No Glory for Nam Vets
1200 word snap shot of a Nam vet31 total reviews
Comment from LeannaP
The job came with a staff discount...
My favorite line.
You write well and it shows presumably.
I loved your use of satire in this as well.
Nicely written.
I look forward to reading more of your work.
Excellent job!
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The job came with a staff discount...
My favorite line.
You write well and it shows presumably.
I loved your use of satire in this as well.
Nicely written.
I look forward to reading more of your work.
Excellent job!
Comment Written 11-Dec-2019
Comment from The Skys The Limit
Excellent rendering of a terrible war and time in our history. I was a teenager + during the Vietnam War years and I knew too many good, young men that served in that war. Your story really brings the horror of the conditions these soldiers and military persons had to bear. Very well written. Cheers! Barb @ TSTL
reply by the author on 16-Nov-2014
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Excellent rendering of a terrible war and time in our history. I was a teenager + during the Vietnam War years and I knew too many good, young men that served in that war. Your story really brings the horror of the conditions these soldiers and military persons had to bear. Very well written. Cheers! Barb @ TSTL
Comment Written 14-Nov-2014
reply by the author on 16-Nov-2014
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You're right, it was a very sad time and some men still scratch at the scars that VN imposed on them and left them broken. Thanks for the read and review.
Comment from boxergirl
This is certainly a heart wrenching tale about a Vietnam vet. I especially like the transition from the past to the present and that the doctor is a vet himself. Sadly, a very realistic scenario. My brother is a Vietnam vet and has suffered great anguish from his tour of duty.
reply by the author on 14-Nov-2014
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This is certainly a heart wrenching tale about a Vietnam vet. I especially like the transition from the past to the present and that the doctor is a vet himself. Sadly, a very realistic scenario. My brother is a Vietnam vet and has suffered great anguish from his tour of duty.
Comment Written 14-Nov-2014
reply by the author on 14-Nov-2014
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I know. Thanks for the tribute--the six stars--but unless we drift to the bottom of the pack, we are both winners in heartfelt stories that are both meaningful. hugs, inrid
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I agree!
Comment from K. Lorraine
Riveting and heartfelt. This was an excellent well written flash story. The author tugged at me heart strings. The descriptive scenic passages were vivid and chilling. It also brought back vivid memories of a young woman in love with a sailor who spent two years fighting in this war. I saw first-hand what Agent Orange did to my future husband's overall health, regardless that it was ten years later, before he displayed any symptoms. The story told the truth. Regardless that it is 50 years later, 'No Glory' was difficult to read. My first husband is gone now for nearly ten years... and how much of the mental, emotional and physical anguish he experienced over there attributed to his death. Good luck in the contest.
reply by the author on 14-Nov-2014
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Riveting and heartfelt. This was an excellent well written flash story. The author tugged at me heart strings. The descriptive scenic passages were vivid and chilling. It also brought back vivid memories of a young woman in love with a sailor who spent two years fighting in this war. I saw first-hand what Agent Orange did to my future husband's overall health, regardless that it was ten years later, before he displayed any symptoms. The story told the truth. Regardless that it is 50 years later, 'No Glory' was difficult to read. My first husband is gone now for nearly ten years... and how much of the mental, emotional and physical anguish he experienced over there attributed to his death. Good luck in the contest.
Comment Written 14-Nov-2014
reply by the author on 14-Nov-2014
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I'd wager a fair bit of his anguish was born in the jungle. Even if a person is capable of retiring actual memories, the atrocities seen or participated in at close proximity scarred many, many men for life. Thanks for reading.
Comment from donaldww
A poisonous herbicide. I hate to say it, but one of my mother's cousins worked on developing Agent Orange. What a terrible legacy, and the man felt guilt and remorse for years.
I like the way you humanize Will, a killing machine/soldier, by focusing on his relationship with Mary. And that relationship is a credible reason for him to fight to get home!
The twist at the end excellent. He's still asking for Mary and I wonder if she ever saw him again.
Great story!
Cheers,
DW
reply by the author on 13-Nov-2014
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A poisonous herbicide. I hate to say it, but one of my mother's cousins worked on developing Agent Orange. What a terrible legacy, and the man felt guilt and remorse for years.
