With ideals and patriotism, I enlisted in th USMC during the Vietnam era. Eight weeks of boot camp and four weeks of combat infantry training made me a "mean, green killing machine." After training as a photo-electronics surveillance technician, I received orders to DaNang during Tet '68. When my 4-year enlistment contract was fulfilled, I was discharged from the Marines into the USA.
I am one of "the lucky ones," no Agent Orange symptoms, no PTSD, no STDs, no wounds, no lurking "time bombs."
I now sit quietly as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the United States government and its citizens deal with the cases of Bowe Bergdahl and Devin P. Kelley. Quietly because I cannot understand how a nation can train warriors only to abandon them when they become volatile, useless liabilities. I am a Marine, and I not only care of my comrades, I speak out with quiet experience and endurance.