A Thank You to all Vietnam Vets from a Marine in Iraq

A guy gets time to think over here and I was thinking about all the support we get from home. Sometimes it's overwhelming. We get care packages at times faster than we can use them.  There are boxes and boxes of toiletries and snacks lining the center of every tent; the generosity has been amazing. So, I was pondering the question: "Why do we have so much support?"

In my opinion, it all came down to one thing: Vietnam  Veterans. I think we learned a lesson, as a nation, that no  matter what, you have to support the troops who   are on the line, who are risking everything. We treated  them so poorly back  then. When they returned was  even worse. The stories are nightmarish of what our  returning warriors were subjected to. It is a national scar,  a blemish on our country, an embarrassment to all of us.

After Vietnam, it had time to sink in. The guilt in our  collective consciousness grew. It shamed us.  However,  we learned from our mistake.  Somewhere during the late  1970's and on into the 80's, we realized that we  can't treat our warriors that way. So ... starting during the Gulf War, when the first real opportunity arose to stand up and support the troops, we did. We did it to support our friends and family going off to war. But we also did it to right the wrongs from the Vietnam era. We treat our troops of today like the heroes they were, and are, acknowledge and celebrate their sacrifice, and rejoice at their homecoming ... instead of spitting on   them.

And that support continues today for those of us in Iraq. Our country knows that it must support us and it does. The lesson was learned in Vietnam and we are all better because of it.

Everyone who has gone before is a hero. They are celebrated  in my heart. I think admirably of all those who have gone  before me. From those who fought to establish this country  in the late 1770's to those I serve with  here  in Iraq. They have all sacrificed to ensure our freedom.  But when I get back home, I'm going to make it a personal mission to specifically thank every Vietnam Vet I encounter  for THEIR sacrifice. Because if nothing else good came from that terrible war, one thing did. It was the lesson learned on how we treat our warriors. We as a country learned from our mistake and now we treat our warriors as heroes, as we should have all along.  I am the beneficiary of their sacrifice. Not only for the freedom   they, like veterans from other wars, ensured, but for how well our country now treats my fellow Marines and I. We are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice.

Semper Fidelis,

Major Brian P. Bresnahan
United States Marine Corps


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