On Veterans Day, a Vietnam vet regrets fighting for an America that's become an intolerant bully

Then came reality in the form of an enlistment in the U.S. Army.I did my job diligently and learned to react instantly to bad things. I enlisted in December 1968, completed training during the first half of the next year and received my orders for Vietnam.Upon arrival and deployment in the field, I quickly learned one’s Military Occupational Specialty (i.e., job) didn’t mean much. From early on, it seemed clear that the long, mind-numbing days and bursts of horror were not helping bring democracy to what was a corrupt South Vietnamese government.But I did my job diligently and learned to react instantly to bad things. I don’t believe the troops who served with me had any idea the U.S. would now be led by an individual who seems to meet the diagnostic criteria of multiple mental disorders and is supported to the extreme by what resemble blind sheep stuck in the 20th century.I did not serve — and would not do it again — just so my country could turn away from its earned position as a world leader or become one that would rather build walls than bridges. Veterans Day for me is about honoring those who took an oath, wore a uniform and manned a post; those who put their own self-interest aside for a period of time to preserve all the good things that America has to offer.The USA stands for something significant in the eyes of the world.