Vietnam Stories

jstover77

jstover77

Fwhat?
Dec 23, 2011
1,498
19
0
Doylestown PA
www.bestseofirm.com
How many dudes here have Dad's that were in Nam? Anyone?

My Pop has been letting loose on me with his war stories lately. I guess he is finally starting to come to grips with it (or he knows he has heart disease from eating McDonalds for 10 years straight). I have to say I am extremely fascinated by it.

He told me some shit tonight that makes me think about my existence...One inch to the left or right and I may not be here.

You ever think about this?

Sliding Doors?
 


No dad in Nam, but quite a few uncles that were over there.

None of them really talk about it, but most of them seem to be at peace with their time over there now.

One of my mom's brothers was on his way to college with a full scholarship when he was drafted. At the the time, our family was a military family and he felt it was his duty to serve. So instead of taking the college waiver, he reported to boot camp. He never talks about his time over there, but he was pretty fucked up mentally when he first came back according to the family. A totally different person then before he went over, and ultimately his wife and children also paid the price.

I guess he eventually sorted things out. He has been much better over the past 20-25 years, but now that he's getting into his later years he seems to be slipping back into a pretty dark place.

All wars are shitty, but that one in particular seems to be the worst for the people that made it home. On top of having half of the country (assuming U.S.) hating the vets (many of whom had to chose between going to war or going to jail), those returning also had to deal with the fact that it was the first modern "war" that the country couldn't claim as a victory.

So they had the anti-war people pissing on them and some of the old vets giving them shit as well.

Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything from that and many of our current vets are going to go through the same type of shit that Nam vets went through in the coming years.

People forget that for a lot of these kids, the service is the way out of a shitty upbringing. They're 18 years old and don't really know shit about the world. It's a job to them.

Yes they knew the possibilities when they signed up, but for a lot of them the alternative was a career working at a fast food joint or retail. Assuming they survive their enlistment, service time offers them a path to education, vocation, and a better life.
 
JRose said:
No dad in Nam, but quite a few uncles that were over there.

None of them really talk about it, but most of them seem to be at peace with their time over there now.

One of my mom's brothers was on his way to college with a full scholarship when he was drafted. At the the time, our family was a military family and he felt it was his duty to serve. So instead of taking the college waiver, he reported to boot camp. He never talks about his time over there, but he was pretty fucked up mentally when he first came back according to the family. A totally different person then before he went over, and ultimately his wife and children also paid the price.

I guess he eventually sorted things out. He has been much better over the past 20-25 years, but now that he's getting into his later years he seems to be slipping back into a pretty dark place.

All wars are shitty, but that one in particular seems to be the worst for the people that made it home. On top of having half of the country (assuming U.S.) hating the vets (many of whom had to chose between going to war or going to jail), those returning also had to deal with the fact that it was the first modern "war" that the country couldn't claim as a victory.

So they had the anti-war people pissing on them and some of the old vets giving them shit as well.

Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything from that and many of our current vets are going to go through the same type of shit that Nam vets went through in the coming years.

People forget that for a lot of these kids, the service is the way out of a shitty upbringing. They're 18 years old and don't really know shit about the world. It's a job to them.

Yes they knew the possibilities when they signed up, but for a lot of them the alternative was a career working at a fast food joint or retail. Assuming they survive their enlistment, service time offers them a path to education, vocation, and a better life.
Click to expand...

I would say amen to that.
 
My dad was a captain in the infantry in what is now called Air Assault (where you jump out of a helicopter onto the battle field). Told me a lot of cool stories growing up. I ended up joining the Army seeking similar adventures, only to find out that it is 99% bordem and 1% the scariest/awesomest shit in your life.

funny story: when I was at BCT, we had a 1 week field training exercise and this one dude just didn't want to shit in the port-a-john so he decided he was gonna hold his shit for the whole week. On day 4 he shit in his pants during a walk. LOLOL. Imagine going for a week long camping trip where you haven't showed in the hot sun and, OH SHIT, you shit yourself and you can't shower for another 3 days. LOLOL.
 
Killing strangers for the government has long been a path to material success.

