WALKING INTO 2025 WITH PURPOSE: & LESSONS LEARNED FROM A VIETNAM VETERAN

As I step into 2025 with the weight of history pressing down on me. The history of war, the pain of loss, and the lessons learned from years of survival.

I am a Vietnam veteran — one of many who endured the brutality of a war that tore at the fabric of our nation. In 1968, at 23 years old, I stood with my brothers in arms on the killing fields of Vietnam.

We were young, inexperienced, but resolute. The world was on fire with protests, division, and uncertainty. The noise of battle was deafening, and the fear of the unknown was overwhelming. Yet through it all, there was one thing we clung to: our ability to endure.

Survival became our purpose, our duty, and in that pursuit, we learned something profound. True strength does not come from external power but from the inner resolve to keep going, even when there’s nothing left.

In 2025, as I reflect on those years, I think of the many soldiers and Marines who didn’t return. More than 58,000 men never made it home. Yet, for those of us who did, the road was far from easy.

Returning from Vietnam wasn’t a triumphant homecoming; it was a rejection by a society that didn’t understand our experiences. The public was hostile, uncaring, and many of us had to find our way in a world…