Monday, October 13, 2014

Vietnam Vet "Dittybopper" AMA selected quotes:


[–]kiwicado 78 points 2 years ago 
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What were your opinions of the protesters? Did you ever go into the underground tunnel network? Did you see men getting trapped in the hidden traps? And aside from the war what were your impressions of the country?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 218 points 2 years ago 
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I myself protested the war when I returned to "The World," I had earned the right and felt deeply that the war was a bunch of bullshit and needed to end, I wanted my brothers home. I have seen the tunnel opennings but never went down in one - no F'n way. Admired those that did though, tough lil fuckers. I never witnessed anyone in a trap but have seen booby traps explode from a distance. My impression of Vietnam was that it could be very beautiful (especially from the air) but one didn't have much time to sightsee.
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[–][deleted] 145 points 2 years ago 
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Bless you. I am your age, and many guys I knew did not return. Fuck that war, fuck the wars now, seriously.
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 242 points 2 years ago 
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Yeah, fuck war.

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[–]hudsen 103 points 2 years ago 
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Was your time overseas actually characterized by the classic Vietnam era music that we know and love such as Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jimi Hendrix? Or in reality did you just hear little music at all?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 191 points 2 years ago 
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Yes there was music but being in the field we didn't get to hear a whole bunch. We could tune in AFVN radio if we had a radio. I remember lots of MoTown, Elvis style rock and some of the newer rock, the beatles and such. Always like "Run Through the Jungle" by Creedence but don't remember if it was popular during or after my tour. That song said it for me, something spooky out there waiting for you. Loved Country Joe and the Fish's "Fix'n to Die Rag." The Beatles Sgt Pepper album came out while I was in-country but I didn't really get to listen to it until I returned stateside. Now Hendrix I loved, I actually met him a couple of times when he played at the "Boston Tea Party," a club I put on light shows at after returning from nam. Very nice fellow.

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[–]nowellmaybe 17 points 2 years ago 
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Spent my first ten at Jackson, also. I swear, that place goes from middle of winter to middle of summer overnight. Ha!
How long did it take you to readjust to life after getting home? I'm a fobbit pogue, but I kinda worry about some of my combat arms friends who haven't "come home" quite yet.
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 32 points 2 years ago 
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It took for fucking ever and in some ways I'm still not back. Yeah, Jackson sucked, I was there in july, the sand, oh hell, the sand... I hope your Combat Arms buddies do the right thing and get some serious councilling, PTSD is nothing to mess with, its real, and really impacts ones life. Good luck to you.

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Anyway two final questions, what have you been doing since? Has there been any kind of fallout of your time in Vietnam (PTSD or the like)?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 56 points 2 years ago 
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I understand about proof, I did query the Mods before putting out the IAMA but have not heard back. I have spent my life as a graphic designer/illustrator. Yes, PTSD ever since. I just recently, about a month and a half ago, went through an intensive PTSD program at the VA. It helped (they are quite good at this now-a-days), but PTSD is a life sentence, you never fully recover from it. Sadly I know that now 45 years after the events. I try and help our returning vets from the recent wars as much as I can because I know that if they get early help they will be so much better and not suffer nearly so.
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[–]flagamuffin 32 points 2 years ago 
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How does your PTSD manifest itself, if you don't mind me asking?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 82 points 2 years ago 
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Usually there is something that sets me off, a good example is the 4th of July fireworks and people setting them off all over the place - drives me up the goddamned wall. Makes me startle and makes me jumpy. My nerves can't take that. Other things have happened such as me seeing a vietnamese fellow walking toward me coming down the street - he was a dead (no pun) ringer for a dead VC I once say, spooked hell out of me and I dreamed about him that evening. Huey Helicopters, their sound, takes me right back to the field, never fails. I am much much better now about all of that but still, now and again, something gets me.

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[–]jpjones7 34 points 2 years ago 
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What was it like coming back? Was the general public respectful?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 106 points 2 years ago 
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No, they were not, not by a long shot. No one spit on me personally but I endured lots of verbal abuse. One learned to never wear the uniform in public if it could be avoided. One was constantly asked "How many babies did you kill" and other deeply offensive questions like that and endured remarks that were terrible. Actually coming back, living and breathing, unhurt, was f'n wonderful, amazing - but then the remarks and such began and one wanted to just get back on the aircraft and go somewhere you felt wanted - by the side of your trooper brothers!
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[–]meaty99 106 points 2 years ago 
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My family and I are Vietnamese, and my grandfather fought for S. Vietnam. After the war, he was sent to a concentration camp by the VC for ten years. When he finally got out, he was given an opportunity to take his family to the US, and that is how I got here.
Even though the war did not turn out the way we wanted it to, I would like to take this moment to personally thank you for your support against the VC. If it wasn't for the US involvement, I certainly would not be living in the US and would not be having the opportunities for a good future that comes with it.
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 15 points 2 years ago 
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Well thank you very much. Tell your father that I have utmost respect for him. I am aware that it was no kind of picnic for him or his family. Wellcome to the US and I hope you all are doing well.

