When Vietnam veterans returned home, many were bewildered and devastated by the greeting they received. Instead of gratitude, they were met with hostility — spat on, cursed at and ridiculed. Some were denied meals in restaurants, barred from parades and treated with suspicion. Many carried physical wounds and psychological scars, only to be further traumatized by the contempt of the very people they had served. The silence of those who should have spoken out compounded the damage. That era left us a painful lesson: A society that humiliates its own defenders wounds itself. Today, those shameful acts are being repeated — this time against law enforcement officers and National Guard soldiers. Cops are the new Vietnam veterans.

It is important to note that Vietnam veterans did not set the na

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