For those who have served so that the world may be a better place:

[blackthorn]

There have been several threads over time that deplore the loss of the information that can come from other’s life experiences. Many posters have stated the reluctance (or outright refusal) of our Veterans to share their combat/war experiences. If you are one of these veterans, please consider taking the time to sit down and record your experiences either on paper or electronically. If those experiences are something that is painful to talk to others about, recording them so that future generations will come to know the pain, suffering and hardship you and your generation endured so that later generations may remain free! Those memoirs can be left behind so that your children, grandchildren etc. etc. will understand the sacrifices made so they can remain free. There may also be some good times to recall as well.

I was born in 1939 and I have never been in the military, with the exception of a brief time in Army cadets when I was in high school, so I have no concept of what my Dad (1st WW) or my Uncle (2nd WW) went through. Neither of them talked about the war. My thought when writing the above was that even if memories are hard/impossible to talk openly about, perhaps veterans would at least be able to record those things to be opened after they pass on. I know I would be so very interested in what happened to my Dad and Uncle during those terrible times.

[Uncle Jim]

most non-combat veteran people do not understand the mindset a combat veteran has to be in to survive in combat which is why most combat veterans remain silent about their experience. I am a Desert Storm Veteran myself and on the rare occasions I have opened up I was not believed by the people that I opened up to unless they were combat veterans themselves. Even the veterans that did not serve in combat did not believe what I was saying, even though it was God honest truth.

uncle Jim

[dbosman]

All my of age cousins were in Viet Nam. I'm younger. President Nixon gave me a present for my nineteenth birthday.
Marines, Air Force, Army.
Three in combat, one truck driver. Only the one who was a truck driver has talked about his adventures. One tale that was hilarious to the troops, and amusing in 1970 (no one was hurt) would probably be considered a minor war crime if related today. You had to have been there or some where similar.

[snuffy]

Some of them are under orders of secrecy for a minimum of 7 years, to not talk about what they did. Some are to NEVER talk about it!

Those that had bad experiences, talking about it might make them flash back to it. They say it's better to bring it out into the light, but that's not a good idea in some cases.

My son was in Iraq, then Afghanistan. He talks freely about it, but I know he's hiding some things from even me. That's fine with me, maybe I shouldn't ever know.

There's a lot of guilt in some of those vets life. Guilt about what they did, guilt about even being a survivor. If they're Christians, they're forgiven, if there was declared war, and they were under orders to do what they did.

I served during the Vietnam era. I had orders to go "over there", but they were cancelled a couple days before I began out processing. Seems the place I was going got blown up by the Vietcong, wiped it off the map! A remote radar site on a hill, used for an early warning system so the north's planes couldn't sneak up on us, and for directing our planes as they went north. I was lucky, by the time it was re-built, I had less than a year left. No overseas deployment with less than a year left, so I was asked to re-enlist, FAT CHANCE!

[woody13]

What Uncle Jim says is true. I served three tours to Iraq and no one fully feels what life was there nor would they understand when you tell them. I have learned they are eager to ask why and in the time of war and combat you cannot stop and ask why. Its better left unsaid and there is a quote that is very true. "In war many came home but only some really came home." This is just my thoughts and I feel the wounds I have are mine but I am proud I served and love my country I can tell you that. From what I have seen I choose not to take that freedom for granted one bit ever.

[Uncle Jim]

Woody13, WELCOME HOME!

[unclogum bill]

My father was such A WWll vet and when cancer closed in I went to visit him . I knew the war had messed him up , post tramadic stress, but back then you sucked it up by yourself. He never talked of his army life.
On his death bed he said this ," I was in the landing on Normandy, Assigned to hit the shore in a landing craft. As we approached I could see we weren't going to make it. See I always had good eyes and was trained to be an aircraft spotter because of it. I could see that other craft were destroyed ahead and men from them, were sinking because of the water depth and heavy packs . I cut my pack straps and boot laces in the craft, so I could swim ashore. Anyway a shell hit the front I got dumped over the side. Not sure how but made shore , shoe less and with no pack or rifle, Guys dropping everywhere. Took off running and stopped cause I cut my foot. Felt a bullet wizz by my ear Germans had a fox hole and before he could hit me I picked up a rifle from a dead guy and shot him dead. Another head popped up this guy with a lugar and I shot him as well. Turned out they had a radio and were directing the shells to hit our craft. I dropped in the hole and smashed the radio, fixed my foot with canteen and Germans tee shirt. Officer had big feet so I borrowed his boots. As I was getting ready to leave I see two more coming to the hole. When they lined up I shot both with one shot.....
Later he joined up with another company and before the day was out was field promoted to corporal , "Why me" he asked the sarge, You must be doing something right , your still alive", was the reply.
Anyway hes buried along with a lot of other good men it Calvin ton National Cemetery in Long Island NY. One of the last things he said on the matter is he wondered whether he would see any of the men he's killed where he was going.
My day was one of 9 children and all 7 boys served. When he was a kid his job was to take the Stevens? single shot .22 and add to the pot. I suspect that training aided him greatly that day. He never fired a gun after the war and the color red sent him to a dark place. Always, I mean always attended mass on Sunday. I think that was part of a bargain he made if God saw him through it.

