I interviewed Jerry Krushnaski, a Vietnam War veteran who continues to do work through the VFW and other organizations to protect the rights of veterans, specifically those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or as he referred to it, the sandbox. Jerry is 61, and although he is not currently working because of the intensity of his Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, he spends his time speaking to students to teach them more about the horrors and honors of Vietnam. 

Where did you grow up?

                        I grew up in Northeast Minneapolis near St. Anthony. I lived in the poorer middle class side of the tracks I guess.

                        Well, I graduated from St. Anthony in ’66 and guys starting going over there in ’64 so I suppose I was about 14. I knew from that time on we would always be participants in some form or another.

                        I was drafted at 19 and serving at 20 in March of ’68. I was drafted, but I would have enlisted because I thought it was important to serve my country.

                        I felt it was important. I felt that through my studies of World War I, World War II and the Korean conflict that freedom wasn’t free. There was a cost to be made to defend that freedom for myself and for the rest of America as well as for my future children. When I look at the country we’re living in now, it’s completely different than over there. People here take things like sinks, toilets and toilet paper for granted, but over there they don’t have any of that stuff. The communists wanted to stop America from having these things and we needed to go over there and stop them. A lot of these protesters and things don’t understand that. Just doing nothing, communism would take over. These socialist republics are like what Islam is today. There are no gays over there because they’re killed. There’s no American clothes or music either. There isn’t there and there wasn’t in Vietnam the option of prison time, its just death. We had to preserve the American way of life and I had to serve. My dad fought in WWII and my grandpa in WWI. I think I just have that warrior instinct.

                        The strategies were different. There was a lot of trench warfare in WWI and WWII. Strategies were just different with guerrilla terrorist tactics and no trenches. Just moving around all the time. The psychological effects were about the same though. The biggest difference was that the American public was behind 100% in WWII and WWI and everyone had to give something up. During Vietnam, people were questioning our country without support.

                        I served a full year and I was a point man, so I was right out in front of the guys. I still have hyper alertness because of that. I was personally in a lot of tunnels.

My hobby as a kid was digging tunnels, so getting in there for me wasn’t as tough as it was for the other guys. But, I mean it was just terrible. The smell of urine and feces and cooking rice was just terrible. They had whole little communities down there. I fired weaponry and it was deafening. We tried to brush out the tunnels but the Vietcong had perfected it.

                        I served in the 25^th infantry. We were mostly in Chu Chi. The Vietnamese had tons of tunnels there. We ended up building our main  base over a tunneled complex without knowing it.

I served in a special operations ground and led comedies of up to 400 and led around 150 on night ambush patrols. I was wounded twice, but I turned down both purple hearts. Back then it was just a sign that you didn’t get down fast enough.

                        No. We failed. First war we lost, and it wasn’t because of the troops it was because of politicians. We failed to win the hearts and minds of people. All they wanted was to be left alone.

                        Definitely. It didn’t matter where you were from, white skin was white skin.

                        There were the NVAs in the north and they were trained in Vietnam and China and they were the ones that really used the Ho Chi Min trail. There was the Vietcong in the south and they used smaller units. We saw a pretty even mixture of both. The NVA went down into big underground meeting rooms and met with the Vietcong who help the NVA. North Vietnamese Army. All kinds of stuff was in the tunnels.

                        When we flew into the San Francisco airport, which is where everyone came back, we were shocked. I was spit on, called a baby killer, all kinds of terrible things. We were absolutely shocked. There were no welcome home parties or parades for any of the guys coming home.

                        Yes, throughout the years off and on. Some happened intentionally and took us all by surprise.  But through the years, no. A lot of combat veterans felt betrayed by our country. Which brings us to the vets from the sandbox. Us Vietnam veterans are taking them under our wings. To save them from government denial of what they’re entitled to. The veteran hospitals have improved because us Vietnam Veterans have pushed for it to pay back.

                        It was more a sign of cowardice. Because we knew it wasn’t right. We Vets know more than these protesters that war is hell with a lot of waste. These left wing radicals are the definition of cowardice. No matter how much knowledge these people have, it comes down to guts. You need to serve your country for the betterment of the country.

                        Yes, people don’t appreciate what they have. They put more energy into reality TV shows and the media than they do into their county. They should be more concerned about protecting what we have. All and all, Vietnam vets, myself included, have seen too much to make sense to these protesters and those type. The ones today are feeding right into Bin Laden’s hands.

                        I still have to internally fight the war. I have nightmares, hyper alertness, and PSTD. In spite of it all, I would do it all over again.

                        For the country. Which for some reason seems not to be a priority for most people.

                        A saying amongst Vietnam vets is “Bring the Iraq boys home, we’ll go over.” I’m a member of the Minnesota Patriot Guard Riders. It’s a group of motorcyclists that go to the funerals and welcome home parties for Middle Eastern Vets. We form a line of motorcyclists to protect funerals from protesters. They’re all non-violent confrontations and now there are 4,700 of us in Minnesota.