IF THE U.S. SENDS IN TROOPS, RESPECT THEM : OUR SOLDIERS DESERVE SOLID SUPPORT FROM THE NATION THEY MUST DEFEND.

Byline: LOCAL VIEW By Gary L. Washburn

IF American ground troops enter Yugoslavia, there are two things that I pray go with them: a united American public and a unified U.S. government.

Those of us who served during the Vietnam conflict (it was never declared a war) were kissed goodbye and forgotten by both the government and the public.

Upon completion of my military service in 1969, I got rid of most of my uniforms (including my dress blues) because I was embarrassed about having served in the military. I was honorably discharged and did nothing wrong. But we were a despised category of citizens - those of us called citizen soldiers.

During my service at the Atlanta Army Depot, it got to the point that my fellow officers and I would not wear our uniforms off the base. We were tired of being verbally accosted by civilians for our military service. Most of us would have gone home in a heartbeat. But we had an obligation to serve our country.

When interviewing for a job in 1969, questions from potential employers would sometimes wind up at the same place: Because of your military service, are you a drug addict or have you ever engaged in the burning of villages or the shooting of babies in Vietnam?

Most of us in the military were decent, law-abiding guys who were drafted right out of college or high school.

My brother, a Marine, was killed in Vietnam in 1968. Living with unbearable heat and mud and sleeping with rats in his hooch (the name U.S. Marines gave their living quarters), he was bewildered at the antiwar sentiment in America. The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong constantly bombarded his Marine detachment in the demilitarized zone and the news dispatches from the states talked about antiwar and antimilitary demonstrations.

After the Tet offensive in February 1968, the U.S. government greatly limited air cover for my brother and the valiant Marines who were working to stop the flow of troops down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. My brother died six months after the air cover was limited. We buried him on his 21st birthday and he never fully understood the conflicting instructions from his government and from those in the streets back home.

They didn't have parades for those of us who served during Vietnam. Instead, we had pickets denouncing us as war criminals. We were treated like outlaws and outcasts. The National Moratorium, a march of several hundred thousand in Washington, D.C., was designed to stop the war in Vietnam.

Those of us on active duty found this interesting. We were sworn to protect and defend the people of the United States and now there were demonstrations demanding that we desert our posts and go home. Most of us serving weren't professional warriors: just hometown guys doing what our fathers and brothers had done. And we had a duty to serve our government.

My son, named for my brother, is presently serving aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Persian Gulf. Thirty years from now, I trust that my son and his comrades can look back with pride on their service to the United States.

If we order ground troops into Yugoslavia, they deserve more than our nation accorded my brother and the 58,000 other brave soldiers on the Vietnam Memorial - don't kiss another generation of soldiers goodbye and forget them.