68 Pontiac wrote:
Comrade Shampanyov wrote:
Personally, I think all that "vets were abused" crap is just that--- crap. So a bunch of wussy hippies had nothing better to do than sit around airports all the time harassing trained killers? And these trained killers always flew commercial airliners when they returned from their tour of duty? Uh-huh. 
A shame you feel that way. "Trained Killers", really goes to show your ignorance on the subject. Those in the military are normal people, that joined usually because they feel an obligation to the freedom they inherited.
You obviously have no idea the toll war takes on a human spirit, the harrasment Veitnam Vets received was unfair and unjust. I would explain more, but that probably would be a waste of my time.
JHC
You're reading things into it that I didn't say.
Are you disputing that boot camp trains civilians to become killers? Isn't that the whole point of boot camp? To take a civilian who's not used to following orders, training him to follow orders, to work as a team, to kill? My statement is based on what the returning vets had to say. I have no idea of what toll war takes? Perhaps not personally, but I have heard-- and read-- what the vets had to say. They went from being people who had qualms about killing to people who had no qualms about killing. They were trained to kill. They were trained to kill "gooks," specifically. Or do I "obviously have no idea" about the use of the word "gooks" as well? Ever hear of Faces of the Enemy?
After these soldiers were trained to kill-- and some, like the Special Forces, were better trained than others-- they were sent to Vietnam to-- guess what?-- kill. And they did kill. And then they returned home, and suddenly, they had to readjust everything-- to go from being trained killers back to being civilians who don't kill. And a lot of them couldn't emotionally handle that transition. You see them on the streets today-- they're called "Homeless."
Nothing new there-- the Navajo had special rituals after war to bring warriors back into society. We didn't. We just dumped them and moved on to the next war.
When I refer to the returning vets as "trained killers," I'm not making the moral judgment you're hearing. I'm stating a basic fact-- they were trained killers. They were drafted, or recruited, they were trained to kill, and they were sent to kill. A simple, basic fact. And when they returned, and stepped off those flights, they were still "trained killers." And I find it utterly laughable to think of some wussy hippie hanging around the airports hoping for a chance to harass a trained killer. I'm also finding it laughable to think that soldiers were shipped to Vietnam on military flights, but returned on commercial flights...But maybe, just maybe, they did fly commercial... It's still not credible to think that the poor widdle vets were abused by the mean old hippies... 
I guess that's the kind of analysis that occurs, however, when you get your history from Rambo. 