Why couldnt this happen to Viet Vets?

[reeb]

Yep, I said I was done here, but this site is like a BAG OF LAYS POTATO CHIPS!!!

Why couldnt the Viet Vets get this response instead of being shi- upon ?????



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April 23, 2004

Fort Hood celebrates return of 4th ID

By T.A. Badger
Associated Press


FORT HOOD, Texas ? After a year in which they captured Saddam Hussein and lost 79 soldiers fighting in Iraq, the troops of the 4th Infantry Division finally are back home.
Fort Hood gave its 20,000 returning troops a hero?s welcome with a daylong party Thursday, a day after the last of them flew in from their yearlong tour in the Middle East.

Among the crowd that was expected reach 50,000 people were Gov. Rick Perry and Army Secretary Les Brownlee, who praised the troops for catching Saddam hiding in a spider hole.

?When the 4th nabbed the ace of spades, the people of Iraq knew that he would never terrorize them again,? Brownlee said, referring to Saddam?s place in the U.S. military-issued card deck of high-level Iraqis.

Several entertainers were scheduled to perform at the bash, including Jessica Simpson, Randy Travis, Ludacris, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Drew Carey and the New England Patriots cheerleaders. Texas ranchers donated about 30,000 barbecue sandwiches for the party.

Soldiers surrounded by children, wives, girlfriends and relatives milled about the parade grounds. Troops in desert camouflage rode the carousel and Ferris wheel with their toddlers at a small carnival set up for the party.

Monica Sanchez was holding her 3-month-old son, Matthew, and clinging to her husband, Pfc. Steven Sanchez, of Palmdale, Calif.

?I don?t know what I would have done if I lost him,? said Monica Sanchez, who married her husband days before he shipped out. ?It felt so long. I kept looking at my calendar and was counting the days. I?m thrilled to pieces. I?m on Cloud Nine. I have the two most important men of my life right now.?

Sanchez, whose son was decked out in a 4th Infantry Division one-piece suit and camouflage pants, said he is still adjusting to being back and to being a new father.

War also changed Sgt. John Almen of Apple Valley, Minn. A metal pipe he saw sticking out alongside the road near this central Texas post sent his mind back to patrols near Saddam?s hometown of Tikrit.

?I just locked onto that object until I got past it, and then remembered, ?Oh yeah, that?s not going to blow up,?? Almen said.

Readjusting to life since returning to United States in mid-March has been rocky for Almen, whose wife of 14 years left him while he was in Iraq. But he added that he has gained perspective.

?Nothing bothers me now. People yell at me and it doesn?t matter; they?re not shooting at me,? he said.

The last 275 soldiers of the division returned Wednesday to a cheering crowd of family and friends.

Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division, which was deployed in March 2003, have been returning to Fort Hood since mid-February. Another 20,000 troops from Fort Hood?s III Corps and 1st Cavalry Division were deployed to Iraq early this year.

Thursday?s celebration was closed to the general public due to security concerns, Army officials said. Fort Hood is home to about 44,000 military personnel.

We wasnt suppose to be in Nam, but we went, and we arent suppose to be Iraq , but we went, yet the Viet Vet aint shi- in shinolaa to a alot of people.

CLOSED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, AND YET OVER 50,000 came...

BTW, If any one knows, just how many Viet Vets Attended, cause I am really curious. Bet you can count them one one hand.

And JUST WHAT KIND OF SECURITY CONCERNS, when the damn media had it blasted all over the air waves. DUH , I would like to play poker with them.

enough...............

[melody1181]

reeb,
I wish i could give you a good answer....but there isn't.

Maybe the country learned its lesson? Don't know....

[reeb]

Melody,

NOW THAT MADE SENSE...........

From a fellow Texan

reeb............

[darrels joy]

Those who returned and their families will not stand for it.

NOBODY gets to spit on OUR children!

Darrel & Joy

[reeb]

Joy,

I didnt actually get the drift of your reply, but as long as I have known you on this site, it wasnt a put down to the post.

You know something Joy,?

Your signoff is really imprsssive, and it should be somewhere very approiate. Dont know wheather you made it up or not, but maybe it should be in the White House or Senate. It makes ALOT of sense to us lower commoners, and that I can say without hesitation.

enough.........

[sn-e3]

I think American has learned a vast lesson on how much the troops do. Agree or disagree with the war but the troops who fight any war deserve respect and a decent home coming.

[brass balls]

Sometimes, when I think of the times I come back from 'Nam.
I want to cry, we were spit upon, we were cursed, I never had people waiting there for me. I took a flight to Love Field (no DFW Back then), and a taxi home. Guess i thought a 1LT or CPT had lots of money. I think it is wonderful that hundreds of people are there, wives are there, Governor Big Hair is there. But, ... I wonder if the next President of the United States, wonders why he is not there ? ? ?

[colmurph]

Well Reeb,.......we got shit on.....it's history now so suck it up.
Just make sure we give this generation the pat on the back they deserve, and keep the scumbags from dissing them when they come home like they did to us. All we can do is try to make sure what happened to us doesn't happen to them.

I don't really know what else to do. I don't want the pat on the back now because it's too late for that but I sure dont want folks to give our troops a bad time when they come home.