For Vietnam veterans, By MARC COHEN Collegian Staff Writer The Vietnam War dream is over. Upon awakening from our unpleasant dream, we have been able to let the whole scenario fade into 'blivion in the furthest cor ners of our minds. For some, the war was more than just an unpleasant dream. It was more than a nightmare it was real. Some men went through a reality that can't be forgot ten. Whether it was right or wrong, the memory still haunts them. "God and country and all that stuff is nice, but it's not for me." said Bruce Cheney, a vet who lived through the battles. "It's fine for other people. but I wouldn't fight at all anymore, not at all." Visions of being heroes ooticed some men into •nlisting "I dropped out of Itgh school ,and volunteered 'or Vietnam," Cheney said. I didn't know that much ,bout hie Basically, I went to Vietnam to be John Wayne. "But when I gut there, I got close to death and realized I didn't want to die. John Wayne never died in a war." Cheney. a door gunner on an assault helicopter, was in three hot landing zones. "After one battle I saw bullet holes in the chopper right behind my head. I said the hell with that and became an airplane electrician," he said. "I didn't want to be in battle immure." Though Vietnam is behind him now, it still lives inside him. "Sometimes it bothers me when I think of the people who were killed," he said, eyes glossy. "I realize that the enemy had families and friends just like we did. "I don't know if I killed anyone." he said, looking don at his folded hands. "I really don't know if I've taken a Ide. How would you feel if +to didn't know whether (Ju'd killed someone or not? "I never had to shoot at a 21 —e ViewMaster N Bicentennial Gift Pak 200 years of American History packed into a perfect gift canister. Our nations history traced from its early beginnings to present day history in 10 captivating stereo reels. Titles include: Forging of a Nation, Westward Expansion 20th Century, Landmarks of American History, The Revolutionary War, Historic Boston, Historic Philadelphia. All this history comes packed in commemorative 1 Gift Pak which contains stereo viewer and 70 full-color 3-dimensional pictures. . _ . _ GROWING TREE TOYS & BOOKS i 4 202 S. Allen St. opposite Schlow Library person, I was just told to spray the bushes. I had to put down a good cover. And I just don't know if I killed anybody. Perhaps...perhaps I didn't. There's nothing I can do about it, but I wouldn't do it again." War brought the world to life through death. Cheney 'said losing some of 'his close friends was like losing a member of his family. "It's hard to realize that...that I'm never going to see them again. I just didn't want to see a man die. If a man died, I couldn't get to know him better." These men were the only family a soldier had over there, he said. "Of course you get letters, but letter's don't say what faces say." Some men had no visions when they went to Vietnam. "I was drafted," said one vet who wished to remain anonymous. "It wasn't easy to go, but I did it. "It was a rough experience and I kthow it was probably wrong but I was just glad to get out." He said he couldn't make close friends over there because everything was so tentative. "You never knew what was going to happen. A person didn't know if , he would live to see the next day," he said. "You go there, and otic whatever you have to do to be able to leave. I wouldn't do it again. No, I wouldn't go anywhere. I'm just glad I came back." Dwayne "Fang" Fagan's attitudes changfd the whole time he was in Nam. "I volunteered for Vietnam," Fagan said, "but the way the army operated and the killing turned me against the war." "The killing really affected me," he said in almost a whisper. His first experience of killing was remorseful. "But," he quickly added, "as much as I hated to do it, it was necessary for survival. realized that no matter how much I disliked it, I was caught in the situation. There were no guilt feelings. It was just a question of survival." Losing friends was the worst part of it. "I hated to see my buddies get killed or listed as missing in action," he said. "I've got no way of knowing about them. I'd sooner know they were dead rather than missing in ac tion." Not only was the man destroyed, but so was the TONITE ! : sTARTING.ik ill 2 KE = ALL FOR : FREE COFFEE AN, DONUTS::: Ensmnininumnin Saturday, November 8, 1975 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon 1:30 PM - 4:00 PM 8:00 PM 10:00 PM Come meet your. friends from the Commonwealth Campuses ~ k j f Rick Burk land "The land in Vietnam was marked by huge craters where bombs exploded," Fagan said. "Wars do ab solutely nothing except reduce the population and destroy the land." Fagan said Vietnam was a teaching experience. "The whole year upset me, and everything I saw changed my attitudes. I would never support another war like that," he said. "I'm dead set 11111 1111 l 1 1111 l 11111111IIIIIIIIIIIIIIM1111111111111111111111111111111111 , MMONSPLACE COFFEEHOUSE PRESENTS LICUUS of lENTIMTAINMIENT silent Film. • PHANTOM OF THE ODE RA with LIVE then: .piano accompan-C TH64TRo iment- NPR:A/ followed by: MULTI MEDIAby PRESENTATION. DR. PHILIP STEBBINS . 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 . Y. ... ..... ~.....~.....