What? A Vietnam veteran who is not a raging psychopath? Yes, in The Ballad Of Andy Crocker, one of the first movies to deal with Vietnam veterans returning to the United States, we get a balanced look at such a person. Though all the same, the title figure finds out it’s a long road… when you’re on your own.
#1 by Blake on September 14, 2011 - 10:26 am
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My father was a Vietnam vet. When he returned home, he took his GI Bill money and went to college, majoring in journalism. He was a good husband and a loving father. And, like the people you mentioned that were surveyed, he was one of those who never regretted his service in the war. He did tell one of my sister’s friends that he had a nightmare about the war maybe once a year, but it never really affected him outwardly.
#2 by El Santo on September 14, 2011 - 12:17 pm
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Recurring bad dreams and the like are something you see with veterans of just about any conflict. My grandfather was a landing craft pilot in World War II, and while he mostly treats his service in the Atlantic theater as this big adventure he had in his youth, there are some aspects that he simply will not talk about. For that matter, if you watch his face while he recounts certain incidents, you can see where he’s mentally editing out parts that he’d rather not remember. I figure a bit of lingering unease is a natural and inevitable consequence of putting civilized people in the most uncivilized circumstances imaginable.
On the other hand, the Vietnam vet who married one of my mom’s old high school friends proves that it’s possible to be both more or less fully functional in normal society and stone psycho. To outward appearances, he’s just a tired, quiet old man, but get a few drinks in him, and the stories that come out of his mouth will freeze your frigging blood.
#3 by Blake on September 14, 2011 - 8:41 pm
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My neighbor, who was a vet and alcoholic, used to tell stories about going down the rivers of Vietnam firing M-79 grenade launchers at random into the river because the enemy supposedly had Russian breathing apparatuses that didn’t release air bubbles. He so casually described the image of dead bodies rising to the service that he almost made it sound fun, if you can imagine that.