Season 1 Episode 16: Murder is Never Quiet (1.16)

[Chris109]

I'd say your buddy has it right. It could be seen as a bitter attitude but it is a real one. And I agree with him. I'm not a veteran. My father served in Vietnam, and experienced quite a lot of the problems veterans faced when they came home. He rarely talks about it. Still it really bugs me that people who never served, want to wrap themselves in a flag, mumble a phrase and get to feel self-righteous. Don't get me started on top politicians who didn't bother going but use veterans to serve their own needs

Then this could be a catch-22. If you say something, the vet may feel like you don't mean it cause you didn't serve. But, if you don't say something, it could come off as you not caring one way or another.

[Steve]

I'd say your buddy has it right. It could be seen as a bitter attitude but it is a real one. And I agree with him. I'm not a veteran. My father served in Vietnam, and experienced quite a lot of the problems veterans faced when they came home. He rarely talks about it. Still it really bugs me that people who never served, want to wrap themselves in a flag, mumble a phrase and get to feel self-righteous. Don't get me started on top politicians who didn't bother going but use veterans to serve their own needs

Then this could be a catch-22. If you say something, the vet may feel like you don't mean it cause you didn't serve. But, if you don't say something, it could come off as you not caring one way or another.

I would ask your Father which he would prefer. I was in College in the early seventies, registered for the draft in 1972 and went thru two lotteries and thankfully, was not drafted. I saw the protests first hand and what the returning vets had to endure as many of the youth turned not just against the war, but anything considered "establishment" which included those in uniform and even students involved in ROTC programs.
I had a few returning Vets in my classes that were obviously suffering from PTSD but no one knew that disorder or term back then, their (our) fathers that returned from WWII and told them to man up and be quiet.
It was the show Magnum, P.I that came along and put the Vets in a positive light after years of movies that did not .... I will never forget the change in attitude in this country when folks realized these were heroes to be honored and not spit upon.
We even got to the point wherein Chicago had an incredibly emotional parade in 1986 honoring the Viet Nam Veterans with 200,000 Veterans marching and a half of a million spectators cheering them on. I have tears rolling down my eyes just thinking back about that event.
I for one hope we never go back to that attitude
By the way,s a biker, I can not tell you how many rides and events I have done for veterans causes from doing rides with the Patriot Guard Riders escorting the fallen to their funerals to rides to the local Veterans homes donating goods they may need (I have given many Magnum, P.I. DVD's that seem to be popular).
My favorite scene in the reboot this year, other than the one is this episode giving the house to the wounded warrior, is the one when Rick and TC are leaving a store and passing the Veteran in the Wheelchair asking for money, pass him by, get in the Island Hoppers Van, think about it and help him out including stopping him from suicide...........
Sometimes think Lenkov is trying, I just wish he would knock off the automatic weapons fire as that kind of over the top unrealisitic and not needed........

[LZeitgeist]

I don't know about anybody else, but when I say, 'Thank you for your service', I don't mean any of that douchebag shit you just described, and fuck anybody who ascribes that shit to my words.

My oldest brother served in Viet Nam, got shot up and sent home. Decades later, he suffered from PTSD, became an alcoholic and eventually killed himself because there was nothing any of us in his family could do to help him. My Dad was the one who found him. Since we couldn't afford to hire a crime scene cleanup business to clean up what was left after the coroner removed his body, my brother (who worked in a hospital), my significant other and I were the ones that handled it all while my sisters helped my Dad process what he had found. I personally took a small bag of my own brother's skull fragments to the morgue to be cremated with his body.

My Dad served in the Army Air Corps. He co-piloted B24's. He passed all his flight training just as the war ended, so he never got assigned overseas.

When I say 'thank you for your service', I fucking mean it. I mean thank you for protecting the rest of us who haven't served. Thank you for committing yourself to being an element of the shield that keeps America free and protected by yourself and others like you. You may or may not have joined enthusiastically but regardless, your doing what you swore to do when you put on that uniform means something to me, and I appreciate it, both for myself and for those I care about.

[308GUY]

Well stated LZeitgeist.

I feel pretty much the same way.

