Ladies and Gentlemen,

Whether you believe the war in Iraq was justified or not, what you must believe is the cost of that war includes care of those fighting it, for years and years and years after the shooting has stopped. Care of those who answer their nation’s call to duty has nothing to do with partisan politics.

Today, I’m posting an update from Scotty Cameron, who travelled back to Viet Nam, and travelled back in time to the day he was shot, 39 years ago – Scotty’s “Alive Day.”

Here’s Scotty’s report:

Hello everyone.

Well, my 39th “Alive Day” is over and I have left Vietnam and am now in Phnom Penh. I left Chau Doc, Vietnam and took a “slow boat” up the Mekong to here. I leave Vietnam with very mixed feelings. It is no longer the country that I so vividly remember, but a country that is looking to the future, rather than dwelling on the past. I had a mental picture of a country that was exactly like it was 39 years ago, and have found that it has moved on with the rest of the world.

The only ones that have remained in that distant time were me and the many veterans like me. What a shock! I went to my old base camp expecting to see an old rock tower with a 50 caliber machine gun , built by the French that I pulled many an hour of guard duty in while drying out and getting a little rest in Sa Dec. Instead I find it is now a Vietnamese military installation and the tower is gone. I have vivid memories of being shelled while in that tower and to stand and look where I served and see that it is no longer jungle along the river, but built up to over 1 million people.

Over 90% of the people that are now living in Vietnam were not alive when the war was going on, and the realization that I’m getting old hit me hard. When your an 18 year old soldier, you think your invincible and don’t comprehend change at this magnitude, and I find this realization very personally disturbing. I also found a memorial in Sadec, and to my surprise found out that Ho Chi Minh’s father was born there. The Mekong Delta now has literally millions of people living there, and as I traveled across the Delta it seemed like one continuous line of villages that have grown into each other.

There is now a bridge across the Mekong at Vinh Long, where before everything was by boat. There are roads everywhere, when before the only transport was by boat. I did see more of a military presence there than other parts of the country I’ve visited and I inquired about it. It seems after the fall of Saigon in April 1975, the cadre of the NLF (National Liberation Front, or Viet Cong) where replaced by officers from the North and there is still much resentment today. The Viet Cong where hurt very badly during the 1968 Tet offensive, consequently the North sent North Vietnamese Regulars to the delta.

I do remember finding them after firefights, but only in the same capacity I was in, that of an advisor. I don’t think I would advise any veteran that has PTSD to travel to Vietnam alone, as for myself this has been one of the most trying things I’ve ever done in my life. I have been fortunate in traveling with another Vietnam Vet who has been back 11 times, and it made a major difference. He was able to talk me down when I’d get uptight, and pick me up when I was getting depressed. I had someone to reminisce with who understood what I’d been through.

This trip has brought back things I’d totally forgotten about, some of them so traumatic I wish I would have left them there. I visited a French Orphanage that I used to take food to. It’s still there, but in a different location. Minnesota Veterans for Progress, a veterans organization in Duluth gave me money to donate here and that’s just what I did, as it’s much needed. One of the things that has hurt me more than anything else is the plight of the soldiers I fought with. In Vinh Long and Sadec, they took bulldozers and leveled their cemeteries and built over them. They are treated very badly by the government because , in the eyes of the victors, they had turned against their brothers and family.

I stayed with a Viet Cong husband/wife team on my “alive day”, and was quite disappointed as to their lack of any English. The husband I feel intentionally kept his wife hidden, but he was a very nice and kind gentleman. It seems I am not the first veteran to return to him with the same message, as he has pictures of other groups of veterans that have come there also. I guess in short I did accomplish what I set out to do here, but I have more questions now than when I first came here. I am going to return to Vietnam and it will be sooner rather than later this time.

I didn’t find the peace I thought I would after this tour, but I feel I’ve made a good start. I keep thinking of all the people of my generation that died here, some of who I’d forgotten about until I came back. It was really disheartening to pick up an English language newspaper and read that in the US documents had been declassified that proved the “Tonkin Gulf Incident” NEVER happened. That was what got us into the Vietnam War, or as the Vietnamese call it, “the American War”. In my opinion, those still alive, such as Dr. Henry Kissinger should be tried as the war criminals they are, as they cost the lives of over 58,000 young American kids and knew about and perpetuated the lie

Then I think of all the disabled and homeless still walking the streets of America today, some as disillusioned as myself. I think of people like Denny, one of a number of my personal vet friends that have committed suicide over the years. I think of all the loss to our country as a whole because of the intellectual loss. I wonder if possibly one of the “fallen heros” may have found the cure for cancer or possibly AIDS.

I guess we’ll never know, but one thing I do know is that if we don’t study and learn from history, it has a tendency to repeat itself. I think our present political position is a good point in fact. The similarities I see between the Nixon administration and the Bush administration speaks volumes, but this is not the time or place to debate that now. I have to sign off now as I have a volunteer opportunity to teach English for 2 hours to some Buddhist Monks at their temple and it’s something I want to do.

Take care and stay tuned as there’s so much more to talk about, such as PTSD in Vietnam, the effects of war on children and the ongoing effects of Agent Orange we sprayed here so long ago which is still being dealt with to this day and I’ll leave you with a question. Who should be ultimately responsible for the land mines left behind and the horrible effects of Agent Orange???

Scott Cameron

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For those of you reading this far, I’d like to thank you.

Please remember – 40 years from now, many of those that answered their nation’s call to duty, and served in Iraq and Afghanistan will still be alive.

We – as a nation – owe them a debt of gratitude we cannot ever repay.

We – as a nation – can make sure their health needs are met.

Please support veterans.

Thank you.

TPT

It’s A Great Day To Be A Veteran