The Vietnam War

[Lucky Strike]

Hello, everyone. I'm a new user. I was happy to see that there is a War forum, because that is what the majority of my experiences deal with. I am a war history buff, and I've seen several war movies in my twenty-one years. The images that I've had have never been specific (I've never realized exactly who I was), but they were vivid.

Initially I assumed that the dreams and images could be attributed to everything I've read and seen in movies. After some thought though, I realized that my images were never similiar to what I've seen in movies or pictures in books. My first experience was in Vietnam during the late 1960's. I was leading a platoon across a streambed when we began taking small-arms fire from the far bank of the stream.

A few of my men were hit immediately, but we returned fire and seemed to have the enemy pinned down. I moved the platoon forward and had my radioman call in to report the contact. As we moved forward, the enemy soldiers suddenly rushed out into the streambed firing. I raised my M-16 to fire, but the rifle jammed. I fell to a knee to unjam the rifle just as an enemy soldier was rushing toward me. I turned to one of my sergeants (in this dream the sergeant appeared to be my nineteen year-old brother), and yelled for help. I turned to look back at the enemy soldier, and as he raised his rifle to fire at me my brother shot him. I awoke from the dream after that. I later described the dream to a few Vietnam Veterans that I know, and they all said that the scenario was believable.

I don't know whether to attribute this to watching too many war movies or if it could be legitimate. I've always liked watching films and television shows from the sixties, and many of the songs that I listen to are from the same time period. I've also always felt that U.S. servicemen were treated unfairly back home. The 'baby-killer' accusations have especially bothered me. I felt that most men didn't do such things, and that they didn't want to be in Vietnam any more than the next person did.

The 'body-count' obsession that h.q. had was disturbing to say the least. We weren't there to save the world from communism. Just trying to survive. Thanks for giving me a chance to post this.

This post and discussion is continued in the thread American G.I.

 

[templedancer]

Past life as a soldier

I'm new here, but interested in this topic. I have had flashes to a life as a soldier in the recent past. It had to have been vietnam or korea, I think, because a helicopter figured largely in my memories. It had to have been my last life, because I was born in 1970! I have gotten more info on it than any others.

I was male, and I have seen myself. I don't believe I was very large. I was into baseball in a big way, for the time that I saw my face I was in my uniform and on a field at night. I had a daughter and a son. I had a memory of taking my daughter to some sort of hanger. She was standing up on a metal railing, and leaning over. I apparently lived long enough to see my son graduate. He was walking down the hall of our house in a blue cap and gown, playing a recorder. I have had many other memories of my home.

I have also seen myself in some sort of military building--screens, buttons, metal walkways. There may have been some sort of pool used for god-knows-what attached to it, but I am not sure. I had some very intense and fast paced flashes to battle--some sort of strange writing on a tree, a guy with his face all blacked up yelling at me. At the end, I was deep in tall grass, and a helicopter came over me. Someone leaned out of the door, and jerked me up by my shoulders. I could actually feel that part, being jerked up.

Interestingly enough, after I had these memories, my young son began to claim he was once in a war as a nurse or medic, and had a memory of caring for someone, who he said was me. I hadn't shared this memory of mine with him previously.

This post and discussion is continued in the thread American G.I.