IT was at least a double whammy. I think a triple whammy. First, the enemy was quite intent. That is too be expected. Next...how veterans were treated coming back from Vietnam. YOUNG PEOPLE READ THIS. IT IS TRUE. I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES. Do not believe people who said we hated the war but loved the soldiers. Some are truth tellers. Some are not. When the roll is called up yonder and when future generations analyze this the truth will out. It is one of the three top evils that America (US portion, but Canada has some things to account for as well) has done..slavery, treatment of Indians and treatment of Vietnam veterans. You expect the enemy to encourage your demise..you don't expect your own country to. Make no mistake, some people wanted us to die. They said so. I am not making this up. Some would call up parents whose sons (not many daughters but some) had died and said he deserved it. The third whammy was the POW situation. We knew there were POWS left behind or taken to Korea or wherever. I personally knew where one had been kept. So we, and I say we although I was not physically in Vietnam but i was really and truly in the war so never call me an era vet...not only had the war trauma but the us disgusting behavior and we had the feeling we had to strap on our water bottles and go rescue the prisoners....

and we never were trained to feel safe. we trained to think we were gearing up for WWIII and if we were sent to Vietnam we would be weaponless and very prime targets for being taken POW.