How do other veterans feel about Veteran's day

I'm a Navy Vet - regular and reserve - from 1967 to 1975. Vietnam era, but I fortunate not to have been to Nam. I get proud and weepy on Veteran's Day. Proud because I went when it seemed the right thing to do. Weepy because of all the shit the vets have had to take. Some even on this board seem to want to criticize today's active duty military - for voting for Bush and even for simply being in Iraq.

Treating vets shitty is nothing new. When they came back from Vietnam, they came home by commercial carrier in onesies and twosies. No welcome. No warmth. No thanks. (The notion that they were spit upon appears to have long ago been debunked). Then they were pushed aside by the VA. It took Max Cleland and Jimmy Carter (both vets) to fix that.

My Dad was a WWII vet. North Africa, Italy, France, then Germany at the end. He came home, and like all the rest of his generation of vet, married, got a job, had kids, and lived his life. But now, where he's buried, we can't even get permission for a plaque on his grave to signify his service. Catholic cemetery in CT. My mother, before she died, too, worked hard to get that changed. The Diocese of Bridgeport. The city. The state. Nada. Finger pointing. Call this one. Call that one. I'm sorry, ma'am, we can't help you here. Try there.

Bullshit.

Do you realize that Vietnam Vets got a memorial before the WWII vets did? Greatest Generation? Yeah, whatever. Now move along ...... no loitering.

And so I hold my head proud.

And I weep (quite literally, even as I am typing this).

The current AWOL fucker occupying MY government's house is just like the assholes my mother dealt with to her death. Disrespectful, ungrateful, uncaring, unconcerned.

God Bless you all, My Brothers and Sisters!

I think the Vietnam Veterans' memorial came as a way to acknowledge what had not been acknowledged. It was needed in that way. WWII vets, as you say, were cheered and lauded upon their return, and most of us thought for a long time that the Iwo Jima memorial represented the entire group.

Two things that I think can affect the country's feelings about its veterans are whether or not there's a draft, and whether or not people believe in the war as necessary to save lives in the long run.

I see a lot of mixed feelings here about the people who are in Iraq today. They volunteered, but many were kids with limited opportunities who were lured in by the prospect of getting ahead, or getting an education, or getting out of the circumstances they were in. But the war itself is so obviously a huge and tragic mistake, and "support the troops" rings so akin to "support George W. Bush* and his colossal, bloody blunders."

It's difficult to separate the warriors from the war, but I think it's important. And on veteran's day, I think it's important to honor all veterans who served from a sense of duty to country.

Here's to you, our fathers, and all DU veterans! :toast:

I'm sorry you get treated like crap, and I wish more veterans would wake up and see how they are getting screwed over by this misadministration, who neither respects nor admires military service (McCain in 2000 and Kerry in 2004) Anyone who serves our country deserves better.

Thanks for working for all of us. :)