The other day I was checking out at the Kroger register (which by the way is a good place to check out when leaving a store) and they lady working the register saw my Purple Heart ball cap and said her Daddy served in Korea and has a Purple Heart. During our conversation she told me that he never talked about the war and it was just a few years ago that she found out he had a Purple Heart and some other medals. Then she said she just couldn't understand why he didn't want to talk about it and "let it all out". I told her that most don't talk about it except maybe to others who were there. Only they understand.
After I was walking to my truck two things dawned on me. The first was the impression that we all who have been in combat have "it bottled up inside which needs to be let out". To me that is hog wash. It's hog wash that has been created by the media and others who think that anyone who has been in combat is scarred psychologically and are just walking around with some type of fuse inside of us that is just going off any minute if we don't "talk to someone and let it out''. Granted, combat changed us...some more than others both physically and mentally and for some it was for the better in both categories. I don't think there is anything in the majority of us who has something that we need to let out. Some of these whom you see "going off the deep end" were nuts to start with and some are doing it for attention and had never left the States or, in some cases, never in the military. Granted, it did damage some badly mentally. Just as an aside, Sen Ted Kennedy had someone on his staff (I think he was the senator's chief of staff), who claimed to have the Medal of Honor. When the truth came out not only did he not have the MOH he had never been in the military.
Second. In my opinion, the reason most of us don't tell "war stories" to those who have not been there is people won't understand the tone in which we talk about what happened. You see, most of the time we do talk to each other there is a lot of humor involved in the telling. Such as, "You won't believe it but that d@mn VC sniper shot tracer rounds right between my legs!! After I jumped in the canal, which helped clean my britches, we took his @ss out and we left him dangling from a rope where he was tied in the tree." You see, there is sort of a "black humor" among those who have "been there". Why do we laugh and joke about it even though it was dangerous and your fellow soldiers may have gotten wounded or even died? I don't know. But to me that's just the way it is and that, in MY opinion, is why veterans won't talk about their war experiences.
Dee
