Vagrant Thought

In my seventy-three years on this planet I’ve met Spanish-American War veterans, World War I veterans, World War II vets, and Korean War vets. Now there are the Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans. And yet…I’ve rarely met a Vietnam War veteran.

I’ve run into a slew of ‘Nam veterans and legions of Vietnam veterans, but there seems to be an absolute dearth of folks who declare themselves to be Vietnam War veterans. I wonder why that should be.

Even the Vietnamese refer to that long, awful, grueling conflict as ‘The American War’, but we Americans seem to shy from the word.

Now, I know there appeared to be a lot of battling going on in the local 'hood' while I sojourned in the somber shadow of Nui Ba Den. There were tanks, artillery, choppers, jets, a wily and determined adversary - the whole nine yards. And, of course, the grunts.

Sure looked, smelled, sounded, and felt like an honest-to-God shooting war to me.

© T.P. Woodfork 11/20/2008