Vietnam Vets

The illusion was nice while it lasted. Both the Administration and the entertainment industry put on a good show of welcoming back home and turning the Vietnam veteran into a hero. Sorry, men, that’s all it was, a show.

That’s what they have been doing with this Dan Quayle thing, too. All that righteous indignation that he actually dodged going to Vietnam-- ad nauseam. Didn’t most of them?

The real Nam vets are what, less than 2% of the population? Those people wouldn’t walk across the street to spit at all of us, let alone worry about our “voting bloc.” But suddenly everyone wants to “explain” Vietnam again. And if they keep up then they’ll try to explain why we were treated like “lepers” for so long. Remember? “Baby killers, hopped up, kill-crazy thugs, murderers, losers.”

There is an awful big guilt trip this country has been hiding from for a long time. Hypocrisy? That “homecoming” for those embassy hostages reinvented the term. If you remember, it was right after that gut-twisting affair that they came up with that sporting idea, “Let’s throw those poor, Nam vets a crumb or two, too.”

No, men, let them have their Dan Quayles. This country deserves him. Our honor will never be broken by the likes of that group of “heroes.” Let them have their “Hell no, I won’t go,” “Make love, not war.” We’ll keep our nightmares, and our pride .

“Stinger 6, Dusty 3, dammit! I’m going to come in! Just pop a flare on the other side of the road from that incoming. Cool it, we’ll get your people out of there.”

DON LOVE

Palm Springs