I disagree with Rachel tonite on the issue of a ticker parade for Iraq Vets

[pinboy3niner]

51. Well said, lunatica

We didn't set out to be used. I was a draftee, but I volunteered for the draft. I fought in Vietnam alongside other draftees, and enlistees.

I think it's fair to say that we were used. I remember a day when in my job, I felt used, abused, exploited, and lied to--and for me, it brought back Vietnam. Something I'd buried for a long time. I resigned from my job, where they were still giving me awards, though I had nothing else to go to.

"No one sets out to be used" is, obviously, right. In my time, men and women served because they thought it was the right thing to do--or because they were drafted, and had no choice.

In any case, calling us 'idiots' is waaaaay out of bounds. Many of us served in a fucked up war in Vietnam. How fucking stupid and ignorant is it to disparage draftees, or even voluntary enlistees who were willing to lay their lives on the line for a higher cause--whether they were right or wrong?

Those who call us 'idiots' never spent night in a foxhole, that's for sure.