Fifty Years Later

-Bill Petite 

So, it only took 50 years for this country to begin to seriously recognize the Vietnam Vet. That war (conflict) ended in 1975 but for me it didn’t end until December 1984. That’s when Jesus saved me, pulled me out of that miry pit and gave me a new life. Up until that time, it was like a monkey on my back which I couldn’t shake. When I came home in June of 1970, I just wanted to forget everything about it. I wanted to start my life over and get on with the rest of my life. But after about a month of being home and putting it behind me, I got a letter from a friend still there telling me a close friend had been killed. Then it hit me, that war had followed me home and I hated it. If someone asked me questions about my time there, I answered. It seemed better for me to talk about it then to keep it bottled up inside. So, I would talk about it but then I was told not to talk about by those who were asking the questions. When asked about my thoughts on the My Lai massacre, I was told by one man that I had read too many comic books. (I was not part of that or even in the Army) I was enraged and ready to attack but my brother-in-law was close by and calmed me down.

My mother and father had both died before I was 18 and I was living with my oldest sister and her husband but I couldn’t stay there long since they couldn’t afford the extra mouth to feed so I enlisted in the Marines. My other choice was to live with my brother and work for the railroad. But that would leave me as draft bait soon after my 18^th birthday. Young men were getting drafted before the ink on their draft registration was dry. I had no desire to be in the Army so I made up my mind to enlist in the Marines by my choice. It was the right decision as far as I’m concerned. It was a time when this nation was dominated by protests against the war which eventually turned against those returning home. The treatment by those who threw rocks, spit at and name called was discouraging to the Vietnam Vet. We were called baby killers, women killers and many other colorful names by people who knew absolutely nothing about what was really happening over there. And it wasn’t just spoiled college students; I was asked by adults more than once to leave an establishment as soon as I walked in. This was when I recently returned home with my Marine regulation haircut. It was obvious that I was former military and it didn’t matter whether I was in Vietnam or not. The general public hated the military.

All those guys who were coming home who were treated like criminals and cast offs, couldn’t get a job since no one wanted a Viet Vet working for them. The VA was a lost cause who didn’t help at all. When I got home, they gave me $75 for my time there and that was it. (I think it was $75) My home state of PA at least gave me $300 and wished me well and good luck. Well, that was nice but $375 wouldn’t ease the emotional trauma some of us would endure over the next many years. I suffered from PTSD until I was saved and never even realized it until years later. The VA refused to acknowledge it even was a thing. The general public wouldn’t acknowledge it and simply considered all of us as mentally ill and dangerous. Even Hollywood got into the act. Every bad guy on a TV drama was a Vietnam Vet. I heard another Viet Vet say that the only people you can talk to about it is another Viet Vet because they are the only ones who understand what we went through while we were there. 

How do you describe or explain the experience of having motors falling  around you? Or RPG rockets landing close by? How can someone who wasn’t there understand what being shot at with AK-47s or 12.7 machine guns is like? They can never understand what it’s like when a chi-com grenade goes off and hits you with the shrapnel. Vets from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars might be the only ones who can relate to a booby trap exploding and taking off the man’s legs in front of you in the column as you patrol. The people back home thought we were killing women and kids while they were every bit as dangerous as an NVA soldier. Women who were VC sympathizers would frag you when you turned your back and even send a child in your direction with a grenade on him. And we were the ones being called murderers! The general public, even Vets from previous wars, rejected us. It was very hard to adjust to a civil society when we returned home only to be treated like the bad guy and mentally corrupted. And while many continue to suffer today from their experiences and can’t get them out of their head, the only answer I have for them is Jesus. He took all of that hatred and emotional agony away. Yes, 55 years later I still have a dream here and there but it is only a dream and I know that. When I first came back I had them all the time and I hated it. I was right back there in the middle of that mess. But now, it’s just a dream.

