This Sunday, March 29, marks National Vietnam War Veterans Day and a chance to honor Vietnam Veterans and their families for their service and sacrifice.
“VA thanks Veterans who served active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces during our involvement in Vietnam,” said Darren Sherrard, associate director of recruitment marketing at VA. “We are deeply grateful to this generation of Veterans for their service.”
Many of our doctors, nurses, support staff and others are Veterans themselves or were inspired by the military service of someone they know — like Veterans of the war in Vietnam. Because of these close connections to military service members, they are dedicated to making the best health care available to all Veterans, including the more than 6 million living Vietnam Veterans. In fact, one in every three federal employees is a Veteran, with nearly 125,000 of those choosing VA.
If you served in the military or know someone who did, our mission— to make life better for the brave men and women who risk so much to protect our freedom and our country — is already close to your heart. As we take time to reflect on the Vietnam War, consider a career at VA.
Ask any VA employee about the most rewarding aspect of their job and they’ll tell you it’s the opportunity to help Veterans improve their quality of life through the health care services they provide.
Beyond this noble mission, there are plenty of other reasons to consider VA:
- Work on the cutting edge. You’ll be at the forefront of health care innovation. Not only do we lead the nation in delivering virtual diagnosis and treatment via telehealth, but we pioneered the use of genetics for cancer care and built the next generation of robotic prosthetics.
- Enjoy a robust benefits package. From ample time off to higher education support, VA benefits far exceed what you’ll find in the private sector.
- Work anywhere. With VA facilities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the Philippines, you’re sure to find a location that fits you and your lifestyle.
- Be part of an engaged workforce. For the second year in a row, we were ranked the sixth best place to work among the 17 largest federal agencies.
Choose VA today
Ready to choose VA for your career? Take a closer look at what we can offer and apply today.
- LEARN more about the VA hiring process and the benefits of a VA career.
- READ answers to frequently asked questions about Veteran applications.
- SEARCH VA careers at vacareers.va.gov.
- APPLY for a position.
Topics in this story
More Stories
If you’re looking for an opportunity to provide care to Veterans outside a traditional clinical setting, Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) is a great option.
A key part of your job search is finding the right fit for you and your skills, and workplace culture can impact that dramatically.
VA offers numerous pathways into mental health careers, including scholarship opportunities for college students. Learn more.
Website won’t accept my math.
It would be a good day to recognize the 4 new presumptive conditions for agent orange.
Welcome home to all my brothers and sisters.
Take a moment today to remember all those who paid the ultimate price and didn’t make it home safely.
You’ll never be forgotten
Cool! ! !
Vietnam, 1966 & 1967.
U.S.S. Bellatrix and U. S.S. Procyon.
Now is the time to start preparing for next years “Vietnam Veterans Annual Golden Gate Bridge Walk 2021, in San Francisco California in support of veterans coming home from Vietnam.
Vietnam Veterans Annual Golden Gate Bridge Walk 2021
Monday, March 29, 2021 @ 10:03 AM
Veterans of all wars
Vietnam Veterans of Colorado
Although March 30, 2011 has been officially designated “Welcome Home Vietnam Veteran Day” by the U.S. Senate, and March 29 is “National Vietnam War Veterans Day in the United States, there still remains some degree of incompleteness of coming home for the Vietnam Veterans.
February 12, 1973 – Operation Homecoming begins the release of 591 American POWs from Hanoi. March 29, 1973 – The last remaining American troops withdraw from Vietnam as President Nixon declares “the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come”.
The truth about; Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home.
America never welcomed it’s Vietnam Veterans home. For right or wrong, nearly 3,000,000 Americans served in Vietnam. Over 58,000 were kill; another 153,000 were injured or crippled by bullet, shrapnel or disease. But there were no parades for those who came home. Instead, we were pushed under the rugs along with the unpopular and divisive war we served in. Vietnam veterans became bitter, angry, and distrustful of the American Government and the country. I still do not feel welcome in my own country, the country of my birth and the country I laid my life on the line for. I don’t think I ever will.
