Vietnam Veterans Day / DID YOU EVER GO CAMPING?

By 1LT Jerry Hughes US Army Vietnam Sep 69 -Sep 70

To this day, now 50 years later, I’m still astonished by how naïve the general public is about what one does in a 15-year infantry ground war. What young men and women must to go through to stay alive and keep their men alive while still accomplishing dangerous battle missions. Like post war when one of my neighbors asked, “Jerry, did you ever go camping?”

I’m also surprised about just how lasting the after-effects of serving in a war can change a normal American kid. Years ago, there was a scholarly documentary piece about how our lifelong personalities are fully developed by age 5. However, if a “truly emotional experience” comes along, one can change forever. Kind of like for those who lived through the depression, they spent the rest of their lives counting pennies. We American kids grew up in Vietnam.

With 2.5 million honorably serving in-country and 58,220 killed in action, I’m sure you know it was quite the 12 to 13-month tour. Most Vietnam Veterans speak little to the outside world (non-veterans) about what they did on a day to day basis. It’s not that we’re not proud of what we or our “brothers” did…it’s just – you wouldn’t understand, so why go there?

Personally, I am very proud of being an Airborne Infantry officer leading a platoon of 40 men in combat for one year. And yes, I mourn the loss of my own men and fellow high school and college classmates who died or were wounded serving their country. That’s a truly emotional experience that eternally changed this young lad.

What I can tell you is that some 90% + Vietnam Veterans say that even knowing what they know now, they would still go back and do it again. But we’d like to fight the war our way this time, and not the politician’s way.

Friday March 29, 2019 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Stop by our Key West Vietnam Memorial at Bayview Park at 11:00 a.m. and pay your respects. As combat journalist Joe Galloway in GOD’S OWN LUNATICS so eloquently stated, “Those who went before us are saying, we’re at peace and so should you be, and so should you be.”

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