Full Version: Our Soldiers
My manager returned from a trip last night and a little while ago handed me a Sky Magazine he had taken from his Delta flight. In it was an article titled, “Dog Tags.” He told me he thought I might be interested in the article, that he was moved when he read it. I too was moved and went on-line to see if I could find the article. I did and here’s the link:
http://www.delta-sky.com/editorial/feature...man/default.htm
Here’s a snippet of the article:
As I read this particular story, something jumped out at me.
And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
http://www.delta-sky.com/editorial/feature...man/default.htm
Here’s a snippet of the article:
QUOTE
Charles Armitage, U.S. Marines
Charles Armitage’s hands trembled as he opened the envelope he knew would trigger a flood of memories. Sure enough, when the dog tag slid into his palm and he saw his name etched on its face, Armitage wept.
Now 53 and living in Houston, Armitage hadn’t seen that tag since March 21, 1969, the day he nearly died at a support base in northern Vietnam. Medics had cut the tag off his body in preparation for emergency surgery.
Armitage, a Marine corporal, had taken shrapnel in his chest when incoming mortars exploded around him. One fragment busted two ribs. Another shard pierced his lung and stopped half an inch from his heart. Blood filled one lung and nearly spilled into the other, “so I came pretty close to not making it back,” he says. The wounds earned him a Purple Heart.
Armitage forgot all about the dog tag the medics had removed. After returning home and getting engaged, he gave his other tag to his fiancée; they broke up, however, and he never got the tag back. So when Hansen called, claiming to have one of Armitage’s tags, he choked up; he became even more emotional when he opened Hansen’s package. “It was like a part of me had come home,” he recalls.
In the years since leaving Vietnam, Armitage had harbored bitter feelings about the war, not to mention the chilly reception that greeted many veterans when they came home.
“I lost a lot of good friends over there,” he says softly. “A lot of us lost our youth over there. And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
It took the return of his dog tag—some 33 years after he lost it—to soften his heart.
“I don’t know if [Hansen] was even born when the war took place,” Armitage says, “and here she is taking her time and spending her money to try and return these dog tags to Vietnam veterans. She doesn’t have to do that, but she is.
“So yeah, when I got my dog tag back, tears came to my eyes. It was just the emotion of, after all these years, knowing somebody does care.”
Charles Armitage’s hands trembled as he opened the envelope he knew would trigger a flood of memories. Sure enough, when the dog tag slid into his palm and he saw his name etched on its face, Armitage wept.
Now 53 and living in Houston, Armitage hadn’t seen that tag since March 21, 1969, the day he nearly died at a support base in northern Vietnam. Medics had cut the tag off his body in preparation for emergency surgery.
Armitage, a Marine corporal, had taken shrapnel in his chest when incoming mortars exploded around him. One fragment busted two ribs. Another shard pierced his lung and stopped half an inch from his heart. Blood filled one lung and nearly spilled into the other, “so I came pretty close to not making it back,” he says. The wounds earned him a Purple Heart.
Armitage forgot all about the dog tag the medics had removed. After returning home and getting engaged, he gave his other tag to his fiancée; they broke up, however, and he never got the tag back. So when Hansen called, claiming to have one of Armitage’s tags, he choked up; he became even more emotional when he opened Hansen’s package. “It was like a part of me had come home,” he recalls.
In the years since leaving Vietnam, Armitage had harbored bitter feelings about the war, not to mention the chilly reception that greeted many veterans when they came home.
“I lost a lot of good friends over there,” he says softly. “A lot of us lost our youth over there. And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
It took the return of his dog tag—some 33 years after he lost it—to soften his heart.
“I don’t know if [Hansen] was even born when the war took place,” Armitage says, “and here she is taking her time and spending her money to try and return these dog tags to Vietnam veterans. She doesn’t have to do that, but she is.
“So yeah, when I got my dog tag back, tears came to my eyes. It was just the emotion of, after all these years, knowing somebody does care.”
As I read this particular story, something jumped out at me.
And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
QUOTE(Beladonna @ Oct 31 2003, 03:09 PM)
http://www.delta-sky.com/editorial/feature...man/default.htm
And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
And then we came home, and we weren’t treated very good. That was hard.”
