Real Heroes Don't Exaggerate

[gennee]

With NBC's Brian Williams falsely claiming that during his news coverage in Iraq that his helicopter was hit with enemy fire, it stoked my fires. A few politicians claimed that they were in combat during the Vietnam War, later proven to be false.

I was in the service during the Vietnam conflict.I did not go to Vietnam however I knew a few men who did. Some lost friends and relatives. What those who claim that they were in combat and in fact were not have done is insult the members of the armed forces who did. I am proud of my service to my country. I especially proud of those men and women who did see combat. I was state side while they were in the jungles. I salute the men and women who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. To me you are the real heroes.

Brian Williams and others who made false claims about their service and news reports should publicly in front of veterans apologize for their lies and gross misrepresentations. They should ashamed of themselves.

[Guest Kenna Dixon]

Very well said, Gennee.

I was Vietnam-era as well but in Korea from 1964 to 1969.

[VickySGV]

Regrettably, there are "War Stories" and "Fish Stories", "Bear Hunting Stories" and all the rest, including Whale Tales. These are time honored and go back to the beginning of time. With more literate people today it is no wonder that those who come home with hands capable of writing will do so and each story they write is in the first person. The long tradition of having chroniclers write for the man with no hands has fallen out of favor it seems, but when they do, even they run afoul of sadly human tendencies to make a Boy Scout patrol into a Marine Division in the telling of any kind of confrontation. That is why I carefully sift through a large number of sources to get my real understanding of things.

One by one I honor my friends who tell their stories gently and without claiming great deeds for themselves, and I do look for the baloney factor depending on other things, I do also, if I can, seek out those they benefited.

I for one think we have taught these people that the exaggerated stories are acceptable -- ( I do not want to touch religion based writings, but many of them are rife with exaggeration) -- and that people without some type of that story are poor imitations of men. Who wants to be that??

[Guest LizMarie]

I served 76 to 85, and consider myself blessed that I did not have to see actual combat. I did some hairy things, like NATO site nuclear weapons guard duty, and we had incidents with West German terrorists over those sites from time to time, but it was never a combat environment and for that I am thankful. The men and women who were senior NCOs and officers during that period had mostly come of age during Vietnam and they spoke little of it, except in suggestions of how to better perform a mission, care for gear, etc.

[Guest]

I agree completely with the sentiment but specifically in the case of Brian Williams I think it remains to be seen if he knew he was lying or if was an example of how memories can change over the years and just how unreliable they are.

[Guest SonadoraXVX]

There is a single word for people like Brian Williams, that will burn him like the coals of hell, "Poseur", forever and ever.

USMC MP/E4/stateside during the Persian Gulf War, for people like me?, POG(i.e.People Other than Grunts) and a non-combat veteran.

[StephanieVikingGirl]

I haven't been watching the Brian Williams story as much as some, and so I will defer my judgment of him specifically until more evidence is available to me so that I can determine whether it is just a memory lapse (quite possible especially if something was stressful to you when the events occurred) or not.

I am always very careful to be as accurate as possible when referring to some of my previous life, while always avoiding classified information as per my non-disclosure agreements with the U.S. government. I am not a true war veteran in my opinion, but kinda close.

I served in the Army National Guard of Maryland from 1986 to 1992 (I was an infantry sergeant in the 29th Infantry Division). However, my full time positions were in classified government contracts. Thanks to privatizing of Government, all my positions were as an employee of a company with a contract, not true federal employment despite all the authority that I was given. What kinda almost makes me a war veteran is that yes I was deployed to a "war zone". I went to the Persian Gulf as a member of the Iraq Survey Group (ISG), you know those weird spooks who were supposed to find Saddam Hussein's Nukes? All I can say is at least it paid well.

hugs,

Stephanie

[KathrynJulia]

We were standing in formation when my First Sergeant announced he had some bad news for some of us. As my last name begins with a B, I was the first called. I was stunned when it was orders to be sent to Vietnam Nam. They had for weeks announced they were drawing down the troops over there. The First Sergeant let us stew for awhile and then told us we would be getting new orders rescinding our going to war. It wasn't funny to us. I instead spent the remaining 2 1/2 years in Germany.

When I told dad what I experienced he had to hand the phone to my mom. She founding him sobbing in the bedroom. He was a combat veteran who saw almost two years of combat in the Pacific during WWII and it changed his life seeing all of the death that he experienced. I would have gone to Vietnam if ordered. I have enormous respect for every man and woman who served in combat. I suffered being spit on while in uniform while traveling through O Hare airport. I have deep feelings on how this country treated servicemen and woman who served during Vietnam. I highly respect everyone who has served from Desert Storm through the Irag and Afganistan wars. The posers who make up stories, not so much.

Brian Williams will have to live with the damage he has done, to his reputation by fabricating stories. Kathy

[gennee]

Kathryn, I'm sorry that you experienced that. I was in the service during the Vietnam conflict. Heard stories of a few men who were spat on.