[woody13]

Uncle Jim. Thank You!

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My father was such A WWll vet....

Sounds like an incredible man, thanks for sharing.
Jon

[Hardcast416taylor]

My brother served in an light tank (M3 Stuart) scout company as a tank crew commander (Sgt.) that landed on D +14 in Normandy. I learned from others that served with him that they went across France and finally into Germany besides a small detour into a small Burg named Bastogne with Pattons 3rd Armored relief column. My brother had 3 known times his tank was shot out from under him and he managed to get out. He lost another tank when crews were rotated due to few tanks and more crews. He only talked about the funny things that happened or about when he was in England waiting for the invasion to begin, but never the times from landing till he was on the "big boat home". To want to make a vet talk about a horrible ordeal that they went thru or worse put down on paper from memory is a sadistic thing try to do to someone that would rather just try to forget what they witnessed or went thru in a war.Robert

[CPL Lou]

I'm not ready, as of yet.
Some things are better left unsaid.
Sorry.

CPL Lou

[sundog]

My wife's cousin did a 'memory dump' on his brother and me years ago. Leslie made the landing at Iwo Jimo. Only a few from his Marine company survived. Leslie talked solid for about two hours as Paul and I sat and listened..., in awe. Paul told me later that as far as he knew that Leslie had never told anyone. I got the feeling afterward that it was for Paul and me only. He wanted us to know, but not others. It was like he had to tell someone, but not just anyone. I respect that. Les has since passed on, an American Hero.

[TheCelt]

When my wife asks me how I'm doing I never tell her the truth. She does not really want to hear the truth. When I got back from SE Asia in '73 I was treated like **** by every civilian I met except my family and they didn't want to talk about it, that hurt pretty bad. I was AF and as such wasn't a front line shooter but we saw our fair share of ****. Folks didn't want to hear about it then and I don't feel like talking about it now. Most of the folks that understand are gone now anyways.

[Love Life]

Maybe one day.

The sad part is that the things you do are surreal. They are so out of this world and counter to anything your were taught prior. It takes years to figure it all out yourself.

You can't explain them. People don't understand. They nod their heads and mumble things like "Oh my God. That's terrible.", but they don't understand. Nor should they. All they need to understand is that men stood up when they were required to, and did things that were required of them.

There is a reason combat vets don't ask combat vets about the things they have seen or done.

Now, if you meet some random person in a bar who regals you with their wild tales of wonton killing and destruction, then there is a 99% chance they are spitting BS. Either that or they are a psyco/sociopath.

I hope my wife, daughter, and future child never hear of what it is like in war or what I have done and seen. All they need to know is that I went.

[TheCelt]

Maybe one day.

The sad part is that the things you do are surreal. They are so out of this world and counter to anything your were taught prior. It takes years to figure it all out yourself.

You can't explain them. People don't understand. They nod their heads and mumble things like "Oh my God. That's terrible.", but they don't understand. Nor should they. All they need to understand is that men stood up when they were required to, and did things that were required of them.

There is a reason combat vets don't ask combat vets about the things they have seen or done.

Now, if you meet some random person in a bar who regals you with their wild tales of wonton killing and destruction, then there is a 99% chance they are spitting BS. Either that or they are a psyco/sociopath.

I hope my wife, daughter, and future child never hear of what it is like in war or what I have done and seen. All they need to know is that I went.

Dang Dick, that was really well said.........

[Sensai]

CPL Lou, you got that right. I served in Vietnam through Desert Storm. I was a Medevac pilot in Vietnam. Had enough of the unarmed target stuff and got a gun transition. Served as an attack helicopter pilot/ maintenance officer / test pilot the rest of the time. Front line combat in Vietnam, Desert Storm and some other confrontations. Some things I'll talk about, but a lot of things are best left unsaid. I don't want to write about them, talk about them or even think about them.

[scarry scarney]

Snuffy

Where you EW? Going over for Igloo White?

On another note, daughter and I went to a NRA shotgun instuctor class this weekend, and on the drive home, I talked about some of my time while on active duty. She remembered me always being gone "TDY" but she didnt know what it meant, or where I was. She just new I retired from the military, and what my last job in the military was.

Yes, she is now an NRA shotgun instructor. She already had her Pistol Instructor and Chief Range Safety Officer rating. We have to pass our sport onto the next generation, or it wont last.

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

I have often wondered the same thing, why do Veterans of Combat seem very reluctant to speak of their experiences.
These Gentlemen in this thread have it nailed. Many things are better left unsaid or spoken of by "those who were there". I
personally do not intend to ever ask that of any of them.

[snuffy]

Snuffy

Where you EW? Going over for Igloo White?

Dunno what that is. I was in Air Force civil engineering, power production. It would have been my job to run/maintain the EMU generator that provided power to the entire radar site. What do you think the primary target is when the gooks wanted to shut down the site? Right, knock out the power! Us guys had a life expectancy of 2 days on average.

[Echo]

My own adventures in 20 years of USAF were pretty mundane. The only thing I had to worry about in SE Asia (I was in Thailand) was getting drunk and falling in a Klong, and I never did those two things together. Very little of interest to anyone...