It is shameful that those who have passed on were never welcome home. Even more shameful is that the living Vietnam veterans have still not received a welcome home. We will probably never truly feel the welcome home. Vietnam veterans need some sort of public acceptance so they can feel proud of serving their country in time of war. Vietnam veterans never got that. That’s why so many of them, for so long, walk around carrying the war on the shoulders. A lot of Vietnam veterans never really left Vietnam; they never really came home.
Many Vietnam veterans still feel unappreciated and unrecognized for the sacrifices they made for our country. The emotional and physical toll of war still remains alive for many Vietnam veterans.
The city of San Francisco and Travis Air Force Base was a key location for the deployment and the return of veterans from the war.
In support of Vietnam veterans return, I propose that all veteran service organizations such as ; American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Nabvets, Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Military Order Of the Purple Heart… support this walk across the Golden Gate Bridge to honor and recognize these veterans for their sacrifice and rejoice in their return to America soil. This walk will be an opportunity for Vietnam veterans to welcome themselves back home.
I have attended many welcome home programs by city and state governments and other organizations, but I still do not feel the reality that it is real.
Vietnam veterans are dying at a very high rate ( about 390 a day ) and soon there will not be any to make this walk for this very worthy cause.
We would like to take this time to honor those veterans who sacrificed their lives and especially those who paid the ultimate price with their lives and did not make it back home, those who paid for the freedoms we have today.
Those veterans affected by agent orange, five decades after returning from the war. Those veterans that are still struggling with PTSD and other health issues.
There is something relieving and healing about walking the bridge for this very important cause and welcoming ourselves home.
I urge every Vietnam veterans to experience this walk.
Lets not forget our KIAs.
Let’s not forget our POWs.
Let’s not forget our MIAs.
SCHEDULE FOR THE WALK
0:9:00 meet at bridge (San Francisco side).
0:9:30 short briefing about why we are walking.
10:03 start walking at your own leisure.( it takes about 33 minutes to walk one way)
12:00 Noon meet back at starting point.
DON’T FORGET TO:
1. Dress appropriately for the weather.
2. Be sure to drink plenty of water.
3. Take lots of pictures.
4. Please wear your military attire (cap, jacket…).
As a combat veteran, VN 68-69, during which time they decided to use “super orange”, I think they forgot to tell the public they used blue and white as well. The blue was some nasty stuff. After being exposed to all this crap, the VA, locally, is deciding unilaterally whether I am in pain with hypertension, respiratory cancer (supposed presumed), fake knee, fake ankle, double back surgeries and left side shrapnel. Why are they reluctant to provide pain medication. Although, they did for many years, as attested through VA records. I firmly believe attrition of older veterans is the current VA goal.
I finally got my welcome back two years ago. I was in wade park VA hospital, three days before Christmas, 2017.
Wade park will tell you they no longer prescribe narcotics for pain. I had FENTANYL before they started the heart catheterization. or so they said.
They kept saying my blood pressure was too low, and couldn’t give me any more.
I told them check the nurses, because I didn’t get any relief. The entire catheterization. felt everything.
they gave me a tylenol back in my room
No relief. Just requesting pain medications, triggers the speech about how addictive, you dont need it and a note in your medical file explaining and identifying your drug seeking behavior.
I have cancer in my neck and lymph nodes. swollen, painful, cant swallow .I got 5 mg of oxycodone every 8 hours.
Pittsburgh gave me 5 mg with tylenol. tylenol every 8 hours, 5 mg of oxycodone every 4 hours.
But nothing at discharge. Keep in mind I had just gotten a biopsy. my heart would not beat on it’s own. pacemaker defibrillator was all that was keeping me alive for over 12 hours.
5 AM, got it beating on it’s own.
I get so damn frustrated. even with a swollen throat, I couldn’t swallow anything but liquid. And a diagnosis of cancer in my lymph nodes and a tumor next to my esophagus and vocal cords. Still they gave me a ration of crap, when I requested a few days of oxycodone until they could make arrangements to get a game plan.
The VA could honor all veterans who served in Vietnam by addressing their needs as required due to “Agent Orange”. While some were paid immediately and show no signs, others are dying and their claims have been abandoned.
when i tried to sign up for the national Vietnam day for the Vietnam pin—-it was impossible. I tried my brother in law, and cousin all tried with the same results. disappointed.