Editor's Note: I sense our Nation is moving away from focusing on Afghanistan, Africa, Iraq and other locations where are troops are in harms way. Would you like to be forgotten so far from home? Yes, this is an old one, but it still needs to be said. Thank You! It can be just that simple.
A guy gets time to think over here and I was thinking about all the
support we get from home. Sometimes it's overwhelming. We get care
packages at times faster than we can use them. There are boxes and boxes
of toiletries and snacks lining the center of every tent; the generosity
has been amazing. So, I was pondering the question: "Why do we have so
much support?"
In my opinion, it all came down to one thing: Vietnam Veterans. I think
we learned a lesson, as a nation, that no matter what, you have to
support the troops who are on the line, who are risking everything. We
treated them so poorly back then. When they returned was even worse. The
stories are nightmarish of what our returning warriors were subjected
to. It is a national scar, a blemish on our country, an embarrassment to
all of us.
After Vietnam , it had time to sink in. The guilt in our collective
consciousness grew. It shamed us. However, we learned from our mistake.
Somewhere during the late 1970's and on into the 80's, we realized that
we can't treat our warriors that way. So ... starting during the Gulf
War, when the first real opportunity arose to stand up and support the
troops, we did. We did it to support our friends and family going off to
war. But we also did it to right the wrongs from the Vietnam era. We
treat our troops of today like the heroes they were, and are,
acknowledge and celebrate their sacrifice, and rejoice at their
homecoming ... instead of spitting on them.
And that support continues today for those of us in Iraq . Our country
knows that it must support us and it does. The lesson was learned in
Vietnam and we are all better because of it.Everyone who has gone before
is a hero. They are celebrated in my heart. I think admirably of all
those who have gone before me. From those who fought to establish this
country in the late 1770's to those I serve with here in Iraq . They
have all sacrificed to ensure our freedom. But when I get back home, I'm
going to make it a personal mission to specifically thank every Vietnam
Vet I encounter for THEIR sacrifice. Because if nothing else good came
from that terrible war, one thing did. It was the lesson learned on how
we treat our warriors. We as a country learned from our mistake and now
we treat our warriors as heroes, as we should have all along. I am the
beneficiary of their sacrifice. Not only for the freedom they, like
veterans from other wars, ensured, but for how well our country now
treats my fellow Marines and I. We are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice.
Semper Fidelis,
Major Brian P. Bresnahan
United States Marine Corps
Stumble It!
