Joe!
I've really been looking forward to this.
I love Uncle Joe! 
= new reply since forum marked as read
Good humorous line. 
Before the meat...
Joe is awesome! I love him dearly.
And unlike Trump, Joe and Jill actually work with vets, putting their money where there mouth is.
We'll never see any of the Trumps serving anything but themselves.
Okay, so I volunteered for the draft, for infantry, for infantry OCS, for Vietnam, and for a combat assignment. I was still a draftee! Got my number to prove it--US56704XXX.
I love you, brother! 
but joined the Navy instead. I was sent back to boot camp to help train new recruits, then I was sent to SERE school, worse 6 weeks of my life, at the time. We're talking serious ass Survival training capped off with a week in a simulated Prisoner of war camp that was as real as real has ever been in my life. Interrogation, hell even torture all in the guise of training, preparing UDT, Seals, Pilots and soon to be Commanders of Navy Ships and Bases for the day they might be captured. I couldn't figure out why they were putting me though this training, (HELL, actually.) Stayed on there for a tour of duty and by the time it was time to leave there I said I wanted to go to 'Nam. After all the training I had I felt it was the right thing to do so thats what I did. Within a few days of arriving in-country I realized that what we as a country was doing there was as Wrong as Wrong can be but I was stuck so I made the most of it. In the mean time I fell in love with the People of Vietnam and still today when I meet a Vietnamese person I want to go up to them and apologize for what we did to them and their country and a few times I've done just that. The thing is the Vietnamese alive today weren't the ones who were in the middle of the atrocities of that invasion by the U.S. so they don't fully grasp where I'm coming from. We as Soldiers were only fodder for the war machine, greasing the gears with our blood. Sad but true.
I'm a sailer who never seen a ship, never stepped foot on one.
Peace Brother
Now my life is coming to an end. I have a lot to be thankful for but at the same time I have a big ass load on my shoulders for what I was a part of all those years ago, all put there by my government. Today they could care less about that cross
Taking upon yourself the responsibility for what the country's policy makers ordained.
Been there, done that, and I got fucking tired of assuming the guilts of others. What a relief when I finally dropped that load!
It's not your fault, man. We ended up in that shit, for whatever reasons, through no fault of our own. Hell, I was a true believer, gung-ho and volunteering all the way. But only because I believed in and trusted my government.
Why do you think for so many of us a lot of our PTSD was about distrusting our government? After we realized we'd been lied to and betrayed?
I'd been a true believer and and officer, so I was especially afflicted by that undeserved guilt for many years. Until I finally had a catharsis and saw what really happened to us.
IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT, BROTHER.
And at the same time, we should never be ashamed of stepping up and putting our lives on the line for a cause. For responding to JFK's call to "Ask not..." In our day, some marched in the streets and some marched in uniform. All stepping up to honor their ideals.
You have nothing to apologize for. On the contrary, you should be proud of your service at a time when that could be difficult and perilous.
It's not your fault, man. Though we probably should get you on a ship someday just to make you a real sailor.
I love you, brother, and it would really be a relief to me in my life to see you set that undeserved burden down. It's not your fault and never was.
