9 replies to this topic

[Troy Spurlock]

Transmission to Transition by Darin Farr of the UTAH VA

This is a really good video that addresses concerns of today's veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan where returning to civilian roadways and driving (e.g. miscommunication and misunderstanding by law enforcement when approaching and handling veterans they pull over), attending schools (e.g. discrimination and ostricizing - like the Penn State Video), and getting back into the employment sector (e.g. discrimination).

Please watch and give feedback (which can be relayed to the producer, if you wish).

Troy Spurlock

[Commander Bob]

Thanks for the videos and the flashback @16.35 min. of the "Transmission on Transition" video, when the young vet was walking through the halls of his college. The absents of anti war protesters was notable. I flashed back to1968, when I got home and returned to school, and being treated with destain from the staff and fellow students. We were hated by many of our peers back then. Others thought that we were fools for going to Vietnam. PTSD was not recognized yet, and combat related stress disorders were considered manifestations of poor self discipline and/ or cowardice by the medical community & civilians. I'm glad that the new returning vets do not have to experience that kind of rejection. It's tough enough to readjust, now a days, without that additional insult and condemnation for military service.

[Pete53]

I was drafted in 1968 and went to College in Texas which still pretty much supported the War.

[Commander Bob]

I was drafted in 1968 and went to College in Texas which still pretty much supported the War.

Did you go to college before or after you were drafted, Pete? As you know, the Summer of 1968 was a pivotal point of the anti war movement on campus. I was off active duty, and entered college during the Summer of 68'. When I visited the student union, I was a treated like I had the plague.

[john999]

I remember talking about Vietnam with some students at the student union. I got these sort of blank stares, and it was one of those learning moments when you realize you don't want to bring up this topic again. Every guy there was dodging the draft. I could not blame them for that. When I mentioned I had been in Vietnam it was like I had cut a fart in church. Nobody insulted me. They forgave me for being an idiot.

[Pete53]

I was in College when I was drafted and when I got out I went back. But Texas never got near as radical as some other places in the Country.

[Commander Bob]

I sensed some indifference toward the young returning vet in the "Transmission to Transition" video . I wouldn't want to see history repeat it's self.

Claims that Vietnam vets exaggerated the mistreatment they received when they returned to the States, was in the news recently. We discussed it on Hadit. Something about returning Vietnam vets being spit on, was just a myth...

here is a link to the Vietnam anti war movement in the U.S....
http://www.emints.or...S00001560.shtml


Again, it has been said "If we don't learn from the past then we are doomed to repeat it."

Edited by Commander Bob, 18 October 2009 - 04:49 PM.

[john999]

I was in Vietnam during the Kent State shooting. It was just a line in the Stars and Stripes. We were so isolated from all that. I was not political. At that time you either went to college or you got drafted usually. Before the army I had never thought about Vietnam at all. I had never been confronted with the class system in suck stark terms as in the army. It opened my eyes.

[Troy Spurlock]

Thanks for the videos and the flashback @16.35 min. of the "Transmission on Transition" video, when the young vet was walking through the halls of his college. The absents of anti war protesters was notable. I flashed back to1968, when I got home and returned to school, and being treated with destain from the staff and fellow students. We were hated by many of our peers back then. Others thought that we were fools for going to Vietnam. PTSD was not recognized yet, and combat related stress disorders were considered manifestations of poor self discipline and/ or cowardice by the medical community & civilians. I'm glad that the new returning vets do not have to experience that kind of rejection. It's tough enough to readjust, now a days, without that additional insult and condemnation for military service.

Flashbacks were not my intention, and I doubt it was the producers either.

The video was meant for information to make others aware of what today's veterans are going through.

It's too bad someone didn't care enough to do the same for the Vietnam era veterans.

T.S.

[Commander Bob]

Flashbacks were not my intention, and I doubt it was the producers either.

The video was meant for information to make others aware of what today's veterans are going through.

It's too bad someone didn't care enough to do the same for the Vietnam era veterans.

T.S.

I am sure that flashbacks were not your intentions, nor the producers'. I found it notable, and meant it in jest, to point out the indifference experienced by the vets of yesterday and today, when they returned to school..

Edited by Commander Bob, 21 November 2009 - 07:12 PM.