My Hat
My lovely wife did a post about my hat and about veterans. It was kind of moving. She was right about me getting emotional whenever I hear taps or watch a ceremony honoring a fallen hero. She received a lot of comments on that post and every one of them was positive. To all of those commenter's...thank you. It was an honor.
There was a time. A very dark time when I couldn't even wear my uniform off base. The Air Force recommended that we change cloths before leaving the base. This was to protect us from the people we were protecting.
I have been spit on. Called baby killer. My car was vandalized. Some men in uniform were beaten and killed just because they wore a uniform.
It was a very sad and dark time in our history.
The men I served with. The men who volunteered to serve their country. They wore their uniform with pride. We didn't change into "civvies" when we left base. We left the base with our uniforms squared away. Looking sharp.
We weren't looking for accolades or brass bands. We were just proud to be part of the United States Military. To paraphrase Jack Nicolson in A Few Good Men..."A simple thank you would do nicely"
Now, 30 years later perfect strangers will walk up to me and say thank you.
I say again..."you're welcome, it was an honor"
There was a time. A very dark time when I couldn't even wear my uniform off base. The Air Force recommended that we change cloths before leaving the base. This was to protect us from the people we were protecting.
I have been spit on. Called baby killer. My car was vandalized. Some men in uniform were beaten and killed just because they wore a uniform.
It was a very sad and dark time in our history.
The men I served with. The men who volunteered to serve their country. They wore their uniform with pride. We didn't change into "civvies" when we left base. We left the base with our uniforms squared away. Looking sharp.
We weren't looking for accolades or brass bands. We were just proud to be part of the United States Military. To paraphrase Jack Nicolson in A Few Good Men..."A simple thank you would do nicely"
Now, 30 years later perfect strangers will walk up to me and say thank you.
I say again..."you're welcome, it was an honor"
posted by Rob | 10:45 PM
3 Comments:
It was a very shameful time in our history, the way our Viet Nam veterans were treated when they came home. Saddest of all is our own people were so busy mistreating all of you, they seemed to have forgotten how many men did NOT come home.
I share your pride when I'm with you and a stranger comes up to you and says thank you. xoxo
I'm visiting over from Barb's to see your post. I think it was just awful how vets were treated back then. I come from a line of military vets...my grandfather retired air force, my other grandfather was in the navy, my father retired air force, my husband is career air force, my brother was air force (and is going back in).
So even though Veteran's Day is over, I add my thanks for your service too.
You have told me lots of stories about when you were serving in the Air Force, but you never told me that things were so ugly back then! I guess I should have known, since I teach U.S. History, but that part isn't in the fifth grade textbook!
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