I hadn't been reading this thread but read through it today.
I came back from Vietnam in 1971. My memory's a bit weak, but I think we flew into Travis air base outside San Francisco. Took a couple of days to go through the outprocessing. I was in a BOQ room with a warrant officer who was heading to VN and he kept calling me "sir". I told him to knock it off - in another day or so I'd be a civilian. (His fatigues were all bright and green and mine were that light, faded lime color.)
Anyway, I flew home from SF in uniform but I did not notice any hostility during the trip home. But I wan't looking for any - I was just happy to be out of the army. BTW, when we took off from Saigon, when the wheels left the ground, everyone - and I mean everyone - spontaneous applauded (then went to sleep). Was it the same when you left?
I agree with Dave - I can generally tell if someone is BS'ing about being in VN. Everyone I ever knew had a 1,000 stories to tell and would bend your ear off if you even hinted about being interested. I know I have a bunch of stories and I didn't see combat.
Mike
Last edited by Mike Henderson; 07-14-2009 at 1:12 PM.
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