Welcome Home

		Welcome Home
		The memories of my tour in Vietnam had started rushing back to me during the last few years of the 80s. The war in the Gulf served to destroy the remainder of the dam. By the end of 1990, nearly all of my Marine Corps was in the Gulf. One day on television, there was an interview with the CO of India Battery, 3d Battalion, 11th Marines. That was my first unit, the battery with which I first served in Vietnam. It was suddenly as if there had been no intervening time - it was still Vietnam and I was still there. I became obsessed with the war and a desire to help make sure that the veterans of this conflict would not be abandoned by those who stayed at home. I and a few other veterans of the war in Vietnam organized a group in Rochester, New York, that we called "Operation Welcome Home." Our goal was to literally welcome each area veteran as he or she returned home to the Rochester area. We adopted the symbol here as our icon and used it on banners and literature that flooded the area. Operation Welcome Home volunteers obtained signatures on a petition of support from over 55,000 members of the community, greeted returning vets at the airport, and presented to each veteran a certificate from the community that said the following: The Welcome Home symbol represents a community of individuals who have joined together in a profound pledge of support for the American troops who have participated in Operation Desert Storm. It signifies the awareness within the community of the personal sacrifices made by these men and women, and a recognition of the contributions they have made with honor in response to their country's call. It is a mark of unqualified community pride in the professional performance and conduct of those who have served. It speaks of the realization that the wounds from combat extend beyond the physical, and that it is the proper role and the responsibility of the individuals in the community to create and perpetuate an atmosphere of healing. I had taken on the responsibility to write that message. What I came to realize sometime later was that I hadn't written it to the veterans of Desert Storm at all - I had written it to myself.