Won't make the same mistake...?

"Many who are still in Iraq wonder what kind of reception they will receive when they arrive in America. Some of them shudder at the prospect of a "welcome" like the one their fathers got when they returned from Vietnam." (War Stories,page 1)

I think it's safe to say that we won't blame the soldiers this time around (At least I hope it's safe to say). This country is famous for putting the blame on anybody except ourselves whenever we don't like the turnout of some crisis that goes on in the world.

Vietnam was a well know American mess as far as the treatment of our soldiers went, they made many books and famous films were done documenting this.

It's probably due to these films that there was a correction to the mistakes made. Walls were built and benefits were given and in some small way we made up for the mistreatment.

The soldiers that went over there were just kids after all and they didn't know what they were doing. We sent over kids and we came back with broken men.

All we can hope is that the same thing doesn't happen or at least to the elevated extent that it did with the Vietnam War. This time we have terms for it like post-traumatic war syndrome. So at least now we have clinical terms for the broken men coming back to the states.

Only time will tell what will become of them. I don’t know if they’ll get a wall dedicated to them or if there will an apology of any kind for those that died unnecessarily. All we can hope for is the best.

I do dread the idea of some bum on the street begging for change while wearing a cardboard sign that says “Operation Iraq Freedom Veteran”.