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I am a member of the VVA and I was drafted and served during Vietnam.

I was dismayed and disgusted at Mr. Neuman's comments. IMO he brought back the wrong lesson from Vietnam. His comments about walking around w/a uniform being a problem during Vietnam were for me absurd. Firstly, in the Army we were REQUIRED to wear our uniform in public, I do not know what service Mr. Neuman was in, although from his comments I would guess The Air Force. I wore my uniform in public whenever I was in the states (I was overseas for all but four months of my time). During that time though I was in what was supposedly the most 'liberal' state and I had no problems whatsoever. This sounded to me like the myth that we were spat upon when coming home from overseas, never happened to me nor anyone that I knew. Since there are not a lot of arrests from that time I tend not to believe the hearsay, since I can only imagine how most in the military would react to such supposed actions.

I would suggest to Mr. Neuman that instead of believing and repeating [re]publican and U.S. government myths about Vietnam and war in general he instead read books written by General Smedley Butler (winner of TWO Congressional Medals of Honor).

I am truly sad that as a VVA member Mr. Neuman is a spokesman for the VVA. I can assure you that his opinion is certainly not prevalent nor IMO is it realistic of those times.

posted 5 years ago
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