivce to report for induction from my darft board. So they had to do down to the next poor dude on their list to fill their quota for that month. I sometimes wonder what happened to him.

But it was the lack of respect from people after I got back that bothered me. The worst was the reception I got from the old WW2 vets when I walked into the local VFW. They didn't want anything to do with someone coming back from a war we lost.

And then there was getting turned down at job interview after job interview by non veterans. I begin to feel like I would have fared better in my job hunt if I had put that I had been in prison for those for 4 years on my resume instead of the Air Force. I finally got on with the Florida Department of Transportation because the guy that hired me was retired Navy and had done two tours in Nam as a Seabee.

Times have changed and these days it has become quite fashionable to be a Vietnam Veteran. Which brings me to another thing that I find offensive. About half the dudes claiming to be Vietnam Veterans never set foot in country.
Click to expand...

My brother served in Korea. Two friends lost sons in Vietnam. I feel ignorant and unqualified to offer my opinion. Are there any good books or films that could enlighten us?
 
Sunkist said:
I'm not sure of details, but lately I've been reading about veterans who are being deported. It sucks. If someone is willing to serve our country, that should mean something!
Click to expand...

Yes, it sucks. My thought is anyone who served honorably should not have to worry about deportation.

That said, This is not a new issue—it dates back decades, tied to immigration laws like the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), which made certain criminal convictions (even nonviolent or misdemeanor ones) grounds for deportation.
Many deportations stem from post-service issues like substance use, addiction, or minor offenses that trigger removal proceedings.
 
squatting dog said:
You got it. (y) Takes a combat vet less than a minute to figure out the fakes.
B-2-3 199th infantry here. (and a couple of months in the 25th infantry). 11B and I've paid a heavy price.
Click to expand...

AFSC 90250 Medical Service Specialist. 1970-May 1971 483rd USAF Hospital Can Rahn Bay, May 1971-Aug. 1971 366th USAF Dispensary DaNang.
 
Trade said:
Times have changed and these days it has become quite fashionable to be a Vietnam Veteran. Which brings me to another thing that I find offensive. About half the dudes claiming to be Vietnam Veterans never set foot in country.
Click to expand...
My ex-wife's Fn husband claims to be a VN vet, he must think that nobody owns a calculator and can figure out that he would have been 16 when he deployed to RVN.
 
Babs2u said:
My brother served in Korea. Two friends lost sons in Vietnam. I feel ignorant and unqualified to offer my opinion. Are there any good books or films that could enlighten us?
Click to expand...
When it was first published/released, my brother said "Nam," edited by Mark Baker, was the book to read. book.jpg
 
Sunkist said:
I'm not sure of details, but lately I've been reading about veterans who are being deported. It sucks. If someone is willing to serve our country, that should mean something!
Click to expand...

I think anyone that serves in the military and gets an honorable discharge should be granted citizenship.
 
I was too young to go to Vietnam. I graduated high school in 1979. I spoke to a lot of Officers in the Marines that had nothing good to say about it. One Marine Lt. told me it took him a month to figure out why he was there. He said, “I told my men, this is no war. This is a gorilla fight. Fix Bayonets.”

Does that sound familiar to anyone?
 
smiley said:
find it rather strange that non-citizens can apply and be drafted into the military?? seems weird
Click to expand...
When I was young, I was told that young American men within a certain age bracket who traveled to Australia and stayed for more than a very short period of time were being conscripted into the Australian army. I don't know how true that was.
 
Rider77 said:
She looked at me and said, "Oh yes I can see that in your eyes".

To this day many decades later I feel insulted by her comment.
Click to expand...
I hadn't even finished reading your entire post before I was put off by "I can see that in your eyes." It definitely seems more negative than positive and was insensitive. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and I sometimes pick up on some deep feelings that way, but I don't tell them.
 
I had a BIL who was exposed to Agent Orange in Nam. No one knew
until years later how his exposure would affect his children's mental development.
He wasn't told about it until 20 years after he came home when he one night, got up
and thinking he was still in Nam and his son was the enemy.
He was never the same after that and his health went downhill quickly.
So it's not just the coming home period. He was so funny, caring and loving before that
night as I knew him.
We just never know what, how or why, It's best not to chastise them by your assumptions of
what should be normal.
 
Fleshed out what may be the first verse of my next song. :unsure:

Verse 1 (Setting the scene—coming home broken)

Came home on a midnight plane, still hearing the choppers roar,
Ghosts in my duffel bag, couldn't leave 'em at the door.
I was lost in the wreckage, screams I hear still,
Carryin' Nam in my bones, chasin' ghosts up every hill.
Nights I woke up swinging at shadows on the wall,
Demons whispering lies, said I'd never walk tall.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top