Viet Nam Vets

[10-12]

In November, 1967, on a radio news program, it was reported that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff declared that the U.S. could
"win the war in thirty days" if allowed to.
At that time, I'd been back a few months. I felt at that time that
we, (servicemen), had been let down by Washington. I was too naive to
understand the political facts-of-life then. When my father went to war,
it was WAR, no-holds-barred, get-it-done.
I still believe we were right in donning our country's uniform. No
personal regrets, but I think of the fallen and wounded a lot, and it
still hurts.
Since we'll all be gone reatively soon, and kids are not taught real
history, that fiasco will be swept under the rug as just an annoyance.
Sorry for the rant, just wanted it said. TACC1

We lost the war the day the country voted for Johnson over Goldwater. What the enemy thought we might do was more important that what we would actually do. It was that kind of war. President Nixon almost pulled it out of the fire but got distracted by the Liberals' impeachment attempt. At that point he lost all creds with the Reds. We should not be surprised by the "no win" policy. That was the Truman Policy and was announced shortly after WWII. That did not change until President Reagan became President. He defeated the Reds economically. To be sure, it ran up the national debt but it was a heck of lot better than exchanging nukes.

Thanks for this post. I'm on the wrong side of 70 so I suppose I am ahead of the curve.

Thanks,

Bill

 

[Brian41]

Lots of facts I didn't know and enjoyed learning something tonight, thanks.
I'm a Viet-era vet but didn't serve there. I got TDY orders for the pull-out but was TDY elsewhere and they were recinded.
I was of the last draftees in 1973. My number was two so enlisted USAF Jan 2, 1973. Only 350 were drafted that last year so who knows.

I had many buddies that served there and some messed up mentally and from wounds there. None of them had a problem with serving but only our gov letting them down.

I have the utmost respect for those that served there and thankful they are finally getting some respect for that but do remember those that opposed our troops.
Two lowlifes did attempt to spit on me and called a baby killer at JFK airport when I rotated back CONUS. I never wore my dress blues again and am a little ashamed at that. Maybe one day I'll march in a parade or something and lend support to my brothers that took my place in Vietnam.

 

[Pointman]

We lost the war the day the country voted for Johnson over Goldwater.

It amazes me that so many people, including history books, say we lost the war. Brief facts are that we negotiated a peace agreement with NV in 1973 that the commies broke (surprise, surpise!) in 1973 after we pulled out of RVN. The commies then rolled through VN and into Saigon in 1975. The rest is history but please get the facts straight - we did not lose the war! The war could have been easily won if we had not stopped bombing Hanoi during the peace negotiations - this fact by the commies own admission years later after the war. Thank you war protestors and politicians!

 

[Spotteddog]

It's said that the victors always write a war's history.
And they did...

 

[Lobo_79]

Some things never change...

The statistics were interesting but this quote seem particularly relevant: "...Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy.

Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations..."

The politics of war never end. The lessons learned never seem to stay learned because we discount our historical experiences. To paraphrase Clausewitz: To win the war you must kill the enemy. While I don't believe arbitrarily killing non-combatants or innocent civilians should be in our rules of engagement, it is also unavoidable when the opposing team chooses not to wear uniforms or other means of identification. In hiding among the civilian population the enemy sets us up for bad things to happen to innocent civilians. Regrettably, these things occur during counter-insurgency operations. It's universally true.

460th Tac Recon Wing, Republic of Vietnam, 1967 - 1968
8th Tac Fighter Wing, Ubon, Thailand 1970 - 1971