Gulf war veterans watch and worry.... quotes from '91 vets....

More at link:

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?page=article&id=615


Fretfully, obsessively and suspiciously, they watch this new war unfold and recall what they went through a decade ago: recurrent medical problems, bureaucratic headaches and a tough transition back to their former lives. This time, they say, they are determined to find ways to ease the transition for veterans returning from the war in Iraq.



"The biggest problem I've been having is watching history repeat itself," said Jim Brown, 39, a mechanic in the Army's 10th Mountain Division in 1991.



Despite flashbacks and anxiety attacks since the start of the new war, Mr. Brown says, he keeps his television tuned to coverage and listens to radio news when he drives.



"I'm interested in watching to make sure no mistakes are made," said Mr. Brown, who lives in Gastonia, N.C., about 20 miles west of here. "That is the highest calling of any veteran."

I was bloggin' when bloggin' wasn't cool. Back before the internet. Back when all we had was 96 baud modems and bulletin boards. Back when we walked to school, through the snow, up hill, both ways. And we liked it.

It was about 1982 that I was taken to task by a twenty-something about my obsession with the Vietnam war. The war had ended almost a decade before and she was incensed that I still held it so close, that it was such a big deal to me. She said I should just get over it. She didn't understand what Vietnam was all about.

So I told her about Vietnam.

I told her that Vietnam wasn't just another war. It was a time of change. A time of innocence lost. It was a time when our country was divided. Half screaming "America, Love It or Leave It" the other shouting "Change It or Lose It" and neither side hearing the other. It was half a million people assembled in Washington DC in civil disobedience and half a million troops in a country on the other side of the world.

It was the first time that we as Americans had to come to terms with real defeat. A defeat not at the hands of a superior force or a mightier army but at the shear will of a people who simply would not quit. A defeat that touched every community no matter how small. A defeat that came into our living rooms at dinner time on the television . A defeat that brought a flag draped coffin into every village, every town and every community in America. A defeat that ended with a black obelisk inscribed with the names of more than fifty thousand fallen souls.

It was more than a war, it was a mistake.

A mistake based on lies. A mistake that killed fifty thousand Americans and three million Vietnamese. It was a mistake that lasted ten years. A mistake that dropped five hundred pounds of high explosives for ever man, woman and child living in that tiny country. A mistake that poisoned the forests and water. A mistake that left us all asking "Why?"

I told her that if we all held this memory close, that if we just remembered how badly things can go, that if we just remembered that we were once lied to and that if we hold those who lead us accountable maybe, just maybe, her children wouldn't have to fight a war like we did.

I guess they all forgot . . .