Thursday - September 09, 2004

A Letter To All Veterans

I received the following from a Vietnam veteran who is a good friend of Vilmars. He asked me to consider posting it and to edit it if I felt like it needed it. For the most part I’ve left it untouched .... because the letter touched me so strongly in its simplicity and honesty. I will only add to what is said below that my own father served two tours in Vietnam. It was the end of a thirty year career in the US Army and US Air Force that started on December 8, 1941. He came back home and retired .. a broken, tired man who had seen way too much in his lifetime. He passed away in 1978 from leukemia. Some said it was caused by the Agent Orange that my dad and many other aircraft mechanics were handling on a regular basis. It didn’t matter to dad. All he cared about was his family and his country. I’m sure he would have agreed with everything said below ....

Hi, everyone. My name is Steel Turman. I’m near 56 and did some serious ‘Nam time. In the navy. On the ground.

I asked to go there and I asked to stay there. And I was 17 when I went in, so the draft was not an issue.

I want to speak today to all the vets, especially the ‘Nam vets. AND to everyone else.

So lend an ear to an old dude who ain’t so good with words but who knows how to speak the truth.

A Letter To All Vets.

The recent dust-up of late about Kerry’s service or lack of it and Bush’s service or lack of it are ... seriously important issues to us.

Why? Well, let me tell you what I remember ....

I can remember the slackers and the gung ho guys that got ya dead. Either one was capable of it and you had to be on your toes all the time.

I can remember coming home and being despised.

I can also remember Kerry making us all out to be animals without souls ..... with words that hurt all of us, the ones of us who came home and the ones who were staying at the Hanoi prison camps.

And so can you.

Now is a different time. Been a few generations since then.

What’s fresh in our mind is not what is even in the mind of most today.

Today, half the people alive in this country are less than 35 years old.

35 years. Think about that.

I believe in my heart of hearts that Kerry is unfit because of his entire lack of character and was evidenced by his attempt to bring dishonor on all of us.

On the other hand, I’m sure Bush was a maximum slacker.

But these things mean little to the folks today.

Folks today, are not old enough to remember or care.

I say give the kids today something they care about.

They care about not getting blowed up. They care about knowing their babies won’t get blowed up.

So why don’t we give them the reasons WHY Bush is better and won’t get them blowed up?

We are, after all, the generation they look to for guidance. As long as we don’t drool. 

Don’t we have the responsibility to pass on the knowledge?

Kerry needs to be framed in the context of his unwillingness to protect this country as evidenced time and time again by his voting record.

Bush needs to be framed in the context of his willingness to do anything to do so, as evidenced by the last four years.

We need to help people understand these two men .. despite their past. What Kerry did to us is between us and him. The rest of the country just needs us to help them put it all in perspective.

I’m telling you, half the country don’t care about what happened yesterday but ALL the country cares about what will happen tomorrow.

Steel Turman
Reno, NV

Posted by The Skipper     on 09/09/2004 at 03:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Military •  
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