On Sat, 20 Dec 2003 0017 GMT, "Atlanta Ramfan"
wrote:

>Hey guys, just found the newsgroup after having waded about in
>the WWII newsgroup.
>
>I'm not a complete novice about the war, I volunteered and did
>my 4 years in the USAF starting in 1976, got to work on the
>first batch of F-15's to come out of St. Louis.
>
>My question to REAL Vietnam vets (not to someone wanting
>to give their anti-war views) is why it was so hard to get someone
>after they got back from war to tell me what they had been through,
>particularly when I was in high school 1972-5 and particularly before
>that, Junior HS 1970-2.

I don't think many of us were too into analysing what had happened for
one, and for the other, nobody would have understood it so why bother.
I think most of us here let a couple of decades go by before we even
started evaluating what had actually transpired.


>Now there's a plethora of films out there to watch, but it seems
>they all have some kind of spin to give, and there's few that just
>show a real story (maybe Full Metal Jacket, but even that seems
>overboard in places, particularly in basic - did any of you know
>of someone who went ballistic and killed their DI?)

No way, boot camp was very, very controlled but I liked the Movie. It
had a message, the next time you watch it, see if you can find it. It
is that once they did get through boot camp, it was almost always an
an E-4 and under who had to make the life and death decisions in the
field. There were a lot of exceptions, but the reality is, no matter
what the rank, the age group was appropriate for the message.

>Maybe you're already burned out on people like me, but I've got
>a friend who was in the Mogadishu thing, and he's had no problem
>letting me know what went down, even showed me the round he
>got hit with.
>
>Oh well, I'll shut up and hope some one responds, and thank you
>guys for putting your asses on the line for me.

Your welcome, and ask away, this newsgroup needs to get back to its
roots anyway IMO.

>Paul
>

"But now is the time for the younger men to lock in rough encounters,
time for me to yield to the pains of old age. But there was a day I shone among the champions."

Homer, The Illiad, 23.715-719 (800 BC). King Nestor of Pylos.