I'm a Viet Nam era Vet. An extremely lucky vet. My assignments were pretty darn cushy compared to many. 13 months was the deal, & most of us just dug in a little, did our time, & went home.
In my immediate neighborhood, an extended culdesac, are four military families, two have members recently returned from "deployment" in Irac, another had the husband leave two weeks ago , the fourth husband is leaving in three weeks. They get by, & surely do not complain much, and for the most part are cool people, really good at their jobs. An interestingly fertile lot, testosterone & estrogen run high & meet often on military bases. I see lots of toddlers with military buzz cuts just like ther daddies. The internet, e mail, & digital pictures back & forth daily take a lot of the misery out of the experience. It's still lonely, mean & ugly enough.
My father's generation was a completely different story, His enlistment was "The duration of the War & Six Months", there was no calendar to check off the days, in his case over 4 years. Some really big, mean, nasty stuff happened during that 4 years, little since campares. No medivacs, no telephones to call home, a few newsreels here & there, maybe a regular military newspaper, not much from back home.
My Grandmother helped operate a "Nursery School" in her hometown, caring for small children while their moms worked in local factories manufacturing militrary equipment for the war effort.
Justness of the Cause was never in question. Still isn't. Reverence for the people of these times is appropriate on Memorial Day.
The inspirational part of this story is "Our fathers came home, kissed the girls & went to work". Didn't compliain much, got a little help with education, housing & such but didn't' need much. All over the World, exist today, the most fantastic civilizations ever, all due to the generation of our fathers.
The Pyamids pale in comparison.
