Reuters: U.S. Vets Make Vietnam-Iraq Generational Transition

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HAN178781.htm

U.S. vets make Vietnam-Iraq generational transition
17 Nov 2006 07:24:46 GMT

By Grant McCool

HANOI, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Ageing American veterans of the unpopular Vietnam War are passing the torch of political advocacy to a younger generation coming out of Iraq with many of the same physical and mental scars.

The transition is happening as U.S. President George W. Bush becomes the second president to visit Vietnam since the Americans were chased out in April 1975 by Communists who unified the country and remain its one-party rulers.

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"That's a huge similarity which is doing nothing but angering these folks," said Leckinger, 56, who is the representative in Hanoi of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF).

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Post-traumatic stress disorder and the consequences of exposure to toxic material are just two of the similar problems experienced by survivors of Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam. "For us, it was dioxin/agent orange and for them it's depleted uranium," Leckinger said.

Iraq war veteran Garett Reppenhagen says betrayal by leaders, being sent to war based on questionable intelligence and shifting rationales for staying there, is another common feeling.

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[ixion]

1. People have forgotten the thousands of disenfranchised vets that

roamed the streets through the 70's and 80's.

Hello? RAMBO anyone? How soon people forget. Well, not to worry. Thanks to BushCo, we'll have disenfranchised vets roaming the streets again in no time. :-(


When I was in college (back in the 80's) we had this huge, freaked out vet wander into our house one night. "GOTTA GET THE KIDS OUT!" he kept screaming. He wanted to go into out basement to 'get the kids out'. I was able to de-escalate him and send him on his way toward his psychotic episode, but that memory, and the memory of many more like him, still remains with me.

It's sad to think we're going to go through that again, as well. :cry:

[genie_weenie]

2. Damn those traitorous Vets!

All Veterans are merely a bunch of used up Cogs in the military machine! Why don't they slink off out of sight like the rest of the disposable people?