Vet Won’t Let This Be a Thankless War

I was coming home from work Thursday night and I saw one individual on the corner of Tampa and Victory out there in his tiger-stripe top and his black beret, carrying an American flag and a sign that said, “Support Our Troops.”

I recognized the beret. In brown water Navy we all wore black berets. Brown water Navy means the U.S. Navy that runs the small boats--muddy water, rivers, that sort of thing.

So I turned around and went up to him, and in fact he was a river sailor. The guy’s name’s Sandy Sandoval. He was walking, with the flag and the sign, across the intersection with the traffic light, so it was not impeding the flow of traffic, but in such a way that people could see the sign.

And people were honking and waving and stuff like that. And it clicked in me that I can do that too. So I introduced myself, and we talked for a little bit. Then I went home to get what I call my colors, which is a jungle fatigue shirt with the patches that I picked up at The Wall and my beret. I came back and joined him.

Well, I did that, and I’m going to plan on doing it two hours each night until this war is over with. Even my three kids went with me. Three teen-agers, and they all volunteered to go do something with Dad. That is a miracle.

I want to support the troops that are fighting over in the Mideast right now and get other people to do it. Even if it’s just a small thing, they honk their horns or something.

I don’t think I still fully understand why I’m out there every night. I feel it’s something that I have to do. It’s also something that I want to do, and I guess the big thing is, I never felt like I was supported when I was in ‘Nam.

I still have my bad times, a lot less than before. I can’t stand the sound of taps. I saw friends killed over there.

Sometimes I have dreams. I dream a lot I’m being chased by Viet Cong, and I get caught, and I wake up. I don’t know what happens after I get caught. That scares the hell out of me.

Guys from ‘Nam like Tony stopped by last night, and he came right up to me and put his arm around me and said, “Welcome home, brother.” If you’ve been around a lot of the ‘Nam vets, you’ll see that they do that. They’re about the only ones who welcome anybody home.

The one thing that I do not want to see happen is those guys who are over there right now, fighting and preparing to give their lives, be forgotten and swept up underneath a piece of carpet when they come home.

I had nobody come to me and say, “Welcome home,” when I came home. And to this day that bothers the hell out of me.

I was back from Vietnam two days and had blood thrown on a dress white uniform in front of ‘Frisco airport. They called me a baby-killer, and I just knocked them on their keister. And I don’t even know whether it was a male or a female, I was that mad. I don’t like to talk about whether I did or I didn’t kill anybody over there, but to be called a baby-killer, that I never was.

A fine welcome home that was. I don’t want our guys to have that. I think every outfit that fought over there--Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines--ought to be given a ticker-tape parade when they come back. They deserve the recognition. Whether people feel our government policy for being in there is good or bad, the people that are sworn to defend that policy should be recognized.