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My tribute to Veterans. I am writing this tribute to all our veterans and our soldiers currently on active duty. Memorial Day is brought to you by the troops around the world who have served and continue to serve to keep us free. Memorial Day is not just another day off even though the majority of Americans think of Memorial Day in that context.

It does not matter which side of the current Iraq conflict you are on - DO NOT TAKE IT OUT ON OUR TROOPS! They are doing their duty to honor our country, our commander in chief and keeping you free to voice your opinions as you see fit, to go where you want to when you want to and to become the best you can be.

Memorial Day is personal to this writer. Not because I need a day off or because I want to have a cookout. It is because I experienced the backlash of Americans against our service personnel first hand. You see a long time ago I was graduating from high school and planning a wedding to my high school sweetheart, Charlie. We had a lot of things planned for our future. We rented an apartment, purchased furniture and both had gotten good jobs with large companies in our area. This was as good as it gets for my generation.

Vietnam changed those plans. Uncle Sam called for Charlie to serve his country. STOP! Everything ground to an abrupt halt while Charlie decided what to do…should he move to Canada as many in his age bracket were doing for amnesty…should he answer the call to serve…or should he just proceed with his plans and get married. Being raised on an Angus cattle farm gave Charlie the strong morale character that would help him later. Remember that in those days we believed everything the government said and did was right. We even believed that if we got under our desks at school and covered our head we would be protected from a nuclear event.

Charlie decided that his country needed him. He had to do the right thing and serve in the US Army instead of running to Canada or just getting married without regard to the future. He didn’t realize then that his time in the service would change the way he felt about everything. It would change his views, his personality, his feelings about the military and also how he interacted with others.

My story about Charlie is from the heart…you see he was wounded during his tour in jungles of Vietnam with the 1st Cav . He was forced to make decisions about his future while in a foreign country without support of any kind. He faced the disabilities with a resolve that made me proud. He, like many other wounded soldiers had to learn how to start over. How to do things differently because of his disabilities. But Charlie considers himself lucky. Lucky to be alive, lucky to return home, lucky to have the chance to carry on with his life. So many of his fellow soldiers were not that lucky.

Arriving home to convalesce at Walter Reed began a new chapter for Charlie. He arrived home on the day of Kent State shootings. He arrived home to people yelling that he was a baby killer. He arrived home to find that America did not support the war, did not want us in South East Asia, hated our military and experienced people spitting on his uniform.

Add to this the fact that less than 3 weeks prior to coming home he was in the jungle fighting for his life and that of his fellow soldiers. There was no de-war therapy for Charlie. There was no training on how to reacquaint yourself with the America that had changed while he was away. The service trained our troops for months to be able to fight in Vietnam but within days Charlie was retired, medically discharged and sent home. No amount of patience could change the reaction of America to our veterans. We treated them like lepers. We pushed them aside and pretended they were not part of our country.

Vietnam Veterans have long suffered this feeling of devastation, feeling cut off and removed from the rest of America. DON’T DO THIS TO OUR TROOPS! No matter how you fee about the war or any conflict we enter…support those who are giving their lives to keep you free. Support those who have answered the call. Support them when they return injured or uninjured. Thank a Veteran for doing a job that allows you to be you. Allows you to voice how you feel and gives you the rights you have.

From this humble baby boomer to all our troops - God Bless You All and Thank You for Keeping My Country Safe! I will always support what you do because I know you do it for my country.

Take a moment and send a soldier a note. You words of support for them will mean so much. It doesn’t take long to write something and to tell them you support them. Visit this website to send a note:

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/tooursoldiers

If you would like to contact me - my email is: info@boomersmagic.com. I would like to hear your views because you have the right to express them. That right has been protected over the years by our soldiers giving their lives.

“Building Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Families Worldwide”

Boomers Magic

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