[thechat] Re: How do Americans feel about their wars

[Joe Crawford]

Erika Meyer wrote:
> Many of the long-haired homeless guys standing on street corners are
> Vietnam vets.

This is a common assumption. You should give a look at "Stolen Valor" -
a book about the incidence of people who claim to Vietnam Veteran's, but
actually are not.

http://www.vietnow.com/fakehero.htm

My father, who originally fled to Canada because he felt the war was
wrong, eventually went in as a Medic in the 101st Airborne for various
reasons, and has become a student of the Vietnam war. Stolen Valor is an
amazing piece of scholarship - because so often people *do* proclaim
that they're Vets - the beauty is that such claims can be verified or
disproved, and the number that get disproved is pretty appalling.

	- Joe <http://artlung.com/>