Quote:
Originally Posted by Rot 911
I woke up this morning thinking about the same thing. Old friends I will never see again. Strup brought up an interesting point, the difference between the welcome home now and the lack of back in the Vietnam era. I never got spit on. If someone had tried that they would have regretted it. But not only was there no welcome, people would purposely avoid you. Even ones you had known for years. People you went to school with. It was for that reason that the military became very insular in the '70's. The only friends you had were the people in your squad or platoon.
Sorry to be a downer in this thread.
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That's not quite true...I was very glad to see friends return. I'm sure others were as well. I drove a then new 912 from Oregon to the Oakland Army Terminal to pick up a buddy when he got discharged in '69. We celebrated his return all the way back to Oregon.
Maybe my memory fades here, but it seems to me the small town folks were kinder to returning vets than the big city people. Possibly because many of the troops came from the small towns.
However, you are right about the "public attitude" of the time...woodstock & all...
But then, the Vietnamese never attacked our trade center...