Tough Talk with Colonel Hunt

Pay Attention to the Vets

We should listen. We now have Hagal and Murtha, a Republican and a Democrat. Each has been critical and each wants things to change in Iraq, They want things to change now.

I have said that Iraq is not Vietnam, and I still believe that. But all of us who fought in Viet Nam have experienced the amazing frustration of the interference, incompetence and lack of support for what we were doing. We have never blamed each other. We have always respected the brothers who came home, mourned those who died and we have never forgotten those who are still there. It never leaves us.

We are loath to say anything about Iraq because many will jump on what we say and use our experience to support or attack the current administration or worse, interpret what we say as some how being critical of those who are in uniform fighting. Those of us who had bags of shit thrown at us in airports when we came home from Nam and those of us who were refused admission into the American Veterans of Foreign Wars do not want our sons and daughters to feel that way. So when one of us says something, we do so because we care about the soldiers and we do not want Iraq to be anything like Vietnam.

When combat veterans speak about what they know, it is best to listen. I didn’t say agree; I said listen.

There have been so many errors made by our government in the last 29 months, so many failures of leadership by both the civilian and military that it would fill a large book. It is time to start doing things right.

We have just passed the 17,000 wounded mark and over 2,060 of our best are dead. These casualties were mostly caused by bombs--not soldiers or advancing armies--but by murderers who put bombs in dead cows and dogs. While we are not losing this war, we are not winning either, our political leaders are giving Syria and Iran a pass and we are letting militias run around free in Iraq while corruption is everywhere

Let’s be clear, if anyone can criticize out handling of this war while holding the feet and balls of incompetent political and military leaders to the fire, combat vets can. Who better? It’s kind of hard to call them unpatriotic and whoever throws the next rock had better damn well have a purple heart attached to it. Others talking about this: Michelle Malkin, Small Town Veteran, and The Moderate Voice. Posted over at The Political Teen.

Veteran's Day

50,000 deep on the parade route, all there to say one thing:“Thank you Viet Nam Vets. We love you.” 3,500 people in the parade, one of them me. I never do these kinds of events but my friend asked me to be the Grand Marshall in this Welcome Home Viet Nam Vets Parade, held in Las Vegas, and I said yes. I rode in the back of a “bling-ed” out Hummer with movie, TV and radio star—and my good friend--Jerry Doyle. Truth be told, the tricked out Hummer was a bigger attraction than the two of us “follicley” challenged guys.

At first, I was uncomfortable, waving to people like I was somebody. But then I saw them: the guys in Tiger Fatigues with tears in their eyes, the guys in wheel chairs waving with their one hand or just looking, I don’t know, satisfied or content. They yelled, “WELCOME HOME BROTHER!" Man, that was something.

Then I saw the kids. They all had the day off from school because it was Veteran’s Day and most of them were at the parade because their parents made them go. I’d look at a young boy or girl and wave, then yell, “HOW COME YOU AREN’T IN SCHOOL?" They’d smile and then their Mom or Dad would tell them, “Say thank you.” And they would, embarrassed but happy that some guy in a parade waved only to them.

Vets were yelling, “WHO YOU WITH?" (This was their way of asking what unit you were assigned to.) Guys would yell back: “4th ID,” “25th,”5 Special Forces,” “USS Kentucky,” “I was a TRASH HAULER."

I had to put my sun glasses on. I did not want the kids to see me crying.

After the parade, Vets came up to talk to us, just to say hi or to say thanks. We talked to a former POW who spent 7 ½ years in the Hanoi Hilton. He was on fire when he was shot down--on fire... Some people recognized me from TV, but that day it was not about FOX or me; it was about us and it was about time and I let the crowd wash over me. That day it was about us and we connected; we were home.

I know that that damn War touched us--touched me--in ways that we still do not fully recognize and that we have not fully dealt with, but part of the journey has finally begun. In a way, the day was sad and overwhelming; I missed my Dad and my brother and all of the brothers who are no longer with us and yet in another way, they all seemed to be with me in the parade and I felt full. I felt....like I was home.