Donald Trump alert! Vietnam veterans are American heroes

Echo opinion letter published in the Miami Herald:

In the fall of 1968, I received orders from my local draft board, in Brooklyn, New York, directing me to report for a physical examination and subsequent induction into the U.S. Army. I was a compliant young man, and my two older brothers had already served in the army. Eventually, I wound up in an artillery unit in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam. My job was to send up weather balloons to provide meteorological data to the troops.

My wife, Janet, and I have been married for 50 years, live comfortably in Coral Gables and belong to the Biltmore Hotel spa and health club, where we try to swim every day. 

Although I do have some physical problems, having been exposed to Agent Orange while in Vietnam, I am still above ground and breathing, which is a lot more than I can say for many of my friends, male and female, who never came home.

I have never thought of myself as either a sucker or a loser for having served my country.

From Paul Irgang, Coral Gables, Florida