For some of us, there's no escape from the Vietnam War

[Hulk]

52. I salute you! I was infantry, 25th Infantry - 1969 Cu Chi, 11bravo

I salute you.
We were there together - maybe not the same year, but in the same toilet bowl of death and destruction. I was only there for about three months before my radio man stepped on a trip wire and sent us both home - after a month recuperating in Japan so I wouldn't resemble walking dead when I returned Stateside, and another month or two in Madigan General at Fort Lewis.
I was lucky - damn lucky. I caught shrapnel in my legs, arms, face, and chest - with a punctured lung. I lost a little meat, but I got my health back, and I'm being served by the VA medical now - second to none - and I receive a small disability pension. I'm just thankful to be home and alive. My most memorable moment in many, many years was when the nurse leaned over my bed and said the words, "soldier, you're going home!" My God, I cried. I knew I was going to die. Everyone around me was dying.
We went in to my platoon with 8 "old salts", and we were 13 "fresh bloods". After about two weeks, I had already seen us lose another 5-10 in our platoon, including our medic and second lieutenant. He was there for less than a month before he was killed.
ALL for nothing. All for nonsense - the same as Iraq. No purpose, just killing and being killed.
I salute you. I salute the 59,000 that died, and the hundreds of thousands that served and bare the memories of that terrible time.
I'm with you.....FUCK NUGENT, the coward! I still, to this day, can not forgive those that ran. I served because I felt we had to. Those that ran let someone else take their place. I'll never get over that. But this coward, was worse than a running coward. And he has the audacity to speak of his cowardice as though it is unimportant and meaningless? May he rot in hell one day, where he belongs - along with dick cheney.