I didn't go to VN...but had buddies who did...some didn't come back...some didn't come all the way back....I was drafted in 69' so signed up to maybe have some "choices"...but when I got to Cleveland for the physical...they turned me away....asthmatic and other physical problems....1Y was the designation, as I recall.
(Looked it up and it was 1Y:1-Y - Registrant qualified for service only in time of war or national emergency.
Note: The 1-Y classification was abolished December 10, 1971. Local boards were subsequently instructed to reclassify all 1-Y registrants by administrative action.)
As we know, Viet Nam was never "officially" classified as a "war"...so I was "deferred"

I always felt like I could have done SOMETHING, but didn't matter...at the time, they wanted infantry...and some college boy probably got to ride a desk. Not saying they shouldn't, there were more than a few good officers, from what I'm told and what I heard.

Anyway....now I drive (volunteer) for the local VA, taking veterans to and from dr. appointments, clinic visits etc.. I get to talk to quite a few Viet Nam veterans....many did multiple tours....the stories I get more than exemplify "war is hell"...especially that one....but I'm sure those that served in WWII, (my dad went in as jr. in high school...overseas till end of the war, then came home, finished H.S. and became a teacher after college on the G.I. bill), or Korea, or ANY war...feel exactly the same way. Like you...IF I say "Thank you for your service"....I mean it...in the truest sense of the words used. Thank you for leaving friends, family, home and country and putting your ass on the line everyday you were away, so that we could meet at grandma's on Sunday for chicken dinner....and everything else America stands for and is. Most of the trips I do are at least 2 hours one way, so we often have time to talk. Some like to...some don't. I never push.

So sorry about your brother...and it must have been devastating for your entire family. Can't imagine how it affected your father...

At any rate, there are things we as individuals can do to show our appreciation every day....I try to do what I can, when I can as the need presents itself.
Don't want to get long winded here, just wanted to let you know, you're not alone in your feelings.

[LZeitgeist]

So sorry about your brother...and it must have been devastating for your entire family. Can't imagine how it affected your father...

At any rate, there are things we as individuals can do to show our appreciation every day....I try to do what I can, when I can as the need presents itself.
Don't want to get long winded here, just wanted to let you know, you're not alone in your feelings.

Thank you for the kind words,for sharing your story, for being willing to put yourself between us and those who might desire to harm us, and for doing what you are doing and can do for veterans.

[ConchRepublican]

I don't know about anybody else, but when I say, 'Thank you for your service', I don't mean any of that douchebag shit you just described, and fuck anybody who ascribes that shit to my words.

My oldest brother served in Viet Nam, got shot up and sent home. Decades later, he suffered from PTSD, became an alcoholic and eventually killed himself because there was nothing any of us in his family could do to help him. My Dad was the one who found him. Since we couldn't afford to hire a crime scene cleanup business to clean up what was left after the coroner removed his body, my brother (who worked in a hospital), my significant other and I were the ones that handled it all while my sisters helped my Dad process what he had found. I personally took a small bag of my own brother's skull fragments to the morgue to be cremated with his body.

My Dad served in the Army Air Corps. He co-piloted B24's. He passed all his flight training just as the war ended, so he never got assigned overseas.

When I say 'thank you for your service', I fucking mean it. I mean thank you for protecting the rest of us who haven't served. Thank you for committing yourself to being an element of the shield that keeps America free and protected by yourself and others like you. You may or may not have joined enthusiastically but regardless, your doing what you swore to do when you put on that uniform means something to me, and I appreciate it, both for myself and for those I care about.

First, please accept my sympathies for the loss of your brother. That must have been horrific in a way I can't even imagine.

Second, I'm right there with you. While I never served, I come from a family that has many who did - uncles and cousins, past and present - and I have great respect for their service and sacrifice. There's a Memorial Day parade that has run right past my house for pretty much my whole life, and I have rarely missed it and usually I host a party that takes the time to applaud our surviving vets and remember those fallen. When I worked in Manhattan, I always spent a portion of my lunch at the Veteran's Day parade. It's sad how sparse the crowds are, but at least I can applaud and appreciate those still with us for a little while, and let them know they are appreciated. Whenever I see a vet, usually you can only really tell because of the hat, I try and thank them for their service. Too many in the past never heard it and that should not happen again.