Welcome Home - V Chapter (Northern Virginia)
The Vietnam Veteran returned home in an atmosphere of controversy. We were asked by the U.S. Government and the people of the United States to go to the jungles of Vietnam and fight a war. We were asked to fight a war the politicians would not let us win. We were asked to serve our country, but the antiwar establishment and the American political system had more power. It was not the “NVA Soldier” that defeated us we were defeated by the system that sent us to the jungles. We did not go to Canada and run away from our duties. We went to war like our fathers and grandfathers and proudly served.
What we did in Vietnam? - we survived. The 58,261 names on the Vietnam Veteran Wall are the heroes. Many brothers came back wounded physically and mentally. Of the 2.7M that served in country, approximately 800,000 are alive today. The UH-1B helicopter and the quick response of the military medical corps saved many lives, 75,000 were severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, and 5,283 loss limbs. The tragedy did not end there, many came back with PTSD; each soldier afflicted in turn affected in some way the whole family.
The Vietnam Veteran served in the time when it was not fashionable to be a Vet. The Vietnam Veteran was spit on, and called a “baby killer”. The Vietnam Veteran was labeled an unstable, drug addict, and some companies ban Veteran’s hires. The Vietnam Veterans does not want today's Patriotic Veterans to come home to the same reception we received. Sometimes coming home and trying to find life during all of those years was harder than our tour of duty. Sun Tzu Wu said, “All warfare is based on deception” and unfortunately, the Vietnam Veteran, did not understand the real enemy that caused his suffering.
The Vietnam Veteran has endured and has many unique missions to fulfill. Three of the VNVMC’s missions are POW and MIA issues, living and passing on traditional values, and helping our Veteran’s Brothers find peace.
The VNVMC recognizes and strives that members of our profession of arms within the theater of operations are missing from our midst. They are commonly called POWs or MIAs, and we call them "Brothers." They are unable to be with us, so we remember them.
“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived through it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity”, General Dwight Eisenhower. The VNVMC has the honor and duty to transfer this knowledge of traditional values to the youth and politicians of America, with a steadfast commitment, that “Freedom is Not Free”.
“Peace comes, not from the absence of conflict in life, but from the ability to cope with it”, unknown. The VNVMC is privileged and obligated to assist our Veteran’s Brothers by being there for them, to find and live the tranquility and calmness before the passing. And to all that did not get a "Welcome Home", from your brothers "WELCOME HOME".
15 May 2010
Vietnam Vets Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club
Love, Respect, Brotherhood
Chapter V Northern Virginia
WELCOME
HOME
