A salute to our soldiers, veterans

I am reading a book about individual stories of men and women that served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Their stories were different than the war in Vietnam. In Vietnam, infantry troops were in the jungle and fighting in the jungle and small hamlets and dying in the Jungle from gunshots. Getting blown up in vehicles happened, but not that often.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, most of the fighting was done along roads and in towns. The difference was that there, many were killed and wounded from blown-up vehicles from IEDs (improvised explosive devices). And because of a lot of fighting in towns, many buildings were blown up and shot at, thus a greater percentage of civilians were killed. 

However, in both wars, one thing was the same — a lot of times you didn't know who your enemy was. Many civilian workers, in both wars were friends by day and, at night, enemies who tried to kill you.

The other difference was that considerably more American soldiers were killed in Vietnam. I have seen 30-35 dead Americans at one time in Vietnam from battles. In Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly it was one or two at a time.

In Vietnam, most were killed from rifle fire so that when they came in, they looked like they were just sleeping. In Iraq and Afghanistan, more died from vehicles being blown up and thus their bodies were more ravaged. In the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which lasted about 11 years, over 7,000 were killed; however, Vietnam was worse, which lasted about 8 years when over 58,000 were killed. 

The wars were different, but the soldiers went through the same fears and, don't kid yourself, it was scary to patrol through the jungle in Vietnam or the streets of Iraq and or Afghanistan. 

So, give salute to our veterans, in both of these wars and prior wars.

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