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"Welcome Home"

I try to keep this blog focused on business related topics. Today, I shall stray. Indulge me.

Several years ago, I was at one of the large home-improvement stores with my father. We were elbow deep in bins of hardware, when a man with the store's signature bright apron walked up and asked if he could help us with anything. He noticed the hat my father was wearing, black with "Vietnam Veteran" in yellow. The man commented on this, and I noticed he wore both a hat and shirt listing his Vietnam Veteran status.

They began speaking in a code I had heard before. They listed years served, along with the names of cities that all seemed to end in "-ang" or "-san". They spoke of their infantry divisions. They even asked of people they may know in common.

The man then said something that left me speechless.

"Thank you for your service....and Welcome Home."

At first, such an odd statement. These two men had served in a foreign war roughly four decades ago, yet this man made a comment as though it were just yesterday.

As I process this, I sort of realize. These men were spit on. They were called 'baby-killers'. They were caught up in a situation that they probably didn't understand, only to find that if and when they did, they probably didn't agree with why they were there. When they came home, they were seen as perpetrators and not victims.

This man seemed to be working towards righting a wrong. Every veteran of that peculiar conflict, was to him, an opportunity. He could simply do what they were denied. A welcome home.

Ever since that day, I find myself walking up to strangers in uniform and thanking them.


Comments

Kim Phillips said…
Watched a long documentary yesterday about Viet Nam and heard what some of the vets said about being insulted upon returning home. While I feel fairly certain I would have been against the Viet Nam war, to blame the soldier—particularly one who was drafted—is unconscionable. As a citizen, it is my duty to call my government to task, but not the soldier. Your dad, my uncle, is one of the most honorable men I ever met, and he's the guy I'd most want on my team in a fight. He is one tough sumbitch, and still I know he suffers for his service even today.

Recently, I was waiting to be seated at a restaurant, standing next to a young man who was wearing the same (branded to the medical practice) sling I had to wear when I busted my shoulder. I looked at him and said, "Rotator cuff?" He said, "Iraqi bullet." Man, did I feel like a jerk. As soon as he and I both got over our surgeries and physical therapy, he was being deployed again, and I was going back to my computer.

Never, ever blame the soldier for a war you don't like...blame the politicians that put him or her there. And thank the soldier for your freedom to criticize your government as much as you want.
March 18, 2012 at 2:52 PM
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