Coming back to the States from a 3rd world country is always a shock but Homeland Security at Hartsfield Airport seeks to make it an unforgettable experience. I’ve been to lots of airports in the world including my share of Central American crapholes, but the bureaucracy at Atlanta has to be experienced to be believed. One has to go through airport screening to get out of the building! No lie.
Anyway, some impressions about the whole trip and then I’ll talk about the closure thing for my shrink, Dr Doogie Bernon.
Vietnam will soon be an economic powerhouse in Asia. All the signs are there and it’s a very gratifying thing to see. The Japanese and Koreans are investing megabucks, there’s new construction everywhere one looks and hordes of tourists. The new road from NhaTrang to DaLat must rank in the top 10 of impressively engineered roads in the world. Everywhere, traffic is heavy and commerce moves 24/7. English is the second language and nearly everyone speaks at least a little English. There are bookstores everywhere with the latest self improvement books in English. Even the Germans are forced to speak English just to order a drink.
The Vietnamese people are a joy. They have every right to shoot at Americans on sight, yet they are universally friendly, polite and helpful. But 70% of Vietnamese were born after 1975 so all they know is knockoff Levis and T-shirts that look American but make absolutely no sense. Of course I could say that about the Germans too – now those folks wear some weird and incomprehensible T-shirts!! Sorry, I’ll try to stay off the Germans but they’re such a good target.
All the economic growth that we see today did not start until about 10 years ago, I suppose when all the old Politburo crowd died out. But make no mistake, this is a capitalist country regardless of what they call themselves. And HoChiMinh City is very definitely Saigon. It’s wonderful to see because we left them in one hell of a mess.
Agent Orange is still a problem although we did not see anyone grossly disfigured. There were hundreds of thousands of tons of the highly toxic stuff dumped all over the landscape and it eventually found its way into the upper part of the food chain, namely people. And that includes the GIs who were there then. The active ingredient is dioxin which does not degrade and damages DNA in successive generations. Our guide told me that the Vietnamese government will only allow minimal US investment until the subject of compensation for Agent Orange victims is settled. He was very surprised when I told him that the US Government treated its vets the same way by not acknowledging that there was a problem. I’m on a list of vets exposed to the stuff but until I have a terminal illness that’s as far as it goes.
And the war? There are quite literally no traces of it left. Not even pavement from any of the big base areas, although all their airfields are using the concrete we left. And no traces is a very good thing because after a day or two in country, one wonders what in the world were we thinking? It’s a great temptation to simply try and forget it ever existed if I didn’t know lots of those guys whose names are on the black wall in DC. Will I go back? Probably not, but had to see it one more time.
And for Doogie, that’s about as close to closure as it’s going to get – Vietnam has healed, I’m here, some of my buds are on The Wall, the others are here with me and that’s all there is to it.
Love to you all, Al
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