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
I think that there may be a minority of such a greeting because there are soldiers also who are fighting a just war in Afghanistan. But there is some sentiment of this war in Iraq and that the negatives will show in some people. But i don't think that soldiers will be rejected by Americans when they return home like in Vietnam.
QUOTE(Beladonna @ Oct 31 2003, 04:09 PM)
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
Not worried at all. I read and listen to a lot of dissent about Iraq and not a bit of it is directed at the troops. The anger and frustration is directed entirely at the "leadership" who sent those troops over there.
We just want them to come home alive.
QUOTE
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
I don't believe the soliders will be treated negatively. But what I really have sad feelings for is the dead soliders kin. They have lost someone very dear in life,because of an adminstration deceiving the american people.
QUOTE
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
Not to long ago there was a wonderful parade for the returning troops to Camp Pendleton here in Oceanside. Also at the downtown naval base.
I hope these men and women continue to be treated with respect they deserve.
There will always be a small--very small group of sick and hate-filled people who will blame soldiers for doing a dirty job they had no voice in choosing. That's what soldiers do and anyone so craven or stupid to spit on them deserves to be beaten within an inch of their sorry, worthless lives.
There's no doubt that a lot of guys coming back from Vietnam got the dirty end of the stick both from some civilians and their own government. Guys coming home from Korea felt they were ignored and the vets of the first Iraq war also faced yawning indifference.
I am afraid the same thing will happen to troops returning from Iraq, but I don't think there will be anything but a handful of nuts who actually direct any verbal scorn at a returning Marine.
And if someone foolishly does, I sure hope that Marine crams the offender's head up a very small and tight orifice.
There's no doubt that a lot of guys coming back from Vietnam got the dirty end of the stick both from some civilians and their own government. Guys coming home from Korea felt they were ignored and the vets of the first Iraq war also faced yawning indifference.
I am afraid the same thing will happen to troops returning from Iraq, but I don't think there will be anything but a handful of nuts who actually direct any verbal scorn at a returning Marine.
And if someone foolishly does, I sure hope that Marine crams the offender's head up a very small and tight orifice.
QUOTE(amf @ Oct 31 2003, 03:39 PM)
QUOTE(Beladonna @ Oct 31 2003, 04:09 PM)
Does anyone here worry that because a percentage of this country is against this war and very vocally so, that our soldiers may be met with another Vietnam homecoming?
Not worried at all. The anger and frustration is directed entirely at the "leadership" who sent those troops over there.
That's what the anger was directed at in Vietnam...and even the 1st Gulf War.
SoCaliente_1:
QUOTE
I hope these men and women continue to be treated with respect they deserve.
Agreed. Especially since some of the men and women in Iraq were in Afghanistan in 2001 & 2002. I know a friend who was in Afghanistan for 5 months and then came home, then was given orders to go to Iraq after being home for 6 months. She is currently stationed in Mosul.
nighttimer:
QUOTE
I am afraid the same thing will happen to troops returning from Iraq, but I don't think there will be anything but a handful of nuts who actually direct any verbal scorn at a returning Marine.
That'd be utter suicide
I went to a Social Distortion concert last night. Mike Ness (the lead singer) dedicated a song to 'our soldiers in Iraq'. He explained that he didn't exactly agree with the president or his policies, but 'those men and women deserve our respect, because they're risking their lives and dying to protect us, and it's because of them that we can be here tonight.' The audience went wild with applause.
I think the majority of people respect our soldiers, whether they agree with the war in Iraq or not.
I think the majority of people respect our soldiers, whether they agree with the war in Iraq or not.
QUOTE(Mrs. Pigpen @ Nov 3 2003, 01:01 PM)
I went to a Social Distortion concert last night. Mike Ness (the lead singer) dedicated a song to 'our soldiers in Iraq'. He explained that he didn't exactly agree with the president or his policies, but 'those men and women deserve our respect, because they're risking their lives and dying to protect us, and it's because of them that we can be here tonight.' The audience went wild with applause.
I think the majority of people respect our soldiers, whether they agree with the war in Iraq or not.
I think the majority of people respect our soldiers, whether they agree with the war in Iraq or not.
Amen. That guy has common sense. Too bad the Dixie Chicks don't have it.
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