"I kept thinking things had changed since I left. My sister Debbie had gotten married. Many high school friends were away at college. I contacted them but they were still young, they didn't understand that I had changed. Some of the same people were still sitting on cars downtown and talking about things that really didn't matter to me anymore. It wasn't them that had changed; it was me. The transition from a war zone to Middle America was not easy. Still, I had that "1000-yard stare," loud noises made me jump, helicopters woke me up when they flew over the house, and I felt ten years older. Many others had a much harder time in Vietnam than I had. The Grunts, the wounded, the guys that didn't make it home. We each had our own war. But we did what our country asked of us."
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Original Language: English
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Sources
Gary Baker, as quoted by William F. Brown in Our Vietnam Wars, Volume 4: As Told By More Veterans Who Served (2020), hardcover, p. 271
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
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Vietnam War
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