Vietnam Veterans Day

[Centaur]

Just saw that today is Nam Vets Day. Didn’t know we had one. Welcome Home, brothers!

[GeoBoy]

Yes, welcome home and thank you for your service.

[cooperhawk]

I wear the hat. In the old days it was to spit in the eye of folks that despised us, that seems to have gone away mostly.
Now I wear it so other VN Vets will see me and say hello. Of all the men and women who served in VN less that 30 per cent
are still alive according to the VA. If find that astonishing.

Welcome home brothers.

I served in country.

[Hatchdog]

A big heaping thank you for all who served, especially in VN. I appreciate it when I see vets wearing the hat and seeing bumper stickers on their cars. So happy for all that finally this country has some sense of acceptance for our VN vets.

Happy Vietnam Veterans Day to you.

[Ernie]

Thank you all for your service and welcome home.

[Luv the lever]

Thank all of you who served, mad respect to Viet Nam Veterans.

[dasmoeturhead]

Welcome home.

[brm4450]

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Welcome Home and thank you for your service

[Cofisher]

Thank you all.

[Nam Vet]

Didn't it realize it myself. Here is a belated WELCOME HOME to all my brother VETs.I shall lift a glass to all who never made
home. Fallen Brothers Never Forgotten.

[clovishound]

I wear the hat. In the old days it was to spit in the eye of folks that despised us, that seems to have gone away mostly.
Now I wear it so other VN Vets will see me and say hello. Of all the men and women who served in VN less that 30 per cent
are still alive according to the VA. If find that astonishing.

Welcome home brothers.

I served in country.

Well, do the math. The last troops left the country in 1975. That would make an 18 yr old, 65 years old today. Lots of the troops were older than that, and lots served there 10 years or more earlier. Average life expectancy of an American male is about 76 years old. Not surprising to me that a very large percentage are gone, just from the amount of time that has transpired, and demographics.

I just missed the Vietnam war. I enlisted in 76. I was in the Reserves during the first Gulf war. I was never activated, or deployed as such, but flew a lot of missions in support of it. Never saw any actual combat, but kept the beans and bullets coming to those who did. Unlike Vietnam, the attitude of the public towards the troops was 180 degrees out. Everyone was supportive. I caught a little of the nasty attitude when I served on active duty in the late 70s. By the 90s, it was a whole different ballgame.

I have a lot of respect for the fellows who saw combat.

[Sir Henry]

I wear the hat. In the old days it was to spit in the eye of folks that despised us, that seems to have gone away mostly.
Now I wear it so other VN Vets will see me and say hello. Of all the men and women who served in VN less that 30 per cent
are still alive according to the VA. If find that astonishing.

Welcome home brothers.

I served in country.

Well, do the math. The last troops left the country in 1975. That would make an 18 yr old, 65 years old today. Lots of the troops were older than that, and lots served there 10 years or more earlier. Average life expectancy of an American male is about 76 years old. Not surprising to me that a very large percentage are gone, just from the amount of time that has transpired, and demographics.

I just missed the Vietnam war. I enlisted in 76. I was in the Reserves during the first Gulf war. I was never activated, or deployed as such, but flew a lot of missions in support of it. Never saw any actual combat, but kept the beans and bullets coming to those who did. Unlike Vietnam, the attitude of the public towards the troops was 180 degrees out. Everyone was supportive. I caught a little of the nasty attitude when I served on active duty in the late 70s. By the 90s, it was a whole different ballgame.

I have a lot of respect for the fellows who saw combat.

The study these numbers are based on is flawed. They compared the number of Vietnam Veterans alive compared to Vietnam Era Veterans. During the conflict there were about 15 million in the Army that received a National Defense Metal but only about 4 million went to nam and received the Vietnam Service and Campaign Metals.

Welcome home brothers.

[clovishound]

It would be interesting to compare the average life span of a Vietnam combat vet with a similar group of the population in general, and non combat vets. Of course you should adjust for combat deaths and life altering combat injuries. It would not surprise me to find that combat vets had a shorter lifespan. For many, their experiences have life long mental consequences that can impact lifestyle choices.

[cooperhawk]

The study I saw was for in country vets and they said there were about three and half million, and of those over 70 per cent were gone. I was 24 when I went over in 65. One of the old guys. We had pilots and COs that of course were older, but my lieutenant was younger than me. He was a really good guy.
I saw quite a bit but I'm doing OK. I had a round of PTSD but I went to college on the GI Bill for five years studying Psychology and Business. I figured I'd try to understand the PTSD and then learn to live with it. That worked for me.
I've known quite a few guys that didn't deal with it very well. In fact two were cousins of mine. They're both gone. They were much younger than I.