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[–]obedobedo 10 points 2 years ago 
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I have a friend who served in 3RAR and he is the first vet that I spoke to who was very open about his experiences in vietnam. He introduced me to the rest of the his platoon / squad and a lot of them aren't doing very well at all. Even though it was a (i'm guessing) nasty experience for you what is one thing that happened / you saw that makes you smile from the conflict to this day?
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 27 points 2 years ago 
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The only smile I get is, first, surviving, and second remembering the absolute joy I expereinced when leaving the country. I am not overwhelmed with bad or terrible memories. That stuff tends to fade with time and there has been plenty of time since vietnam. It got nasty at times but you have to understand that just being there, living in it, was a pretty nasty way to live. In the field things were basic, armed camping is what I called it. The daily grind of keeping clean, keeping your weapon cleaned, moving all the time and building bunkers, the heat, the humidity was an exhausting existence that wore you down. Being in a war is not all shoot'm up, its work, hard hard work, and mostly boring as hell. I had an interesting job, listening in on the enemy radio transmissions and tracking them via DF, that helped. I was with the infantry but not a PART of the infantry. I was not required to go on sweeps, trudge through the jungle searching for trouble. My job was to closely support those that did. I'd like to think that I was good at it.

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[–]moronic_semicolonic 8 points 2 years ago 
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questions: how has your ptsd impacted your life, family, and work? also, do you have connections to other veterans? what do you think we as residents or the u.s. government can do to better care for veterans and their families?
i ask because my father enlisted at age 17 (he was sure to be drafted) and returned in pieces. he was homeless or shifting between mental institutions and prisons for about thirty years. he left my mother before i turned two, and i wasn't able to reconnect with him until a few years ago. our relationship remains awkward but loving despite his absence over the years. he is much more stable now, but the ptsd continues to inform his actions and intensify his emotions.
thanks!
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 14 points 2 years ago 
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Great questions and I'm sorry that the war screwed your dad so and your relationship with him. He can STILL get help at the VA btw. PTSD impacted the hell out of me and my life, I am lucky I didn't end up like your father. I believe what saved me was getting into art, in fact I know that to be true. I became immersed in first pottery and then art school and later graphic design and illustration. I was able to bury myself in it all and push the PTSD away, but not forever. It creeps back in the smallest cracks. I hate it. I lost a marriage to it. It still stalks me but I got its name now and know how to combat it due to some intense VA help. Recommend to your father that he look into some VA help, it might do him a world of good even now. Good luck to you two and think you for the question.

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[–]Philip4695 44 points 2 years ago 
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How many men have you killed? (sorry if im a bit forward)
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 84 points 2 years ago 
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No problem, it is a dicey question though. Only two that I am sure of, there may have been others but I'll never know. the two were killed as a direct result of artillery fire directed at my teams DF effort. The infantry sent to search the area confirmed that the radio site had been blasted.

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[–]omgitsfaye 7 points 2 years ago 
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I was wondering how you feel about the My Lai massacre. I mean, in your experience, did it seem strange that soldiers couldn't question their orders even though they didn't agree, or was it just the way things were? sorry if i'm phrasing this badly; I'm just wondering whether you can share your thoughts about it as a soldier during that time.
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 6 points 2 years ago 
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I feel (and felt) awful about My Lai, couldn't understand it. I witnessed nothing like that and in fact i knew that extraordinary steps were taken to avoid civilian casualties. My Lai, I know now, was the exception and caused by extremely bad leadership. embarrassed me to be in the same army as Lt. Calley. i would hate to have to live with what those troops did, it was every kind of wrong.
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[–]Dittybopper[S] 18 points 2 years ago 
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I too "self medicated" for years after returning from vietnam. Drinking does NOT help, it is counter productive (you returning from our current wars take note). Racist!? I don't consider myself a racist in the sense that I hate another race just because they exsist. I come from a racist culture, the south and the US in general, but I learned early that its individuals one should judge and not a whole race because of the few assholes. I don't know your uncle but you should know that in the orient one learns to distinguish between the various ethnic groups, japanese, chinese, Lao, vietnamese etc. pretty quickly so I can understand him "knowing in his bones" when he spotted a vietnamese man. I have remarked elsewhere on my feeling about the vietnam war, and current wars, so look that up. Muslims are fine in my book as long as they don't use the Koran to justify terriorism because there is nothing in that book that should lead them to do so. Thank you for your questions.

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