We Were Soldiers Once and Young

[Tamaroa]

In one sense, I had an awful gut wrenching feeling when I watched the movie and in another, It really did not do much for me. allow me to address my first statement if you please. The director and actors did a phenominal job I thought in presenting the innocence of life in the 60's at the home front. I will admit to tears forming. It felt like I was 19 again and it all came back.

While i was fortunate enough to not go to Nam, I was also homeported in the NYC which had a tremendous military presence at the time as well as tons of liberal war demonstrators. It got so bad at one point that the White Hall Draft station was bombed and we were ordered not to wear our uniforms after a patrol. we had to find a place on ship to stow civilian clothes. Then later on I was transferred to a shore unit and I was a member of the District Honor Guard. The part in the movie where the deaths of the soldiers were announced by a cabbie is what got to me because as a member of the honor guard, I had to officiate at a few funerals of soldiers KIA. To this day, i wonder if the families of those KIA appreciated us being there. I sure hope they did. Those scenes and the general at home domestic scenes choked me all up.

Now my second comment is about the battle scenes, I have mixed feelings about them. In one respect, they were like any other war movie to me. The one thing that I did notice was that in the movie at least, the VC were portrayed in a fairly sympathetic light. I appreciated the touch to be honest with you. Look at our own Civil War, there was some of the most vicious fighting on earth and it all ended with a hand shake 4 years later. At any rate, the battle scenes were no different to me than Saving Private Ryan or Glory, the Longest day, you name it.

BUT, the battle scenes served to illustrate the bravery and the guts it took to fight a determined foe. I will never understand how the average grunt could do what they (you guys ) did. Personally, if I had gone over there I would have been the one killed in the first week. I'm a terrible shot and could not hit the side of a barn. So hats off to you the infantry. I have studied the Civil War for 45 years which are basically the ancestors of you guys. How they could march into a hail of lead and how you guys can go on a patrol or manoeuver in a battalion or regiment not knowing what will happen next, well I don't know what to say. You all deserve much better than what you have gotten over the years.

Thanks for your service grunts!!!

Bill

PS I bought the book, I always get more out of reading than I do out of watching a movie,

The Civil War...ended?Oh,I see you're from NY.My wife is from NY also and she tends to come up with the same sort of strange ideas.Don't tell anybody but most of the folks down this way know that we only fell back to regroup and that we are presently just waiting for the union to be lulled into a false sense of security.

As to the movie;my wife watched it then took it back before I knew she'd even gotten it.She said it was good but that I shouldn't watch it.Dispite her sometimes strange notions her judgement is usually pretty good on that kind of thing.

[PHO127]

But the only thing that was unfair about the VN war was that they played by the rules of Mao Tse Tung, Sun Tzu and Karl Marx. We played by Geneva and LBJ. They were there to win no matter what the cost. We were there no matter. I feel the same thing with this Iraq deal. I am not against making Saddam comply with Un resolutions but it seems to me to be after the fact. We should have done something when he failed to comply at first. Kind of like an umpire changing the call at the plate. If we are worried about NBC weapons then just go bomb the place, no warning no APPOLOGIES. In 1969 my weapon of choice was a Swedish "K" at <50 yards now it is B52s at 50,000 feet

[SEATJERKER]

...it..........

..still don't feel like I deserve to... God bore me to this earth three years two late to serve with my brothers, and the thought of seeing what I could not help with bothers me to this day...
... I did my part on the streets of this nation, and my five minutes then have lasted me a lifetime...
..scamp is right, i don't know how you all did survive the tour, as being "hightened" for a year, being the way i felt, and feel after hand to hand with life at stake can't measure up...
...maybe the Col. is right by saying I'm just emotionaly challanged now through all of it, but through the thick of it, I hold up, it's just the after that I don't...
...In all honestsy, kids in my age group didn't have much good news, or things to look forward to through the era... we went along our mundane way, and hoped for the best, but after years, and years of the war, it seemed like it was destiny for me to go, I actually hoped after all that time of watching all that my country had gone through that I would get my chance to serve, and make a difference,... wrong as it was to want it to go on, I wanted to win it single handed for all the others that had givin their all...
...I don't know when I'll see it,... if at all,... I've learned so much more then I want to know from all of you, and understand where you've been without being there my self, I know some of you can understand that... being in the direct line of fire can do special things to you that others will never understand no matter how hard they try...
...I die everynight in my nightmares, and no matter how hard I try, i haven't been able to shake the demon that tracks me, some/most of you have been in combat, some have witnessed severe sightings, and have been able to distance themselves through time, I don't know why I buried the thoughts of my experience for so long, but it made it worse not to live it out...
........just rambling as i have no other outlet...
...welcome home..............

[DMZ-LT]

Geeze, Curtis go see the movie - you deserve it. It's all a journey, pleased to meet you along the way. What Sid said.

[Packo]

often overlooked about combat is that after fighting an enormous battle, like the Ia Drang, after a couple days rest, sometimes, and some replacements, you gotta ruck up and go do it again. That, to me, is where the guts really come in. People get the feeling that after a big battle like that the guys get to come home.....you don't. You gotta stand up, hook up, check equipment, then stand in the door again. Like the guys who survived D-Day, they had to keep going until the war ended. You'd think they'd have given us all a break and said, "hey boys, you made it through that....lets get you the hell out of here. Instead you had to give the enemy another chance. Kinda like Russian Roulette only they keep adding rounds to the cylinder.

Am I making any sense or just rambling? I just remember after Carolyn thinking, "shit, I don't think I wanna do this again".


Packo

[blues clues]

and in some cases you never got out of the bush you just moved a few kicks away to get re-suppled and then all you did was ruck-up and keep on moving god we were so tired but all you could do is to put one foot in front of the other sorry about that.
razz

[SEATJERKER]

... for your understanding,... but I can't as of now, I don't know how I would react,...
...The issue for me still runs too deep, and it took me a long time before I could go to "The Wall" to stand beside the men that fell, and when I did, I turned around , and cursed the one's that let them all down...
...going to see the movie would only stir harsh memories of being that helpless boy, three years too young...
...I still feel that this Nation as much as I love it, "let you all down", from the leaders to the public, across the board, They failed, you men didn't...
...I'm just America's little brother, who had good intentions, and we all know thats what the road to hell is paved with...
...

[Andy]

Did I mention meeting Joe Galloway in Branson? Someone asked if it was as bad as the movie depicted. Joe said it was a lot worst.

When we saw it Annette cried a lot and I was numb. Best damn movie/book about Vietnam I've seen. It seemed that everything was there but the smell. Of course there was that one error with the mini-guns, but that's Hollywood.
The Taxi with the message from the Defence Department was true. When my best friend got killed his mother held it in her had till he was buried. Sorry about that.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[b3196]

Tamaroa
I was reading your post and you rejuvinated some old brain cells.
I was inducted through the center on Whitehall st. (May 1966). That had to have been the oldest nastiest center the army had.
To everyone else.This is my first time posting. Great site!!!