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 My son is asking about my military time (currently 1 views) |
| Frenchie |
| Posted on: December 10th, 2013, 5:43am |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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Better late than never(?)...my son is 36yrs young (cant believe he is that OLD) and i noticed in the last few months he has been inquiring about my army time....the topic rarely came up and i tried hard (not always successful) not to bring it up in the past because he never showed ANY interest.
Basically i talk about my time in the field, daily activities..a few firefight we had and he seems to be seriously listening...i like it....i can tell he is interested because he will ask me questions.
In the past he could have cared less ...
Anyone else have the same experience? |
Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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| Jim Gray |
| Posted on: December 11th, 2013, 9:56am |
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Big Member Sept 67-Sept 68 D 3/21 and HHC
Posts: 87
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Frenchie. I have 2 sons 39 and 41. I have a grandson 13 who is gung ho Army. He is the one asking questions.
A few years ago i bought the book Through the Valley. It was about my ground pounder unit D 3/21 during my time in Nam. I was only in the field until about Dec 28 1967. I let him read the book and it really opened his eyes. I will answer his questions but i do not really discuss the encounters we had.
My sons and i have discussed some things in the past. I try to stay on the "good" stuff. Telling them about some of the better times we had.
The real problem is we are getting older and more forgetful. Ha Ha |
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Reply: 1 - 46 |
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| Gregory B Peters |
| Posted on: December 14th, 2013, 4:31pm |
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Maximum Member2 B company, 3/21/196th, incountry 07/1966-07/1967
Posts: 173
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| Frenchie, my Kids are closer to 50, so from the end of Vietnam to the beginning of Desert Storm there wasn't the media blitz that we see now. I don't ever remember them asking about my time. They were aware of my service and went with me to the Legion Club and VFWs ceremonies, not to mention Military funerals. Their closest uncles also served, but no discussion with them either. Nor did we brothers discuss it amongst ourselves. But I don't remember any flat out questions or discussions from them, then or now. Some of it is my fault, When I got out of the service I walked away from it all. No wearing army jackets or boonie hats, nothing on my walls. It just wasn't a good time to be a Vet. Grandkids are different, a little, age 16-26. The three old enough to join the military have had no inclination to do so. While my Nephew at least joined the reserves to get the free education. He is now full time reserves. But he was raised in the military since his dad was a lifer. While they have dragged me to every "bring an old fat deaf veteran to school day" there are no other discussion even during popular war movies of the last 10 years. At the school events I would talk more about my time in the states, not overseas. |
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Reply: 2 - 46 |
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| Frenchie |
| Posted on: December 14th, 2013, 5:10pm |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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Greg, apparently there must be a lot, of you describe, going on...i cant help but wonder why they didnt ask...maybe to protect you? i kinda am befuddled by the whole thing....mom and dad had a big BBQ when i got back and maybe one or two asked questions of me.
. I accepted it and moved on......this was before we knew of flashbacks etc...
I too didnt talk about it much for a few years then IF someone asked me about it, it came out of me and I would not stop talking....i guess i needed to talk of my experiences as a release....it didnt happen on a daily basis, it happened rarely when someone would inquire.
Hopefully im making some kind of sense here.
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Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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Reply: 3 - 46 |
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| Gregory B Peters |
| Posted on: December 15th, 2013, 6:11pm |
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Maximum Member2 B company, 3/21/196th, incountry 07/1966-07/1967
Posts: 173
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| Frenchie, you're making perfect sense :-) We all had to learn how to deal with it ourselves. Besides, unless they were there who the hell would believe us? there was no way they could relate, We would either scare the shit out of them or they would walk away thinking we were full of bull shit. After all we killed babies, massacred civilians, were all drug addicts, and lost the war because of it. One of the first exploitation movies to come out was the Billy Jack series starting with Born Loser in 67. By 68 I was back in college out in the midwest and there just wasn't a lot of Vietnam Veterans. This was WWII country :-) |
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Reply: 4 - 46 |
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| Fletchw2zero |
| Posted on: January 5th, 2014, 8:55pm |
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Posts: 175
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Funny.. "bring an old fat deaf vet to school day" That cracks me up. Yeah, the twisted mind is still working after a fashion.