One last thing I want to say about that war, or conflict, is American young men should have never been there. It was an over reaction on the part of McNamara and Johnson and others I’m sure. Eisenhour had advisors there in the early 1950s and into the 60s under Kennedy but that is all that should have ever been there. They feared the spread of communism would run wild and overtake South Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia. But all the North wanted was the South and a united Vietnam. I used to wonder what they wanted with the South. North of Saigon, the country was a mess and what I saw was a hundred years behind the time. But I must say the North has made much progress in the South and brought it back into the current time. (But many did suffer in reeducation camps)

I have never viewed my time there as fighting to keep this country free of communism. That would have never happened. Every man I served with there had one goal; get home safe and in one piece. The goal wasn’t to save the U.S. from communism but to get home. I simply considered myself as a U.S. government mercenary. I was trained by the USMC and sent off to fight a war which was no threat to this country. The Vietnamese people didn’t really want our support and only wanted what they could get from the U.S. They didn’t like the fact that American soldiers and Marines were covering their countryside with bombs, grenades and artillery. They never wanted us patrolling through their villages and rice paddies. They just didn’t want us there. So, why were we there? Politics is the answer and those political decisions got over 58,000 military killed. Marines I knew and were friends with were killed over those political decisions.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m proud of my service and my time in The Marines and Vietnam. I was decorated by the Marines for my service and accomplishments while there. But I just have to be truthful and serious about what really happened and also give my opinion of that whole mess. In remembering those Marines I knew who were good men and not just numbers, I have cried over their deaths. When you see a good man, a Marine, die, it’s too hard to process at the time and then when it sinks in and hits you, it can be devastating and extremely emotional. When I received that later about the death of my close friend, my eyes were watering with tears and I was all choked up and on the verge of crying my eyes out. It had an extreme emotional effect on me.

And now, 55 years later for me, the people of this country want to thank us and pat us on the back. I’m not bitter about this; but it’s a different generation and many weren’t even born yet when I returned. And for those who were protesting and spitting at us and calling us names, how many still feel the same way? Or have they softened in time and are among those who are now welcoming us home? It’s just a curious question and I’m not concerned with an answer. I was there and I was just one of many who endured for at least one year of their life while serving there. Many of those I served with there are now gone. For those who have never had to endure time in combat, they will never know the closeness of a friend in combat. That is a closeness which knows your friend has your back all of the time and he knows you have his. It’s a life or death closeness and there is no other closeness like it. And we should never forget the over 58,000 lives lost due to bad political decisions.

I’m sure I can get differing opinions about my thoughts recorded here. There would probably be an argument or strong debate concerning what I have written and that’s OK. But just remember, if you weren’t there, you personally, you have no position to argue from. I am also sure that many will scoff at my testimony concerning Jesus saving me from all of this nagging experience and nightmares. That’s also Ok and it's

their right but I know what He has done for me and if you’re one who scoffs and is still struggling with you experience from that time, why not call out to Jesus and get the monkey off of your back.

It's Not a Fairytale, It's Real

-Bill Petite

 

We are into the holiest of weeks on the Christian Calendar. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and goes right up to Resurrection Sunday, or, Easter as the world knows it. I remember my first Holy week as a Christian. One of the TV networks was showing a miniseries called, A.D. I was glued to the TV every evening throughout that week. For me, a new Christian, I was excited reading the Bible and then watching that miniseries; even though it didn’t exactly follow the Bible to the letter. But it was close enough for me and covered the most important points. That was over forty years ago and things have really changed. Christianity has been degraded and even labeled as a hate movement because of the way some have intertwined it with politics and other reasons.

With everything which has happened and come to the surface within this culture and society in which we live, unsaved people and atheists consider Christians as people who worship a nonexistent god. But the truth is that the God of Christianity does exist and He is all powerful and rules from His throne in heaven with His Son Jesus at His right hand. If you’re unfamiliar with the way this world speaks of the Christian God, just read the comments which follow a post about Christianity on a secular web site. Christians are referred to as fools for worshipping an invisible nothing god who doesn’t really exist. Others refer to Him as a fantasy god or hypocritical god who claims to love everyone but hates Gays and sends people to hell. If you read these comments, don’t get angry; we should have compassion for these people. If they are not saved and continue to believe this nonsense right up to the day they die, they are going to hell. But it is not God who is sending them there, it is they themselves because they refused to accept Jesus and be saved.

If we talk to an unsaved person who believes this way, we don’t argue the point, we explain the truth of the gospel in hope that the Holy Spirit will stir and warm their heart and they will be saved. We can’t argue anyone into heaven. Only Jesus can save them. Our job is to tell them and then it’s up to them to allow Jesus in or not. Now, it is important to know that some will never be saved. It doesn’t matter how many times they hear the gospel. Actually, the more they reject Jesus the harder their heart gets. God knows who will be saved and who won’t be saved. Allow me to provide scripture reference for this.

