During the course of my work today, I spent a couple of hours talking to an elderly couple, one of whom was a Vietnam veteran.
What a fascinating guy. He'd been exposed to a nerve agent in the conflict and is now riddled with all sorts of health issues, one of which is PTSD. As we sat talking, the house next door started letting off fireworks, which sent him straight into a panic attack. I've suffered from these in the past, but here's a guy who has flashbacks and associates fireworks with mortars etc.
Just thought I'd share that. I'm not into this media/social media love in with the military, but here's a man who served his country decades ago and is still paying the price now, well into old age. I could have sat and talked to him all day.
Makes a change from being ranted at by some idiot who won't listen to what I'm saying, which often happens...
Comments
I feel for that guy @Nunogilberto
He's obviously been through some horrific times.
I'm not locked in here with you, you are locked in here with me.
The op's post kind of suggests that you see people as old, sterile, banal and redundant in the first place to even think like that. Can't say I ever felt that way over the age of 12 and have always met everyone with an open heart and plenty of time to natter. Not particularly interested in people, but people are very interesting. What gets me is that the middle ages were only 5 or 6 lifetimes ago. Seriously, as you get older it amazes me where we are now, or rather where we were and how misrepresented the past really is and how everything that isn't of the moment is basically cast as redundant.
Oz army in Vietnam was a more professional outfit though. My uncle was out there. I know they drafted everyone who had just arrived in the USA on a work visa as first choice, with the poor out of college kids as second choice though as my dad only just avoided the draft. Imagine if we did that today, drafted all the Poles, Latvians, Romanians and Somalis, Nigerians and Pakistani's and Banglesdeshis and Sri Lankans, there would be PC outrage eh. I think it's a fair enough policy myself after drafting politcians and the Royals.
I don't generally think of people as banal and redundant, but I found this person particularly interesting because I'd not met a Vietnam veteran before.
Plus, being in my line of work where you tend to see lots of people with only complaints and negative stuff to say, you tend to get a bit cynical now and again about the way people are...
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
;-)
I've met some interesting characters in my time and most of them were much older than me at the time.
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)