Well, okay... I wasn't there, I didn't go, so I can't comment on the whole experience personally, but I know guys who served in Vietnam and *liked* it - *liked* going out on night ambush patrol, *liked* a good firefight, and still brag about being able to hit a running gook in the head at 400 yards. None of them seem a bit traumatized to me; they're all grandfathers now and other than hating Jane Fonda like Satan they don't seem to have any psychic scars from the war, no matter how many real scars they've got.
Maybe this guy is just a little too "sensitive"??
But none of them whom I know, have any pictures or home movies either... apparently taking pictures wasn't that important to them at the time.
(On second thought... one Marine of my acquaintance WAS really traumatized by having the Marine Corps take away his M14 and give him an M16... he went AWOL for 2 weeks and hid out hoping they wouldn't find him while they were swapping rifles, but they got his anyway... he's *still* traumatized by *that*...)
"Our mission was to kill people and break things, and we did it well!" What part of that don't you understand? Yes, I am sensitive to being spit upon after spending a year in a jungle. I guess you're tough enough to let that not bother you though. Maybe someday I'll be as good as you and your unsensitive Viet Nam buddies. I'll work on it. As for the flashbacks, I have no control over them. Remember, Kerry didn't have a problem with combat either - except for what was seared into his memory...
P.S. I liked the M-14 story, nice touch.