The disclaimer: In '73 I got spit on in my class A uniform at Logan Int'l Airport. I think I earned the right vent my sarcasm this forum. If too many of you find this too tasteless, I'll delete it at once.gfb former sp/5 Army
------------------------------------------------
Gee, other than that, Mrs Lincoln, How did you enjoy the play?
------------------------------------------------
The other day some youngster thanked me for my service and told me he really respected me. I wasn't too impressed. It made me feel old, like my WW2 era Dad must have felt in the '70s

I long for the respect I had in the late 70s and 80s back when we were all considered dangerous,Genuine deranged, drug addicted, deranged Vietnam Veterans. Even if we never WENT to Vietman.

What happened to my generation? Why,back then it was envisioned that one single deranged Veteran could go off and do twice the damage of 12 disgruntled postal workers in half the time!

These days I feel like The Boogeyman in a rest home....Once feared, now considered older and harmless.Where once we were feared, we now bounce grandbabys on our knees.

Oh, to be young and feared again!

On a far less sarcastic note......

About 6 weeks ago, a young Staff Sergeant of Marines that I know asked me where a guy could get a beer for a buck. I told him where you could get a draught for a buck and he told me to hop in with him.

He tossed a $2 bill on the bar and ordered a pair of draughts.

"I remember the Gunny telling me you'd been spit on during the Vietnam War, he said. "Today some little old lady handed me this $2 bill, thanked me for what I was doing and walked off before I could return it to her. I'd like to think she'd want you to have a part of it."

For the first time since 9/11 I blubbered like an infant.

piccolo, I didn't get spit on when I came home, but it did happen far too often. Maybe those hippies didn't bother me because we both wore bellbottoms! Anyway, welcome home Brother!!! Things sure have changed since the Gulf War. By the way, you're only as old as you feel. 39 one more time! Can't pass up Jack Benny.

Navvet,
Nah, I'm 50, dammit, and I'm enjoying every minute of it! This is the only time in my life I get to call older guys 'Pops' and younger guys 'Sonny'! (When I was your age...)

What I miss is the RESPECT we got. Twenty-five years ago, that kid would have never gotten NEAR me. His mom would have snatched him off the street and admonished him never talk to a deranged, drug addicted veteran, ever again!

(Sorry, my sarcasm ran off with me again.) roflmo

At least you got a reaction.  If it wasn't for the recent TV show MASH, most people under the age of 40 wouldn't remember Korea, but everybody remembers Vietnam.


So, you'd rather be feared and spit on than harmless?  I can understand that feeling in a way.z

Oops, I just checked, and the last episode was in 1983.  For some reason, I was thinking it was in 1993.  Time flies.z

I am 44 signed up in Jan 76 told that makes me a Vietnam Era Vet...........I'm just a Vet that remember not being allowed to wear my Uniform on Liberty, Being told to stay out of certain area of town because Coasties weren't welcome there....Being looked on as a dumb ass for volunteering to serve. Served for 10 yrs didn't get many medals or anything like that but I am still proud to have served and proud of any man or woman that does serve in any branch. Semper Paratus

I'm a little young to be posting here - but what can I say - I guess I'm nosey.

Anyway, scary thing is I have soldiers who were born AFTER the last episode of MASH. And yes, many arrive here IN KOREA knowing NOTHING about the war, or why we are still here!


Adam

I was with the 26th Marines in 67-68. we couldn,t shoot the gooks ,all we could do was throw rocks at them a holler out a bunch of profanites about their mothers, No respect. When i came home in Mar.68 Nobody would even look at me. I guess i was too spooky looking at the frisco airport. Had a moonie give me a dollor.      
            Ammo1015
        call sign Lease Breaker

Another thought:  One of our members was threatened with an attack of 'Instant Karma' form some liberal because he supported GWB.

Another member pointed out that when HE was a boy there WAS no instant Karma. Hell, microwave karma is only a product of the 80s!  Back in our day, we made our Karma from scratch!

Before I retired, a young soldier came up to me and asked, quite seriously*, if when I first came in the Army we had to take care of our own horses or if we had someone to do that for us.  I explained to him that we had people like him to shovel out the stables but that he wouldn't have been trusted to take care of the horses.

We then went for a "tour" of the post.  For the first three miles he was pretty cocky.  Then he realized that we hadn't turned around yet and I was still going.  

*(He was a pretty good smart-ass!)

Piccolo:

In line with your initial post about getting no respect nowadays.

During the DC area sniper shootings a month or so ago, some crackpot “expert” on TV suggested it might be a Vietnam vet.

Don’t know if you saw the thread, but one of our members responded something to the effect “yeah, that’s why he’s using a box van – to carry around his wheelchair and oxygen equipment”!!

Going from a bloodthirsty baby killer to a harmless old man is a pretty tough shock.

This past summer, at Camp Perry, one of the Marines there asked me why I chose Army instead of the Corps. I pointed at a Master Gunnery Sergeant and said,"Blame him!"

Master Guns asked what he did. I told him the following tale:

At Tun Tavern, I got there on Nov 10, but the recruiter saw my birthday was Nov 12, and he advised me that if an NCIC check brought out that I joined before I turned 18, I'd get booted out for fraudulant discharge. So I decided to hang out a couple of days.

'Ol Master guns, who was a PFC at the time because he got a buddy to enlist, didn't ship until the 12th, even though he signed up on the 10th. He spent the whole day of the 11th bending my ear with stories about what it was like in the Old Corps, and I decided I wasn't going to spend my whole hitch listening to that crap, so I caught a ride up I-95 to the Valley Forge exit and took a job taking care of Gen'l Washington's white horse, which wasn't really white.

Master Guns gave me a really dirty look, but everyone else was howling. As to be expected, he was a pretty good sport, and he got me back in spades a couple days later.

(George Washington's white horse was really light gray. Fact is, most colonial cabins had nothing but black and white TVs, so the horse LOOKED white on the 5 O'Clock news.)

Hey, I am a vietnam vet, infantry, had many horrible experiences. Wouldn't dream of letting anyone spit on me, or treat me like dirt, then  or now! Get over the past, we couldn't change it if we wanted to. Think about the present and the future. (possibly we can have an effect on them) Hold peace and love dear to your heart!!!!!!!                                  

The spit on part was just telling you I had a right to gripe.

I just miss having fearful mothers pull their kids out of my path. I miss having LEOs call for 4 backups when they stopped me for a burned out license plate light. I the fear I generated as a vet! Now I am nothing more that a man late in middle age.