However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them.  For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day.    JN 6:37-39

When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers.   Acts 13:48

 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.    Eph  1:4-5

Now, many Christians refuse to accept this truth but the Bible is clear on this and none of these verses are taken out of context. Many will say that the reference from Acts 13:48 is a single scripture out of context but read the passage and see that it is not. God knows who will be saved because He chose them before He did one little thing concerning creation. God did not look down through time and see who would be saved. The Bible doesn’t teach that anywhere. Do the research for yourself and don’t just take someone’s opinion or teaching as truth. God does not exist in time or on a timeline. His existence is now; it is never past, present or future.

In our world and culture today, those who refuse to accept Jesus can be strongly opposed to the gospel and Christianity. Some of them have very strong and nasty opinions concerning Jesus and Christianity. They have not been enlightened and just don’t know the truth. This is due to one reason or another and we don’t know who God has called to salvation or not. We are not able to justly judge the hearts of those who oppose us and those who are saved. So, we should never attempt to do that. For the unsaved person, we tell them about Jesus and pray for them. Then we leave it in the hands of God.

But for those who believe Christianity is just another cult or a fairytale story and an invisible sugar daddy in the sky who doesn’t really exist, there will be a day of dread for them in the future. For those who have been or will be saved, our names are already written in the book of life. For those who will continue to reject Jesus or those who have died without Jesus, it is an eternity of suffering and torment. Hell was created for Satan and the fallen angels who have decided to follow him. God did not create hell for people and has never sent anyone there. But He cannot have sin stand in His presence and that was every one of us at birth. We are all born with a sin nature which desires nothing but sin and a life of sin. But when Jesus went to the cross and died on that cross for us, He paid the debt required by the Father to cover that sin. When we are saved, that sin is washed away and never again remembered by God.  When God sees us, He sees Jesus and not us. Without Jesus as our savior, He would see nothing but sin.

But because Jesus put Himself on that cross and died in our place, we can have an eternity with Him in heaven. And because He rose from the grave and defeated death, we can have that eternal life with Him. That’s the Easter story; that’s what Resurrection Sunday is all about. We were all born with the sin nature and we all deserved hell because sin cannot stand in the presence of God. But because Jesus paid the debt we couldn’t pay, we have redemption and salvation from sin and the coming wrath of God. And that is what we celebrate on Resurrection Sunday. We should be thanking Jesus every day of our Christian lives for what He has done for us.

And for those who continue to scoff and mock God, He simply laughs at them. They have no power over Him. They cannot make Him go away.

When they claim He doesn’t exist, He doesn’t go hide and fret because they don’t believe in Him. They are enemies of God and have no idea who He really is or the almighty power He has. And, as they mock Him and degrade Him, His response will be as it was when Sennacherib, the King of Assyria, attempted to conquer Judah.

“The virgin daughter of Zion
    despises you and laughs at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem
    shakes her head in derision as you flee.

 “Whom have you been defying and ridiculing?
    Against whom did you raise your voice?
At whom did you look with such haughty eyes?
    It was the Holy One of Israel!

2 Kgs 19:21-22

 

And again, in Psalms 2, God responds to those who think they are greater than Him.

 

Why are the nations so angry?
    Why do they waste their time with futile plans?
The kings of the earth prepare for battle;
    the rulers plot together
against the Lord
    and against his anointed one.
“Let us break their chains,” they cry,
    “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

 But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
    The Lord scoffs at them.
 Then in anger he rebukes them,
    terrifying them with his fierce fury.

Ps 2:1-5

 

God had a plan to provide a source and means of salvation for His creation. He would send His one and only Son to die on a cross and then rise from the dead to provide salvation from sin and also eternal life for those who will ask Jesus to forgive them and know Him as their Lord and savior. Jesus must be the Lord of your life and not just the savior. He paid the price for your sin debt and to be able to have eternal life with Him in heaven. If you haven’t done this yet, do it now. Allow Jesus to wipe you clean from your sin and give you eternal life in heaven. It’s not a fairytale; it is real and true.