My friend is a murderer.

The war in Vietnam had changed a lot of people. And when our solders returned, we let them down. They deserved to be treated better than what we as a nation did. They went to a war because we were trying to help a friendly country. While people here demonstrated and protested the war, they were being shot at and killed by an enemy that they couldn't differentiate from the locals. When he came home and found someone dessicrating the American Flag in such a vile way, as you said, he snapped. He served his time and paid the price. It was a mistake that was brought upon feelings that he has for his, and our country. If he needs medical attention, then he should go to the nearest VA hospital and get the needed medical attention. After all, he is entitled to this. And what would you have done, had you been in his shoes? A Vietnamese POW camp was not like being in prison. It was a lot worse. Even a maximum security prison, by todays standards, couldn't compare to his prison experience. And what to say to him, unless he brings it up again, don't talk about it, after all he is your friend. And I hope that you wouldn't let anything change that. It sounds like he could use a good friend.

I'm Vietnamese, i will tell your friend. Forget all the past .. be friend and live happy. Vietnamese do not hate American people, they jsut don'tlike the way they operate their country on the other coutry.

If you are a true friend then you will remain friends but just watch your back!

wow! he's really very patrotic, to kill someone who peed on the american flag. well, i think he already paid for his punishment, seeing that he has extreme diabetes, gout, arthritis and have to lives in his cab...i think he just want to enjoy his limited days on earth..just try to be a true friend by being there to listen to him...but be careful in whatever you do..and dont get too close. Take Care

You have to remember that the Vietnam War was a really hard time for soldiers. They heard and saw things that would make us cry for our mamas. It caused a lot of them to be mentally unstable. What he did was probably just a auto-reaction to all those things he saw. That messed a lot of people up.

sad enough

Your friend is not a murderer, we can't imagine what he went thru being a POW. We can't imagine what he went thru during the war. If he had done that now and gotten good counsel, he probably would not have been convicted, It sounds to me like he would have been temporary insane. Try to be a campassionate and understanding friend, and get it out of your head that he is a murderer, he is a survivor.

if you considered ur self as his friend and really concern about his life then u got to give him a chance.however people can change besides as you say he's getting older now and not healty, so u should give him a help at anytime as a friend, but still u should be aware too, dont make his emotion runs bad.what happens during a war was because he defense his country and sent there by the country so u couldnt blame him for that, and what he did after that its also because he feel everyone should honour the country only he do it in a wrong way.

Darlin a lot of vietnam vets came home much different than they left. It is not their fault. It is just that they had to see things and do things that their minds just could not handle. My cousins husband came back and he would be okay for a while and then he would have flash backs and start shooting the house up! She tried so hard to stay with him, but started fearing hers and her kids lives and left. He told us some of what happened there, but didn't talk about it too much. He said that one day him and his men were just walking down the road and this little boy about 3 or 4 was running to them with a big smile on his face, with his arms out for them to pick him up, and they had to shoot him down, to save themselves because he was a walking time bomb! There was explosive strapped all over his body. He was told to run to them, God knows for what? How is the human mind suppose to handle something like that? It doesn't and it causes the epidsodes such as your friend most likely had the day he killed that person. Obviously that is what the court figured too or he wouldn't have gotten just parole. I had a few of my friends die in Nam and the ones that came home were put down for doing what they were forced to do. I couldn't even begin to tell you what you should do for your friend. These poor men and women who went through this time have been going through their own kind of hell because of that place and now we have another Nam! God help us.

I guess it would always be in the back of my mind, but to be honest it shouldn't change your friendship itself other than if you start to see a change in his actions that would alert you to him having a breakdown or flashback again. He obviously has changed and who knows what could have made him flip. I think I'd try to remain friends but make sure your family and your own self is not in danger.

Vietnam messed up a lot of our soldiers minds while that war was going on. They saw things and had to do things that we can't even imagine. It is bound to give a bad feeling to see someone desecrating our flag. His mind still being fresh from war, made him lose it. He has done his time, and probably suffered enough over what happened in Nam, and after he came home. If you have always been a friend, he sure needs one now. You shouldn't turn your back on him if he has gone through a lot of changes over the years. It is now that he needs a friend the most.

hm..He wanted honest with you that has been good

well he is ur frnd..n at this time of his age,he is quite lonely n depressed too,also he needs medicationif u dun wanna help him as his frnd,then beign human do..

Maybe read up on PTSD written by experienced therapists or even people who have written about their own experiences from having it, to find answers to your questions. I can understand the conflict from your side. I read about it a lot because I have it, but not from war. Mine is complex from ongoing events. Reading about it helps to understand it.

If he's you're friend, try to understand. I'm sure that this event has haunted him all his life. Vets do wierd things that the rest of us cannot imagine because of horrific things they've seen and experienced. I have a friend whose a vietnam vet. He's married to the sweetest woman in the world, but every once in awhile he goes through a bad spell where he hates her and verbally abuses her. She's learned to live with it, because she loves him and knows he can't help it. They've been married for 25 years. Your friend is a very sick, miserable man. He needs all the friends he can get. Let God deal with his past, and you help him with his present and future!

Do u trust ur friend then u will not do like this

dont react to him... just remain like his friend.. it could be that he has done the murder under some heavy circumstances or maybe due to some problems... remain his friend and dont make him feel that he is a murderer

i will try to run away from him.

u know why he did such a thing.. so it ll be better, knowing the circumstances under which he did such a thing, to support him at such times of difficulties..

somehow quite disorienting to think about 'nam and 'apocalypse now' kinda situations... brrrr