I like the way you humanize Will, a killing machine/soldier, by focusing on his relationship with Mary. And that relationship is a credible reason for him to fight to get home!
The twist at the end excellent. He's still asking for Mary and I wonder if she ever saw him again.
Great story!
Cheers,
DW
Comment Written 13-Nov-2014
reply by the author on 13-Nov-2014
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Thank you very much for the generous review and star and sharing some personal history. Many people have worked in scientific research without understanding the impact and final results of their efforts. I hope he has resolved his involvement and is not tortured by the past.
Comment from justjo66
Realistic and powerful prose. A very sad ending. Viet Nam was 'my' war and, yes, it did end sadly. Thanks for writing this truth. I hope you win the contest.
reply by the author on 06-Nov-2014
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Realistic and powerful prose. A very sad ending. Viet Nam was 'my' war and, yes, it did end sadly. Thanks for writing this truth. I hope you win the contest.
Comment Written 06-Nov-2014
reply by the author on 06-Nov-2014
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Thank you for your generous review and stars. As you know there are still many suffering the aftermath of that experience. Politically correct folks won't understand the last line, but the VN vets do and many continue to suffer the experience.
Comment from jlsavell
Ingrid,
I read this work last week when you posted but was unable to get to it. This work resonates with me and its subject matter is moving and quite emotional.
It is quite evident you have done your research regarding the Viet Nam War.
I am actually speechless, so you will have to forgive me, because it parallels some of my experiences with Vets, including my ex.
Your writing captures the reader at the very beginning and they absolutely must stroll down its page savoring its imagery, its intellect, and its emotional impact. This is what good writing must do, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Jimi
reply by the author on 27-Oct-2014
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Ingrid,
I read this work last week when you posted but was unable to get to it. This work resonates with me and its subject matter is moving and quite emotional.
It is quite evident you have done your research regarding the Viet Nam War.
I am actually speechless, so you will have to forgive me, because it parallels some of my experiences with Vets, including my ex.
Your writing captures the reader at the very beginning and they absolutely must stroll down its page savoring its imagery, its intellect, and its emotional impact. This is what good writing must do, no ifs, ands, or buts.
Jimi
Comment Written 27-Oct-2014
reply by the author on 27-Oct-2014
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Michael Cahill wrote an essay about the 21 days that separated him from the draft in response to this story. To me, though others don't see it my way, I think the involvement in Iraq is much the same futile war, this time the US had a vested interest--oil. The current vets ARE treated with dignity and at least that's a relief, but in my mind, it escalated the issues in the middle east that opened up a keg of 'forever' war. Really no nation has financial resources to take the current conflicts to a peaceful conclusion.
I hold an unpopular opinion that a whole new 'swat team' approach needs to solve these problems.
Though there is some shame for the VN vets, many are still suffering the decade that stole their innocence in the sixties.
Thanks for the read.
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Ingrid, I read his work though I did not review. I hold the same sentiment as you.
Have you ever read Lone Survivor..Marc Luttrel wrote this work a few years back after his ordeal in Afghanistan..He is a good friend of a lady with whom I had worked with. I had the privilege of meeting him at the place I work not long after his rescue.
I have just read Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield by journalist Jeremy Skahill. I highly recommend this work.
My ex is a Viet Nam Vet and he has never retrieved his life. He carries a lot of weight.During the draft, he was a skinny skinny thing. He enlisted in hopes his odds were better than the lottery for going, for he was underweight, but evidently in the lottery it did not matter. His story is gut-wrenching, though he rarely talks about it.
In 2004, our younger son, Sarah's Dad, was deployed to Iraq. I remember the day at my ex-mother-in-laws, sitting on the back porch. It was a family gathering for Steven before his tour.I was numb. I can't tell you how I felt, for I just pushed it down deep inside. However, my ex walked up to the porch and started to speak and then buckled to his knees, trembling and sweating. We though he was having a heart attack, but he was actually having a nervous breakdown. The realization that his beloved son was about to go to war and quite possibly endure and be a part of the atrocities of carnage broke a festering boil from years of detachment and denial. It broke my heart.The Viet Nam war was the very catalyst which ruined my family and my marriage..
