Richard D. Preston

DEROS

DEROS (Date of Estimated Return from Overseas Service) at long last signaled the end of their duties in the war.

The end of a tour in Vietnam?

I question whether it has ever ended. Have we ever returned from that overseas duty? America tried real hard to cover us up all right, but those of us who survived didn’t lie down and fade away as hoped. Another war was waiting for us when we arrived home, a war of acceptance.

Not that we gave a shit but hell, even our parents wanted that bone buried. Trouble is we kept digging it up and laying it right on their doorstep for them to trip over. They could ignore Vietnam, but they couldn’t ignore the look in our eyes, it scared ‘em and, it scared us. It scared America to the point of rejecting Freedom’s Sons because we knew the truth about Vietnam and weren’t willing to talk much about till recent years.

The bones are still being dug up to this day. The truth shall set some free but in our case it reveals the chains that have held us so long and that is what America is afraid of; having to unlock that old black box of recall, afraid that we might let the truth out of the box for the world to see.

I pray we have the courage to continue to do so. IF they had left us alone perhaps the chains would have rusted away and vanished and we would heal. But it just ain’t so.