Fifty Years after Tet

[endicom]

American Thinker
Elise Cooper
June 9, 2018

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, in which the North Vietnamese orchestrated a massive coordinated attack throughout South Vietnam.  A book out in paperback on May 8, entitled The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War, takes readers on the journey of Stan Parker.  Americans need to be reminded of soldiers like Parker who fought patriotically for this country.

While in Afghanistan, researching another book, Horse Soldiers, Doug Stanton met Sergeant Major Stan Parker, one of the U.S. Army's longest serving soldiers.  Parker convinced him to write a book about the stories of the men he served with in Vietnam.  Like many in Echo Company, a Recon Company in the 101st Airborne Division, Parker enlisted to fight for his country against the evils of communism.  They arrived in mid-December 1967 in Vietnam just prior to Tet.  Parker speaks to Stanton about the unending list of horrors, losses, and miseries, not just overseas, but also on the home front, that he and his peers endured.

More... https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/fifty_years_after_tet.html

[endicom]

Despite a certain forum bias, I was treated well while in uniform in NYC.

[TomSea]

Thank you for posting, thank you for your service.

[Sanguine]

Yes, thank you for your service, @endicom.

Compassion was something he never experienced from his fellow citizens.  There are numerous quotes in the book about his homecoming from Vietnam: "The scariest part of his military career was coming home from Vietnam[.] ... It is the hate they felt back home in the states that haunts these guys."  Even to this day, Parker cannot comprehend the reaction of his fellow Americans.  "I did not know why they were so hostile.  There was even a time we attended a White Sox baseball game and the crowd booed the guys there in wheelchairs.  I thought how I had done my job, what was asked of me, and for some reason everyone is mad at us.
...
He expected the same scorn, disdain, and fear when coming home on leave from Afghanistan.  "In late '68, people were very hostile.  I felt more at home in Vietnam than I did back home in Gary, Indiana.  Neighbors would wave at you but didn't come over to talk, because they didn't want anyone to think that they were pro-military.  Yet, decades later, returning from the War on Terror, I received a standing ovation on the plane and was offered a first-class seat.  What a culture shock.  It was very emotional for me.  I did think, Where was this forty years before when I returned home from Vietnam?  If one ounce of kindness had been displayed, then it would have made a big difference."

[Bigun]

I finished my tour in Vietnam in November 1967.  About a month prior to Sgt. Parkers arrival.   God bless him and all those like him who had to endure the battles of TET 68.  They had it far worse than I ever did.

[endicom]

I finished my tour in Vietnam in November 1967.  About a month prior to Sgt. Parkers arrival.   God bless him and all those like him who had to endure the battles of TET 68.  They had it far worse than I ever did.

Far worse than I did. I was the one guy who was never in a firefight over there. Or so it sometimes seems. I left in July, 1967.

[Bigun]

 :amen:2

Far worse than I did. I was the one guy who was never in a firefight over there. Or so it sometimes seems. I left in July, 1967.

@endicom

Where were you?

We may well have crossed paths.  I was with MACVSOG.

[endicom]

:amen:2
@endicom

Where were you?

We may well have crossed paths.  I was with MACVSOG.

Mostly at An Khe. A month at Vanh Canh (there are other spellings).

[Bigun]

Mostly at An Khe. A month at Vanh Canh (there are other spellings).

Never got that far North but it was worth a shot.  Welcome home!  There are guite a few of us here.

[Axeslinger]

@endicom @Bigun

This younger than you peacetime vet would like to say,

Thank you.  Y’all were ALSO the ones we looked up to with awe.

[Bigun]

@endicom @Bigun

This younger than you peacetime vet would like to say,

Thank you.  Y’all were ALSO the ones we looked up to with awe.

@Axeslinger

I'm very honored that you would say that.  Thank you!

[endicom]

@endicom @Bigun

This younger than you peacetime vet would like to say,

Thank you.  Y’all were ALSO the ones we looked up to with awe.

I did nothing awesome. We all took our chances in just wearing the uniform.

I would think of all the people my age ODing and wrapping themselves around trees and finding every other way to do themselves in and wonder if I wasn't safer where I was.