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You do know this isn't the CT section of this forum right?
And that is where your garbage belongs.
Why do you think military men and women are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD? It's because our men and women have been given the job of defending something or other and possibly giving up their lives or at best coming home missing an arm or a leg, for a fake war? Our last real war was WW2, more than 75 years ago. I lost a lot of friends from high school, they were drafted to serve in Vietnam and never came back. They didn't want to go fight a war in a weird place nobody could even find on a map. Vietnam was a horrible 'non-war' that should have never happened. And yes, those that came back home weren't welcomed as heroes.
Soldiers need a reason to fight wars. Patriotism, preservation of democracy, defeating dictators, stopping humanitarian abuse, preventing genocide. Those are reasons to fight and die for. Oil isn't a reason to die for. Protecting heroin poppy fields isn't a reason to die for. Overthrowing a political adversary to install a puppet US government isn't a reason to die for.
I heard a statistic today that was somewhat sobering. Arlington National Cemetery is running out of room to put the graves of military that died in battle. There's enough space for 95,000 more dead to be buried at Arlington, but there's 2 million active military right now. I suppose the U.S. government can always build mausoleums and inter dead soldiers there. But how many more will be interred in Arlington that should be home enjoying life and not fighting unfounded battles for some foreign country in the Middle East or Central America?
The young naked girl wasn't walking away from My Lai, she was walking away from a napalm attack that occurred years later.
still, Vietnam war memories
You do know this isn't the CT section of this forum right?
And that is where your garbage belongs.
Wrong!
HumblePi has a point that every war hawk should listen too.
I was in Somalia............for what?
I was in Liberia............just to watch them kill themselves?
I was off the coast of El Salvador dropping SEALS....................for what?
Many of my young friends here in Hampton Roads went to Afghanistan and Iraq and a few of them came back quite ****ed up.....................for what?
BIG WHOOP............ I had a couple feel good moments in Grenada and Panama.
Wrong!
HumblePi has a point that every war hawk should listen too.
I was in Somalia............for what?
I was in Liberia............just to watch them kill themselves?
I was off the coast of El Salvador dropping SEALS....................for what?
Many of my young friends here in Hampton Roads went to Afghanistan and Iraq and a few of them came back quite ****ed up.....................for what?
BIG WHOOP............ I had a couple feel good moments in Grenada and Panama.
In '92 we could have elected George H. W. Bush, a veteran, for a second term instead of draft-dodging Bill Clinton. In the last election, the Republican party could have nominated someone other than Trump, who also dodged the draft. Put someone in our highest office who respects the military and maybe there won't be a change in attitude on Veterans Day.
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Is always funny how the left didn't care about military service at for presidents while both Clinton and Obama were in office but with Trump it's a huge issue. Wonder what caused the change of heart
Yeah? I was TDY in Grenada for 6 months 1983-84. I very seldom run into anyone else who was there.
Ground support (generators) for a week during the invasion.
I flew back to Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility in Roosevelt Roads afterwards.
I firmly believe that our military would be given more respect and honor if the draft was reinstated. Today, Americans don’t give a damn because the military is currently a tool of the MIC and Deep State. When families have skin in the game they'll pay attention to where/why their children are. Vietnam taught the Elitist Progressive Democrats there is blowback when war is fought and lost for profit and not for Country if there was a draft no friggin way we’d be in the ME
The Swiftboat veterans cast the first stone. I assume that's where Trump got the gall to belittle a Goldstar family and ridicule McCain for having been a POW. Conservatives must like ridiculing vets because they keep voting for people that do it.
The willingness of the Western world to engage on the other side of the globe was a win.
Changing Attitudes On Veterans Day
Changing Attitudes On Veterans Day | Zero Hedge
11/11/2019 ~ By Kelli Ballard via LibertyNation.com,
Throughout history, there have been conflicts and wars, and the attitude about the engagements – and its warriors – change depending on the public opinion at the time. Consider the medieval era where being a knight was romanticized. They were considered chivalrous with a code that expected them to be pure in both thought and deed. When the brave knights returned after a battle, they were honored and celebrated. Great feasts were given in their name and the ladies swooned and threw lace, ribbons, and other personal effects to show their support – and hopefully catch a legendary hero husband in the process.
