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Powerman 
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Corpus Christi, TX
Member since Jan 2004
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| Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:24 pm)
It seems like it's just common knowledge that people were "spit on" by crowds at protests when they returned home.
It's my understanding that it's actually fairly rare that this happened and the concept that this was common or to be expected is largely a fabrication.
Any Vietnam vets have any experiences they would like to share?
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LSUgusto
LSU Fan
Member since May 2005
15572 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:31 pm to Powerman)
Spit on? Probably rare.
But, I heard a guy's story of coming home and how excited he was after having fought and won at Hamburger Hill. He said he dressed in his military best and, with a chest full of medals puffed out, was filled with patriotism and honor when he got off the airplane at a California airport. But, he began to sense the stares, the whispers and the finger pointing. He sat in a crowded waiting area, and realized people were sitting on the floors rather than taking the open seats next to him. He said he felt his pride shrinking with every breath, and that he suddenly had never felt so alone. It wasn't until his he met his mother at his house that someone finally welcomed him home.
That's brutal, man. Spit was figurative at that point, don't you think?
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mograyback 
Missouri Fan
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Member since Jul 2011
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:36 pm to Powerman)
Well we've certainly made up for it by now.
Every military person get's their feet kissed non stop.
This post was edited on 11/24 at 10:37 pm
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RogerTheShrubber
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Juneau, AK
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:41 pm to mograyback)
quote:
Well we've certainly made up for it by now.
Every military person get's their feet kissed non stop.
Doesn't do much for the folks who were disrespected coming home.
There were protests when many of these guys came home and they were called baby killers, etc. I was a kid when a lot of these guys were coming home, and some of the protests were real.
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mograyback
Missouri Fan
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:46 pm to RogerTheShrubber)
quote:
here were protests when many of these guys came home and they were called baby killers
Is this not accurate?
The war was started by a false flag. No no.. don't argue. Its officially recognized that we fired first at Gulf of Tonkin. The lie that we told our people is the reason we we're allowed to go to war.
The war started on a false premise and a large amount of our soldiers represented our country very poorly. Of course people weren't going to receive them kindly, I'm glad.
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brmark70816
LSU Fan
Baton Rouge, La
Member since Feb 2011
1224 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:46 pm to Powerman)
I would think it's pretty rare to actually find real Vietnam vets, especially on a message board. The youngest would be in their late 50's and there aren't that many still alive (less than 850k total and that was over two years ago). Plus there are a ton of people that claim to have been Vietnam vets that weren't (4 out of 5 people lied about this, which is a staggering number). So you'd have to be suspicious if they are for real..
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RogerTheShrubber
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Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:49 pm to mograyback)
quote:
The war started on a false premise and a large amount of our soldiers represented our country very poorly. Of course people weren't going to receive them kindly, I'm glad.
Well that's stupid.
Most of the guys who went over there were drafted, sent over and never killed one person. Protest the ones who you know "represented the country poorly."
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Ponchy Tiger
LSU Fan
Ponchatoula
Member since Aug 2004
21129 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:52 pm to Powerman)
quote:
It's my understanding that it's actually fairly rare that this happened and the concept that this was common or to be expected is largely a fabrication.
From the Soldiers I have known the common theme was they experienced this in some other areas of the country but it was vertually unheard of in the south.
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RogerTheShrubber
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Juneau, AK
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:54 pm to Ponchy Tiger)
quote:
From the Soldiers I have known the common theme was they experienced this in some other areas of the country but it was vertually unheard of in the south.
This is what I have heard as well.
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Ponchy Tiger
LSU Fan
Ponchatoula
Member since Aug 2004
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:54 pm to mograyback)
quote:
The war started on a false premise and a large amount of our soldiers represented our country very poorly. Of course people weren't going to receive them kindly, I'm glad.
You never treat a soldier poorly, I would love to slap the frick out of you.
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mograyback
Missouri Fan
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Member since Jul 2011
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:54 pm to RogerTheShrubber)
quote:
Well that's stupid.
Most of the guys who went over there were drafted, sent over and never killed one person. Protest the ones who you know "represented the country poorly."
I'd like you to explain to me what being drafted has to do with it.. 