Good on those guys who didn't take the fast food job, but sold their souls for a GI ticket to college.

roflbotcypzfy3.jpg
 
My dad was a helicopter gunner... He NEVER talked about it. I asked him a couple times how it was and he never said anything about it. He did tell me one story that some of the other helicopter gunners use to toss grenades at the elephants and shit.

Sounds like he went through some crazy shit. He also had a bunch of medals like the distinguished flying cross, bronze star, etc. I've always wanted to know how he got them, but unfortunately he passed away a couple years ago and I never found out...
 
When I came of age in 1971 I registered for the draft. Back then they issued you a lottery number for call up. My number was very high so I was never drafted.

If I had been I would have done the right thing for my country.
 
My dad enlisted in the Marines (Was not drafted).

He always had dreams about growing up and going off to a war. When Vietnam started he felt like he was supposed to be there, so when the first chance was available, that's what he did.

To this day he says he enjoyed being over there. He wasn't a ground pounder or anything like that. He ran the electrical system at a forward artillery base. Got mortared quite often, and was nearly overrun a few times.
 
jstover77 said:
He told me some shit tonight that makes me think about my existence...One inch to the left or right and I may not be here.
Click to expand...

I know the only reason my dad exists is because his dad broke his nose working on a bridge and went home for fun time with my grandmother. It IS crazy to think how many perfect coincidences lined up going all the way back... all our human ancestors... non-human ones... planetary formation... solar system configuration... universal system... all perfectly aligned so we could one day dick roll people across the planet on wicked fire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Uptime
schockergd said:
My dad enlisted in the Marines (Was not drafted).

He always had dreams about growing up and going off to a war. When Vietnam started he felt like he was supposed to be there, so when the first chance was available, that's what he did.

To this day he says he enjoyed being over there. He wasn't a ground pounder or anything like that. He ran the electrical system at a forward artillery base. Got mortared quite often, and was nearly overrun a few times.
Click to expand...

Yeah my Pops was an interpreter so whenever they captured someone they would fly him in. He was telling me it was not an uncommon practice to throw dudes out of the chopper if they wouldn't talk.

Crazy shit. The only person I would ever think of doing that to is Pewep.
 
My Grandpa was in the marines for 32 years and retired a colonel. He was in the pacific for WW2, Korea, and Vietnam a bunch of times. I can count on one hand the number of real stories he ever told about any of those wars. He just never really wanted to get into much of it, which I can understand. The only detail I ever remember him talking about was when a mortar round landed about 5 feet from the hole that him and his buddy were in. He said it just tore his friend in half, while my grandpa wasn't injured at all. I think that was a memory that really haunted him. He died in 2004 and I wish he had opened up about more, but it was his burden to bear, so I respect that.

I remember him talking about the Chosin reservoir and how miserable that was. I would call bullshit and tease him. I'd say don't lie, you guys were having a great time waterskiing on the reservoir, bbq'ing, drinking beers, camping out. He liked that.
 
I used to work with a guy who was there, he didn't talk about it a lot. He was one of the guys who stayed in the tanks, if they caught fire or some shit, he would put it out or otherwise try to keep them running long enough to get back to their base.

When he did talk about it, he would talk about another guy in their unit who would have a 6th sense when some shit was about to go down, and was always right.

Also, the quickest way to get a promotion was if you got out on top of the tank and started gunning. But it sucked from inside the tank, because the dude who jumped up there usually fell back down all shot up. That was an awkward moment when it came time to see who the next one would be to go up there.

Also, if you get cut off from your unit and not sure how long it will be before you can make it back, you eat whatever you can find.
 
Why you guys are calling it "Nam"? Should it be either Vietnam or Viet. My grandpa was a war prisioner and tortured by the French. My dad went to Poland to avoid the war but half of his high school classes died during the American war. I'm from Vietnam btw.
 
james110211 said:
Why you guys are calling it "Nam"?
Click to expand...

It's a colloquial shortening. It might be awkward for a native English speaker to refer to South Carolina as "South", but since most Americans don't know what a "viet" or a "nam" is, abbreviating it as "Nam" sounds alright to them.


tumblr_m5clo8aQuk1qfg1tdo1_500.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom