Each quarter I get a magazine-style newsletter from a Vietnam veterans organization. The group is not a large organization like VFW or American Legion, but limited to soldiers who served with the unit or its attachments in Vietnam and/or in Cambodia.
In the latest edition, a member wrote: “In September 2014 about a dozen members … were returning to the Tampa, Florida area on a Southwest Airlines flight after attending our reunion. One of our members … mentioned to one of the flight attendants that she might want to let the other passengers know we were on board the plane.”
When reading that, I thought: What? She might want to let the other passengers know …”
I wondered: Does he not recognize the arrogance in that statement? Why did the speaker or the writer believe they need special recognition?
When someone asks me, “Were you in Vietnam?” my thought is: Damn straight. My answer is: “Yes, I was.” I don’t need any special recognition; I don’t want any special recognition. I don’t even want a “Thank you for your service,” although if someone says that, I reply, “Thank you.”
“You might want to let the other passengers know we are on board the plane.”
That is an arrogance we can do without. That is arrogance that lessens all veterans.
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