Rodger, are you serious? What do you want people to do, get classified military information and go to the individuals homes who acted poorly?
It's a team effort over there, not an individual one. Enough people acted badly to give the whole team a bad name.
So if we watched a football game, and 6 guys did very dirty things in a game, you'd call that a dirty team. That's a lot of dirty incidents in one game. Same holds true in this case.
Add into the mix that the war was started on a lie, and people aren't going to be too happy about it.
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Squid 
Vanderbilt Fan
Goodlettsville
Member since Sep 2006
679 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:55 pm to mograyback)
Don't base your opinions on movies like "Apocalypse Now" and "Platoon."
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mograyback
Missouri Fan
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:56 pm to Ponchy Tiger)
quote:
You never treat a soldier poorly, I would love to slap the frick out of you.
Easy Mr. Howdy fricking Doody
Did I treat a soldier badly?
Or did a make a truthful observation about why people treated them badly? Yeah that's what I thought, you no neck jarhead.
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RogerTheShrubber
LSU Fan
Juneau, AK
Member since Jan 2009
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| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:57 pm to mograyback)
quote:
I'd like you to explain to me what being drafted has to do with it..
Rodger, are you serious? What do you want people to do, get classified military information and go to the individuals homes who acted poorly?
It's a team effort over there, not an individual one. Enough people acted badly to give the whole team a bad name.
I'm convinced you are about 12 years old, or under treatment for some psychological condition.
WTF is wrong with you? No sane person could actually believe what you just put down.
Protest the government who sent them, not the poor saps who were drafted, sent away against their will.
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mograyback
Missouri Fan
Red Patoka Sea
Member since Jul 2011
5481 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:58 pm to Squid)
quote:
Don't base your opinions on movies like "Apocalypse Now" and "Platoon."
K, thanks. I knew without a doubt that comment was coming..
I actually based it on Full Metal Jacket, so are we good?
It's no secret we weren't very well behaved in Vietnam. Enough so that there was a strong perception created about our soldiers.
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Ponchy Tiger
LSU Fan
Ponchatoula
Member since Aug 2004
21129 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:59 pm to mograyback)
You stated that you were glad that our U.S. Soldiers were treated harshly on their return home.
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SpartyGator 
Florida Fan
Member since Oct 2011
12856 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 10:59 pm to Powerman)
My dad was in the navy (but didnt go directly to vietnam) but he does talk abut a story when visiting detroit's tiger stadium being honored before a game and some booing and lots of snickering towards he and his fellow servicemen that day.
I havent heard any "spit on" stories but they defintely werent treated quite nicely when coming back.
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Interception
Providence Fan
Member since Nov 2008
8565 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 11:00 pm to mograyback)
quote:
The war was started by a false flag. No no.. don't argue. Its officially recognized that we fired first at Gulf of Tonkin. The lie that we told our people is the reason we we're allowed to go to war.
The war started on a false premise and a large amount of our soldiers represented our country very poorly. Of course people weren't going to receive them kindly, I'm glad.
What's a large amount of our soldiers? We obviously have different sources on this topic so, please specify how many "soldiers represented our country very poorly" and what exactly do you believe they did?
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mograyback
Missouri Fan
Red Patoka Sea
Member since Jul 2011
5481 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 11:00 pm to RogerTheShrubber)
quote:
I'm convinced you are about 12 years old, or under treatment for some psychological condition.
WTF is wrong with you? No sane person could actually believe what you just put down.
Protest the government who sent them, not the poor saps who were drafted, sent away against their will.
I'm convinced you are a dumb shite.
You are clearly not following what I'm writing, you have zero reading comprehension ability.
I've only said why people (not me) protested against them back then, my God you are one dumb son of a bitch.
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Godfather1
LSU Fan
Home Sweet Home SE Louisiana
Member since Oct 2006
26213 posts
| re: Was the treatment of Vietnam soldiers returning home somewhat mythical? (Posted on 11/24/12 at 11:01 pm to mograyback)
quote:
The war started on a false premise and a large amount of our soldiers represented our country very poorly. Of course people weren't going to receive them kindly, I'm glad.
Wow. You're a dick. Seriously.
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