To be17...

[SEATJERKER]

...again...

..When thoughts of innocence prevailed, courting meant falling in love, not lust,...

... respect was knowing if you didn't say please, and thank you, or excuse me, you got a swift kick in the ass, and you didn't have to wonder why you recieved it...

...truth, honor, and duty were regular mainstays of your decorum, you opened doors for a lady because you wanted to, as if she was your mother...

...you dreamed of driving country roads with your sweetheart beside you looking for a place to park, a home run was something Mickey Mantle hit...

...racism was friday night with open headers...

..."Houston, we have liftoff",... in 68 the moon was still green cheese, and Vietnam was a far away land that we were "helping out",...

...In 68, I was ten, and should have been 19...

..."welcome home", you were the big brothers, the uncles, the cousins, the Fathers, sons, and daughters that carried the load of the world, you fought, you were wounded, and died,... those that lived are still dying, ...

...There will never be another Vietnam, 10,000 days ,and nights for a Nation, 10,000 days, and nights, one second at a time for those that were there forever....

...no words that I shall ever pen shall compare to the one word ,... "incoming"...

...nothing was so painfull as David Brinkley, or Walter Cronkite listing out WIA/KIA as a running tabulation...

..." FIGMO,...

...O great freedom bird, bring them all home as their time in Hell is done, console thy mothers spirit, and return them their grace, and Honor...

...Amen...

...

[Sgt_Tropo]

Dang it, SJ, you sure know how to "fire for effect" !! My daughter was born in '68, just a couple of days after the Lunar landing. I turned 20 in '68 and recieved my "greetings" letter. I found out just how "real" the Vietnam conflict was soon enough. I could have fought for a draft excemption, but I'm one of those who honestly felt (and still do) that I owed an obligation to my country for the blessings and freedoms we all enjoy. I enlisted rather than waiting to be drafted and was able to get some advanced electronics training which was the basis for my whole life's career.
I was one of the "old-timers" in my basic training unit and every unit assigned to after that. I may have been older, but like everyone else, I lost my innocence in the Central Highlands of 'Nam.

Welcome home all my Brothers, but never forget.