~ .. l: All U -Day Schedule of Events the nightmare remains against it." Economic reasons were given by Rick Burk for his enlisting. "While in the army I thought there must have been some reason why we were in Vietnam," he said. "If I was sent there, I was sent there." "I worked at a com munications center that was fairly secure," he said. "I didn't have time to think about the war, I was too busy doing my job." "There was no moral, im plication at all; I just did my job," Burk said. "It's like the guy dropping the bombs, he was just doing his job." He added that his ex- : , periences in Viet Nam changed his opinion of politics. "I'm very cynical now. I just don't trust the experts in government. You've seen what happens when experts tell us what to do." He said the only reason he votes is to make sure his vote counted. "I usually vote for some off the wall person," he said. "But now I'm really apathetic. I realized I couldn't do anything about the decisions being made," he said. The world seemed apathetic, too: "No one cared about the guy who just died out on the front lines." Americans didn't know much about the war and don't realize what went on in Vietnam, he said. The cen sorship was heavy: "A lot of information was supressed." "There were race riots in Vietnam that no one heard about," Burk said. "Black and white Americans were too busy fighting among themselves to fight a war. No one heard about those riots, but then again who cares? One time my , hometown newspaper reported that my base had been overrun. That was news to me." Photo by Joe Ton Vietnam was a learning experience for Burk. "I would never fight again," he said, "unless there was a blatant attack on the United States." All U-I)ay Registration HUB Ballroom Football game Beaver Stadium PSU vs. N.C. State Convert (Rey Hall) featuring: Jesse Colin Young Jammy, HUB Ballroom (co-sponsored by HUB) featuring: "Sky Lorn" :;:fig:•}:::}: k:}:f::::•.'• :•:{ti•R?r.: r 3. Vietnam's distance from the U.S. enhanced its illusionary aura, but the men who fought were close to us and real. "The reality of going to Vietnam hit me 30 days before I went," said one vet. "I enlisted in the air force before I was drafted so I wouldn't have to go to Viet nam," he said. "Five months later I was sent to Nam." "After I was there I realized that dammit, we didn't belong there," he said. I learned about Nam by being there. "I didn't believe we belonged there, but since we were there we should do what we're supposed to do, fight the Viet Cong. "But we were going nowhere. The general idea was that we couldn't shoot until we were shot at," he said. "Our hands were tied." "We could have put men arms length apart across Vietnam, when we had half a million troops , there, and march straight north and destroy everything that wasn't friendly," he said. "Instead, we'd clear out a place, leave, and the enemy would come back. We'd bomb PLATIGNLINI ITALIC SET COntains a rOli /Mull r o, fnc Ii• ''' l ', :Willi 711 V; .Irlii oiStruCtuni rommiai All ror Oruy $5OO . ,4t .irt matcria( ;- pin shop. , COIIOIC h:0 1 : stvris 0 , SNA .... Chick ro • Is on.it - iC Corr.:3Z west 22 Sr, NN, Is/ N', Wolf Arid 50 corns r - or ,-,,,„,ir,,L, 43‘ealac oo ' '''' NEGinAIORLIA. i , s ,. 126 s.puGH.ur.5i:A.JR. The Dail• Collegian Friday, November 7, 197- bunkers and the enemy would build them up the next day." The trouble in Vietnam was: who was the enemy? In war innocent people are killed, he said. Local people probably got involved in the war because of fear. They were forced to support the Viet Cong. Sometimes they would find a man carrying rockets in his woodpile, he said. "Maybe he was forced to do that at the threat of having his family killed. All I thought was, I'm sorry they're forcing you to do this but to me you're still the enemy. Those rockets were going to be used against me." "You've got to stop somewhere. I was very bitter because our hands were tied so damn much. All we were doing was harassing the enemy, not warring with them," he said. "I never felt guilty about the killing," he said. "I was never confronted with face ton Vietnam Veterans' face killing. If I had to face,, ay, which no one knew someone it would have been about, a kid spit on me when I no hassle either him or told him I was a Vietnam vet," Fang said. "People don't understand that the vet is a person too." "I don't know how many people it takes to die.before ***************** :ON DRAFT ... Beer Distributor *1321 E College Ave. 238-3057 * 44(**************** you are allowed to destroy that bunker or those villagers because someone in there killed our people," he said. This vet feels that he is the only one to be taught anything by Vietnam. "We could learn so much from Nam but 15 or 20 years from now, knowing what was going on here in the U.S., nobody will give a shit about that one guy who died," he said, "except- his family. I'm waiting to see what the history books will say about Vietnam. I don't think it will be much." "It's hard to find memorial markers for Vietnam veterans," .he said. "You might find them in small towns where everyone knows everybody else, but in the big cities there will kle nothing." Fagan Said. "The Vietnam vet didn't come back to parades or anything. The only people happy to see him were his family." . I ,,d r Aßl'7 __rf tv ~ <4 e, LL F' fivky,e , oNe!!
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