My kids have never specifically asked. I haven't exactly been forthcoming about any of it either. Pretty much a mine field between us on that subject in the past, mostly on my part. They just knew not to step there.
My daughter only knew me as that picture over there on the end table when I got back..... One day recently, she was tagging along on a walk with the wife and I and her boyfriend was relating some of his father's experience in VN. Apparently he was armor down south. Anyway, he wasn't quite getting the gist of what my job was in the infantry. Not sure he is very close with his pop. She finally got a little cranky and said "Dad's job was shooting people". I guess he watched enough of the latest wars coverage where the newsies are mostly with vehicle infantry and didn't realize that we were on foot just about all the time. Apparently, she absorbed some of what I was doing. Surprising because I mostly talk about the relatively good jobs I had there and don't relate the horror stories.
I can hardly wait until I get really old and my exploits become truly heroic and ever changing. |
Fletch
Co B 4/31 May through November 69
C Btry 1/82 Arty Nov 69 thru April-ish 70 radio handle whiskey two zero
Craig Fletcher |
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Reply: 5 - 46 |
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| Bob Kotch |
| Posted on: January 6th, 2014, 5:46pm |
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Posts: 187
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| Fletch, great to hear from you again. I don't have any kids, but I worked with some people for over 25 years who never knew that I was in the military, yet alone a VN Vet. It was never discussed. We had very few vets where I worked and we knew who we were, and, even we rarely talked about our time in Nam. It took over 30 years before I began to open up and that was and still is mostly with other vets. People who weren't there can't relate and probably don't care. Their perception of the VN Vet probably hasn't changed any, either. I still believe we do not receive the same level of respect that the vets of wars before us and the campaigns after us do. And, they deserve it, but so do we. |
HHC, MP Plt. 9-67 through 9-68 |
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Reply: 6 - 46 |
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| Fletchw2zero |
| Posted on: January 6th, 2014, 7:25pm |
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Posts: 175
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I have been able to start talking about the camping trip the last couple of years to people who are genuinely interested.
However, part of the reluctance I had was due to my own ignorance of the history surrounding the war. Opinions being like assholes and we have one of one and many others to spare... I have done a lot of reading and buying books that deal with history of VN, history of the war and recently a late sixties book that really dug into the post WW2 intel in VN. It was heavily documented and completely ignored at the time. It helped with a lot of the questions of our involvement and who the factions were in the war as it developed before we got more directly involved. |
Fletch
Co B 4/31 May through November 69
C Btry 1/82 Arty Nov 69 thru April-ish 70 radio handle whiskey two zero
Craig Fletcher |
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Reply: 7 - 46 |
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| Bob Kotch |
| Posted on: January 7th, 2014, 6:47pm |
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Posts: 187
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| You are right about opinions and about the history of VN and the war, both with the French and then us. It was all ignored by the media back then and we knew nothing about it. I sure didn't know any thing about it. Those people were at war for more than 20 continuous years with France and us. In VN today, the war with us is called the American war. I've read a few books over the last 6 or 7 years about the history of VN and the war. What's the name of the book you refer to? I would like to see if I can find it. |
HHC, MP Plt. 9-67 through 9-68 |
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Reply: 8 - 46 |
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| Fletchw2zero |
| Posted on: January 7th, 2014, 11:06pm |
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Posts: 175
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The United States In Vietnam. An analysis in depth of the history of America's involvement in Vietnam. By George McTurnan Kahin & John W. Lewis. Copyright 1967. 66-21593
It has some very interesting info regarding the fustercluck that described the political situation there. |
Fletch
Co B 4/31 May through November 69
C Btry 1/82 Arty Nov 69 thru April-ish 70 radio handle whiskey two zero
Craig Fletcher |
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Reply: 9 - 46 |
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| Bob Kotch |
| Posted on: January 9th, 2014, 5:48pm |
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Posts: 187
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| Thanks Fletch. Knowing the history of our early involvement and the political situation over there before we were boots on the ground should put things in better perspective. Thanks again for the info. |
HHC, MP Plt. 9-67 through 9-68 |
