War, life and everything in-between

Iraq, 2004. Some Americans in a Suburban, stop on a road by a bridge, while bridge was being checked for IEDs (bombs).

Some kids approach the vehicle selling candy. A guy in the Suburban rolls down the window to buy some candy from the kids. One of the kids drops a grenade in the suburban. The charred bodies of four Americans are drug from the vehicle.

Some people would call American soldiers returning from Viet Nam, baby killers. When I was there, Vietnamese women and yes, kids would throw grenades in the back of trucks with American soldiers in the back, killing them. So yes, there were some women and kids killed who were taken as a threat, not many, but it did happen.

This even occurred when I was in Viet Nam with the 1st Infantry Division. I would have nightmares about me riding in a back of a truck with others and a kid throws in a grenade, but thankfully, the nightmare would stop, prior to the grenade going off. I had this same nightmare for years.

In fact, when I returned from Viet Nam, when I would be asleep in bed, my wife would not dare to touch me as I would come out swinging. I am sure that most war veterans have had nightmares of one type of another and for those who haven't experienced a war, it is hard for them to comprehend. But instead of sympathy, returning vets from Viet Nam got yelled at. I have always thought, they should take some of these liberal, do-gooders politicians, put them in uniform and sent them to a war in an infantry division, then they would wake up as to what the real world is all about.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran and business owner in Priest River.