But now, let’s flash forward to the Vietnam War and the veterans who suffered not only from wartime injuries (both physical and mental), but also from hostility and disrespect from the very citizens they put their lives on the line to protect. Whether being drafted into service or signing up on their own, young men, boys, and women, did their duty and served their nation. They went into unfamiliar and hostile territory to fight against the enemy; some being injured or even losing their lives. They witnessed atrocities, saw their platoon brethren die, and dreamed of the day when they could return home, to their loved ones. However, when that day came, instead of open, welcoming arms, many veterans were met with anger, people spitting on them, calling them “baby killers.” Far from being worshipped as heroes, as their former soldiers were, Vietnam veterans were harassed and made to feel ashamed for their patriotic service. It took another 20 years after the Vietnam War for Americans to return to respecting their warriors. The first step in the healing process began in 1982 with the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. After the Gulf War (1990-91), people began waving flags and celebrating soldiers. Langenus, who had suffered as a Vietnam veteran, and also a veteran of Desert Storm, couldn’t believe the change around.
Comment:
Vietnam was a tragedy based on a lie, and had ZERO to do with protecting America from any sort of threat, because duh, despite horror FAKE NEWS of "Domino Theory" Communism is inherently economically incapable of sustaining itself long term. Those boys were used by the government plain and simple. Those boys were used by Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Tx) and the government plain and simple.
I firmly believe that our military would be given more respect and honor if the draft was reinstated. Today, Americans don’t give a damn because the military is currently a tool of the MIC and Deep State. When families have skin in the game they'll pay attention to where/why their children are. Vietnam taught the Elitist Progressive Democrats there is blowback when war is fought and lost for profit and not for Country if there was a draft no friggin way we’d be in the ME
Trump's buffoonery aside......
I served with Engineman and Boatswain mate's Swift Boat veterans in the 1970's who were there in Vietnam in the very same squadron as Kerry. There are still 2 Swift Boat veterans (coxswain & engineman) that I have golfed with for 35 years.
They all say the same thing about Kerry's arrogance and incompetence.
3 Purple Heart's and never missed a day of duty?
Damn, he's a tough SOB! :shock:
Ecofarm:
Not for the other side of the globe, it wasn't. It was a net loss. And what a lovely euphemism you use by calling wars of imperialism and adventure by the benign phrase, "to engage". These were not engagements, they were shotgun and howitzer weddings where the weapons were used on the brutalised brides repeatedly until they were broken and dragged to the alter of imperial capitalism and colonialism. This engagement was done in order to turn four-fifths of the world into the chattel of the other fifth. And it's still happening today.
Veterans should be celebrated for their courage and their service to their states but that does not mean that their political and military leaders who sent them "to engage" had noble or altruistic intents in sending them to war. Veterans should take up the mantle of serving as the guardians of peace and the conscience of the state when they put down their weapons, put aside their uniforms and make a civilian's life while they struggle with their memories of the atrocity of war. Veterans should be the first line of defence against ideologically-driven, greedy or myopic politicians and vainglorious militarists who would lightly plunge the state into wars of choice and unleash the horrors of war on their fellow citizens and those of other states. Those are some of the domestic enemies which veterans should lead their fellow citizens to confront and defeat politically before shots are fired abroad. Starting wars of choice should be very, very hard for those in power to do and so a citizen army, perhaps with a professional cadre for training, is a wiser strategy for peace than an all professional, all volunteer army, or worse still a mercenary army as per Erik Prince's desires, which can frequently wage war without undue political cost. War should never be easy to start.
Cheers.
Evilroddy.
"The term swiftboating (also swift-boating or swift boating) is a pejorative American neologism used to describe an unfair or untrue political attack."
You must be so proud to know such liars that give all swift boat veterans a bad name.
You are totally ignorant on what Kerry did to earn that reputation.
And, you have no idea about the character of the of these SB veterans, so you just take the typical air head route and go with your party's parroting.
So typical of you to spout off your ignorance and just follow your party line BS.
I'm not impressed with your opinions.
Some people believe the Vietnam War was vital to world development as it established the West's willingness to engage the other side of the globe.
No amount of BS or misconception on your part will change that.
Can you expand your statement?
The West made a commitment to the world in Vietnam.
“The West” should have embraced Uncle Ho in 1945, imo.
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