Let's chill the hyper-patriotism

As a Vietnam combat veteran and former member of D Company, 133rd Infantry, welcome back, 133rd.

Just don't make us into heroes. We were just doing our job. Some did heroic things. Some were slackers. Some worked hard day and night. Some filched government property. Most of us did most of those things.

There are some differences between Vietnam and Afghanistan. We got paid a pittance. The all-volunteer army is paid well, and the education benefits are outstanding. There were 10 times the fatalities in Vietnam, compared to the two Mideast wars today. We were able to visit the village to pop a tab and improve the economic conditions of many an enterprising young woman. Probably not in Afghanistan.

With about 50 cents of every tax dollar going to the military, and this country going rapidly broke, we will probably not see many Vietnams or Afghanistans in the future. The Libyan model is the future.

There are similarities between the two wars. Fighting asymmetrical wars, the soldiers do not know who the enemy is; and we did not, and do not, know why we were, and are, there.

But we've come a long way since December 1967 when I quietly and unobtrusively returned from Vietnam and rejoined my wife at Berkeley, where she was a student.

Where to now? Whatever. Let's just keep it all in historical perspective and chill the hyper-patriotism. We are not 1930s Germany, yet.

David Overby

Peosta