A Thank You to all Vietnam Vets from a Marine in Iraq
 
 A guy gets time to think over here and I was thinking about all the
 support we get from home. Sometimes it's overwhelming. We get care
 packages at times faster than we can use them.  There are boxes and
 boxes of toiletries and snacks lining the center of every tent; the
 generosity has been amazing. So, I was pondering the question: "Why do
 we have so much support?"
 
 In my opinion, it all came down to one thing: Vietnam Veterans. I think
 we learned a lesson, as a nation, that no matter what, you have to
 support the troops who are on the line, who are risking everything. We
 treated them so poorly back then. When they returned was even worse.
 The stories are nightmarish of what our returning warriors were
 subjected to. It is a national scar, a blemish on our country, an
 embarrassment to all of us.
 
 After Vietnam, it had time to sink in. The guilt in our collective
 consciousness grew. It shamed us.  However, we learned from our
 mistake.  Somewhere during the late 1970's and on into the 80's, we
 realized that we can't treat our warriors that way. So ... starting
 during the Gulf War, when the first real opportunity arose to stand up
 and support the troops, we did. We did it to support our friends and
 family going off to war. But we also did it to right the wrongs from
 the Vietnam era. We treat our troops of today like the heroes they
 were, and are, acknowledge and celebrate their sacrifice, and rejoice
 at their homecoming ... instead of spitting on them.
 
 And that support continues today for those of us in Iraq. Our country
 knows that it must support us and it does. The lesson was learned in
 Vietnam and we are all better because of it.
 
 Everyone who has gone before is a hero. They are celebrated in my
 heart. I think admirably of all those who have gone before me. From
 those who fought to establish this country in the late 1770's to those
 I serve with here  in Iraq. They have all sacrificed to ensure our
 freedom.  But when I get back home, I'm going to make it a personal
 mission to specifically thank every Vietnam Vet I encounter for THEIR
 sacrifice. Because if nothing else good came from that terrible war,
 one thing did. It was the lesson learned on how we treat our warriors.
 We as a country learned from our mistake and now we treat our warriors
 as heroes, as we should have all along.  I am the beneficiary of their
 sacrifice. Not only for the freedom they, like veterans from other
 wars, ensured, but for how well our country now treats my fellow
 Marines and I. We are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice.
 
 
 Semper Fidelis,
 
 
 Major Brian P. Bresnahan
 United States Marine Corps