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Reply: 10 - 46 |
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| Frenchie |
| Posted on: January 9th, 2014, 6:02pm |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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A movie very much ignored but entertaining as well as informative is a Burt Lancaster movie called GO THELL THE SPARTANS
i am aware its just a movie but it will give you an idea how it snowballed into the mess we were in. |
Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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Reply: 11 - 46 |
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| Gregory B Peters |
| Posted on: January 10th, 2014, 6:23pm |
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Maximum Member2 B company, 3/21/196th, incountry 07/1966-07/1967
Posts: 173
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shoot! history repeats itself, especially our involvement in any war. You don't need to rehash the start of VN, the same circumstances occured with the Bushes and the current wars and our adherence to weapons of mass destruction myth :-)
And Fletch your daughter is very astute. Most of us were 11Bs so how can we sit around talking or glorifying how we killed people? The soldiers fighting today are mostly long range fighting. Very few firefight engagements. The insurgents weapon of choice are cell phone bombs set off from who knows where. there chances of being blown up are astronomical to their chances of taking a bullet. |
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Reply: 12 - 46 |
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| Sam Weatherspoon |
| Posted on: March 6th, 2014, 7:08pm |
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Minimum Member 
Posts: 13
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| I'm one of those guys that wants to ask questions. I hesitate to do so because I know that not all VN Vets WANT to talk about their real experiences. My family made me think that this was a taboo topic to bring up because my uncle served with the 196th for all of 1968 and didn't want to talk about it and that idea has stayed with me most of my life, so I never asked questions out of consideration for his feelings.. Now I'm very interested in history and in particular, the experiences of the average infantry soldier in VN, but its difficult to know if its ok to broach the subject with a vet. Most of us younger guys (I'm 49) know the politics of what got us into VN, and we don't judge you by your experiences. You may think some of us were never interested, but some of us curious people have wanted to hear your experiences for a long time but were afraid to bring it up. My uncle passed away 10 yrs ago and I'm very sorry that I never asked him for his experiences. So please understand that it may be just as hard for some of us to ask you questions about your experience as it is for you to talk about your experience. Thank You All For Your Service, Sam. |
My train of thought derailed- There were no survivors.
HHC 711 Signal Bn 142nd Signal Brigade 1985-1992 & 1996-1998
Alabama Army National Guard
U.S. Army Reserves 2000-2002 |
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Reply: 13 - 46 |
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| Frenchie |
| Posted on: March 7th, 2014, 12:50am |
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Maximum Member2 LIke to hear from anyone that was Co C 4/31
Posts: 407
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Sam ...thank you for your post...youre right in many ways...
First some vets NEVER want to talk about it...for whatever reason..some feel that its in the past and needs to stay there....i have a couple vnam vet friends i located over the years and we dont communicate because thats the way they want it...they never told me a thing....in one case i called one day to stay in touch and nothing more and i was told not to call any more because they didnt know that person ..i sent another one christmas cards and mention th e "olden" days that bonds us and i can tell he is not interested in dredging up the past so i dont mention anything to him but keep in mind that is our bond...we were groundpounders in the same platoon....he led us...
not all of us can cope with our past..some do it better than others...many simply cant.......the new./old saying is IT IS WHAT IT IS ...is very true.......
Speaking for myself i can tell you youre welcome to email me and ask me anything but i have to let you know that we ALL had different experiences and saw thing differently even if we were in the same area....there is not one size fits all questions/answers..
i have written Two "essays" ....one in regards to our daily "routine" and they other what we carried daily out in the field....in general that applied to all of us that were in the field with small variations....if you want i can email you the information...or i can post it here for you and anyone else interested can read it...
I and all the guys i know are very proud of our military time...wished the results were different...i hope i have not given my family the message that it was taboo to discuss Vnam with me... i dont think i have
I welcome all emailers.... at.......namrats1968atgmaildotcom |
Frenchie - Gilbert E Manasselian
C 4/31 Feb 68 to Feb 69
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