PGR BoD - You do not get to disrespect this

I have heard Vietnam Veterans recently labeled America's Toughest Generation. I agree with that. They were tough. They are tough. They had to be tough. They have to be tough. Even if it is unintentional Vietnam Veterans encounter disrespect every day - sometimes at the hands of people who question their service of only a year or two years and the medals they wear or hold. It was one or two years of pure hell and the medals they hold were hard won. People who dismiss Vietnam as ancient history... see it as irrelevant in today's self-serving world - know nothing, see nothing. Sometimes Vietnam Veterans as well as the veterans of our most recent conflicts are disrespected by the very organization who claims to honor and protect and serve Veterans.

What has happened to Ted Frosty Foster at the hands of PGR leadership and a self-serving national BoD is despicable. How can one expect trust from today's veterans if one exhibits disrespect for yesterday's veterans? How does a once fine organization deteriorate into the muddle of mindless contempt for a veteran majority membership that it is today? What astounds me is many of PGR leadership and the BoD have to be Vietnam Vets as well and had to have experienced disrespect for the job their country called them to do. Why then, when a fellow Vet claims he has been wronged do they turn a deaf ear and spit on the truth and the honor of the man himself? How do you turn your back on a Veteran's service to country and the PGR without a modicum of consideration for the truth?

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I was fifteen going on sixteen the year Ted/Dad was in Nam. You betcha I remember well when the man went missing out of my life and our family for over a year. You betcha I remember watching the news every night hoping not to see little bomb icons close to where he was stationed. We did not have instant media back then. We had air mail. So a day without a letter was a day of dread.

I didn't understand war protests back then. I guess I thought they were silly if I considered them at all. We were a military family. War was part of the job. The only thing I remember about the day my Vietnam Veteran walked back into our lives is relief that the man was back where he belonged. I didn't consider what he may have left behind on foreign soil. I didn't consider what he might have brought home. Such is the shallow and selfish aspect of youth. Safe in my bubble, I didn't consider that many not much older than myself endured a bloody hell and worse.



I didn't hear tales of Ted's experiences in Nam until the last few years when he began sharing with other Vietnam Veterans (friends he has made through association with the PGR). I admit I am still often horrified at some of the revelations. I never tire of hearing about the experiences of Veterans, particularly Vietnam Veterans - I guess because I can relate to that era. I call their tales experiences - not stories - because stories are something we tell our kids and grand-kids before bedtime.

Vietnam is hardly a bedtime story.

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I am sharing something I wrote a couple years back on Welcome Home Vietnam Veteran's Day...

They were Momma's boys, Daddy's sons, High school sweethearts, Big brothers, Somebody's Dad, Football heroes, Baseball stars, Fresh, Young, Agile. They were the embodiment of apple pie and ice cream, fireworks on the 4th of July, home-spun, home-grown, farm-raised, city-slicker, Chevy-driving, Harley-riding, blue-jeans-and-t-shirt America. They were our best and brightest.

BEFORE...
THEY WENT OFF TO WAR....

We shipped them away from America's promise, still wet behind the ears - out of our lives with tears, wrenched hearts and prayers. Duty called. They answered. They fought. They bled. Some died.

THEN...
THEY CAME HOME FROM WAR...

They were UN-welcomed by a silent and disapproving homeland, no parades, no flags, no confetti, no back-slapping speeches. Some braved the hissing, spitting gauntlet of mindless protest and disrespect.

STUNNED...
THEY STEPPED BACK INTO A STARK AND THANKLESS WORLD...

Standing in the embrace of a tiny knot of family whose prayers were answered, they faced a world they once knew which held no welcome and little promise. The world did not understand, could not understand and did not care.

SILENT...
THEY SHOULDERED FAULTLESS BLAME...

Some of them proud. Some of them bitter. Some of them broken. Most of them defiant. All of them survivors.

FINALLY...
THEY WEPT...

In rage. In tears. In silence... for the brothers in arms who did not come home and for those who would never come home and for the selves they left in a distant land. With firm resolve and stoic calm - they buried some who never witnessed the appreciation of their countrymen that was ultimately too little, too late.

EVER TRUE...
THEY ROSE OUT OF THE ASHES OF A SHAMED NATION...

They persevered. They overcame. They survived. Some of them. Vets proved the other they were wrong by living the dream and fulfilling America's promise.

NOW...
THEY TEACH US DAY-BY-DAY

About heroism. About respect. About principle. About patriotism.

TODAY... SOMETIMES...
THEY GET RESPECT LONG OVERDUE...

And now we as a nation know what real humility is.

WELCOME HOME VIETNAM VETERANS!
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE.
WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE.
WE WILL REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE NOT MADE IT HOME.
WE WILL HONOR THOSE WHO WILL NEVER MAKE IT HOME.

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HEADS UP! - YOU DO NOT GET TO DISRESPECT THIS!

Vietnam Vet Reunion after 40 plus years.

40 plus years ago - Vietnam -- Sadly Ted's Vietnam buddy (pictured here on the left and on the right in the photo above) succumbed to a long illness before 2012 came to an end. Rest in Peace Sir and thank you for your Service.