To say I understand, would not be true. Intellectual rationalization does nothing for the victims--of which you are one.
It reminds me of a time...someone dear to me had passed, but no one my husband new. I was crying and when he asked, I told him. Fifteen minutes later, he asked my why I was still crying. You know what his answer was to my response? "Yeah, well you ALREADY told me that."
There's the chronic misconception in the US that just because the US government has acknowledged the deep wounds and senselessness of VN, that everybody should be over it. You and I know different.
Comment from LIJ Red
I read this to see who you are because I was reading your latest (next) post. No one mentions the competitive advantage in business given to the scum who did not serve
that the VA didn't and couldn't offset. You write well.
reply by the author on 24-Oct-2014
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I read this to see who you are because I was reading your latest (next) post. No one mentions the competitive advantage in business given to the scum who did not serve
that the VA didn't and couldn't offset. You write well.
Comment Written 24-Oct-2014
reply by the author on 24-Oct-2014
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Thanks. It was intended as a snapshot, and although all the facts in my story are true, by no means was it a synopsis of those times. I set this story as a piece of fiction, one small story. As you no doubt know and seem to understand, there are hundreds of thousands of stories, some buried with the 58K men who died and some from those who survived, but sacrificed any chance at normal after their service.
Comment from Jumbo J
Hi Ingrid,
you painted the picture and executed the prose with a very believable account. Even though I was only eleven at the time, it did impact around me... my father's apprentice was drafted, he was just nineteen, as was every young man who received the unlucky draw. 'Speedy' went overseas a large-lovable joker and came back a very different man... and more recently I have had friends that fought in this war who have died from related agent orange cancers. Boys, sent to fight a politicians war, only to return damaged and ridiculed.
As always your writing brings a certain edge, that not only makes this a very entertaining read, but one that allows me to reflect on a world spinning off its axis, one where too many people on both sides died... not for a cause, but for an ideal... "Lest We Forget."
With our thoughts we create,
the image of righteousness,
James xx
reply by the author on 24-Oct-2014
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Hi Ingrid,
you painted the picture and executed the prose with a very believable account. Even though I was only eleven at the time, it did impact around me... my father's apprentice was drafted, he was just nineteen, as was every young man who received the unlucky draw. 'Speedy' went overseas a large-lovable joker and came back a very different man... and more recently I have had friends that fought in this war who have died from related agent orange cancers. Boys, sent to fight a politicians war, only to return damaged and ridiculed.
As always your writing brings a certain edge, that not only makes this a very entertaining read, but one that allows me to reflect on a world spinning off its axis, one where too many people on both sides died... not for a cause, but for an ideal... "Lest We Forget."
With our thoughts we create,
the image of righteousness,
James xx
Comment Written 24-Oct-2014
reply by the author on 24-Oct-2014
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By comparison, 58K US men died in VN, the death count in the Afghanistan/Iraq war is 4,500. All died for nothing. But in both cases, it was a politicians war.
Thanks for the stars. Hope you ate enjoying your reviews for your essay.
Comment from GWHARGIS
I loved reading about the Viet nam war. It was so intense and tore the U.S. nearly in two. My father was a Lt. Col. and his brother headed the Draft Board for the state of Virginia for many years. My maiden name was not a good one when the hippies and peace freaks heard it. The more I learn about war (My oldest son is in the Army, a medic)the more I hate it. The population will never know all the details and maybe that is a good thing. Great story. Gretchen
reply by the author on 23-Oct-2014
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I loved reading about the Viet nam war. It was so intense and tore the U.S. nearly in two. My father was a Lt. Col. and his brother headed the Draft Board for the state of Virginia for many years. My maiden name was not a good one when the hippies and peace freaks heard it. The more I learn about war (My oldest son is in the Army, a medic)the more I hate it. The population will never know all the details and maybe that is a good thing. Great story. Gretchen
Comment Written 23-Oct-2014
reply by the author on 23-Oct-2014
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The classic line in "A Few Good Men," that Jack Nicholson carved into my brain, remains what I believe the lies behind the impressive uniforms and polished buttons. "You can't handle the truth."
If the public was forced to process what young soldiers have seen, they'd go mad. Thanks for reading.
