Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation

Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation
Support group makes push to connect with returning troops

By Joe Goldeen
Record Staff Writer
July 09, 2009 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - The country called, and some young men went to war. They were kids, mostly - 18 and 19 years old - thrust into a dark and foreboding place known as Vietnam.

Upon their return, some were taunted as "baby killers," rejected for jobs by employers who looked at them as misfits or long-haired, wild-eyed pot smokers. The Veterans Administration - the federal agency charged with helping them after they left military service - had nothing for them if they didn't suffer from an obvious physical injury. Even family members who had gone to war in Europe, the South Pacific or Korea a generation earlier rejected them, telling them to "suck it up."

On a recent Tuesday morning, 11 Vietnam-era combat veterans met for breakfast in the back room at UJ's Family Restaurant on Pacific Avenue.
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Vietnam vets hope to reach new generation

PTSD has not changed since Vietnam. It did not change before Vietnam when it was called other things. It is a human wound. Unlike the change is the technology, humans are still pretty much under the same design, with all the same dreams and fears, courage and compassion, same style body, same kind of mind and same kind of soul. No one can ever make humans stop being human.

There is no excuse the newer veterans can use to tell a Vietnam veteran they do not understand what it's like for them. They've already been there. What this group of Vietnam veterans is doing is not new but there are far too few doing the same thing. A couple of years ago I made this video talking about how Vietnam veterans are helping the newer veterans heal and in the process, healing themselves.

Hero After War - watch more videos

This video used to be on YouTube and Google.