Monday, May 26, 2014

Vet Mythology

Our American mythology: What we’re all getting wrong about veterans - Salon.com:

...That’s something that seemed to be really key, the losses that people are not willing to look at, and that seemed to echo something in “The Spitting Image,” that the people who really did shun the veterans were not the antiwar protest posters, who were happy to have them at the head of their marches; it was the “silent majority” that was most unwelcoming — they didn’t want to hear what you guys had to say about the war...
On my way home, I walked among the hippies and war protesters in Atlanta in my Class-A uniform and no one spit on me and no one said anything nasty to me-- in fact, several people said they were glad to see I had made it back in one piece. Contrast that to the reception in my home town, where I was "greeted" by and inspected by the police, advised by a government official to leave town, asked to show my arms by various job interviewers, advised by veterans groups that "that's a pissy little war you boys got," and it goes on from there.


And before anybody brings it up, let me remind you that Jane Fonda was a helluva lot closer to the action than Dick Cheney or George Bush ever were.


Memorial Day tends to engage my Ranter.

1 comment:

Faded said...

Great story. It's good to hear a real story about your homecoming instead of the these myths the get perpetuated over and over. Been a long while since I've visited your site. I am glad to see you are still at it.