Calling all boomers

[toobfreak]

Lend me your memories concerning the Vietnam War.

When I think of Vietnam, I think of LBJ.

 

[longly]

Good for you. Never got one. Several AARCOMs and 8 AAMs. The Parachute Badge is the one I prize the most.

I retired at 20 years and for the most part loved every minute of it . The strange thing is I never intended on a career; I joined out of a sense of duty, to oppose tyranny, having a brutal stepfather in my childhood left me with a lifelong hatred of arbitrary power. I hate them all, Communist, Nazis, bullies. and thugs. However, once I was in, I found that I loved it, and I would do it all over again if I could.

 

[Arlette]

Those Flower Children helped lose the War.

We lost politically, NOT MILITARILY.

TET was a COMPLETE FAILURE. Yet it was protrayed as a loss.

Was Vietnam more or less embarrassing to lose than Afghanistan? (I'm not a boomer, I'm just here to learn)

 

[rightwinger]

Those Flower Children helped lose the War.

We lost politically, NOT MILITARILY.

TET was a COMPLETE FAILURE. Yet it was protrayed as a loss.

Especially since the military misled us on the prospects of winning
Politically, we realized there was no exit strategy and we were needlessly slaughtering our boys

 

[Arlette]

Sorry I can't do that; when I remember something so clearly there has to be something there. I have a good imagination but not that good.

What convinced you that a tiny nation on the other side of the globe where they got shit done with water buffalos was an existential threat to America?

 

[eagle1462010]

Especially since the military misled us on the prospects of winning
Politically, we realized there was no exit strategy and we were needlessly slaughtering our boys

We fought on their terms. They never really ever won a battle.

 

[rightwinger]

We fought on their terms. They never really ever won a battle.

The Vietnamese had been fighting for 30 years
They wore us out

We finally realized it was not worth it

 

[22lcidw]

It was the last war where there was a draft. Officially we were fighting the spread of communism whether it was to enrich some people is another discussion. And with male politicians in the last few decades, there are pro and con views if they did not get drafted if eligible in that era.

 

[1srelluc]

Here toy go....Some words and deeds can't be forgiven.

 

[strollingbones]

grew up ..ft Bragg NC now ft liberty NC...that quote is something I remember but I cant find it either...but here is an interesting link to Hanoi jane

The Real Story of Jane Fonda and the Vietnam Vets Who Hate Her

Jane Fonda is a star of stage and screen whose career began in 1960. She is the daughter of legendary actor and WWII Naval Officer Henry Fonda. Jane, now 77, is long regarded as enemy #1 among Vietnam veterans (because Ho Chi Minh is dead and even if he weren’t it would be a close vote).

www.military.com

 

[LuckyDuck01!]

Lend me your memories concerning the Vietnam War. I remember Jane Fonda saying or at least it was attributed to her that anyone who was in the military at the time was a war criminal in Vietnam as much as the pilot who dropped the bombs. Do you guys remember that?

All these years I've been proud of my status as a war criminal, but here lately I have not been able to find that statement on the Internet. Even if Jane Fonda didn't say it allowing others to say it and for her not to contradict it means she accepted them speaking for her.

I remember her being outspokenly anti-war spoke against all U.S. troops over there and did a photo-op with North Korean troops. In later years she said that she regretted what she did, even though she still felt it was wrong for us to get into the war.
I have mixed feelings about the conflict. Our government lied to get us into the war and as it dragged on, it cost over 58,000 lives. That said, the South Vietnamese government was democratically elected, and the U.S. was on a mission to stop what they perceived as a Communist Domino Effect, so they joined a multi-nation force against the Communists.
What a lot of people don't realize is that by the time we left, the Viet Cong guerillas had been completely destroyed and we were beating back the NVA, but massive public pressure forced us out, rather than us outright losing. The mistake was allowing unfettered media video access to combat units which showed the dead and dying U.S. troops in the public's living rooms. They learned their lesson for future conflicts though. They limited news media access to combat situations.

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

She apologized a long time ago.

 

[Deadstick]

Jane Fonda definitely spoke out against American soldiers (and American POWs) in viet nam.

I don't remember her exact words...but they outraged me at the time...and they still do.

So the genocidal illegal war didn't outrage you.

 

[Deadstick]

I retired at 20 years and for the most part loved every minute of it . The strange thing is I never intended on a career; I joined out of a sense of duty, to oppose tyranny, having a brutal stepfather in my childhood left me with a lifelong hatred of arbitrary power. I hate them all, Communist, Nazis, bullies. and thugs. However, once I was in, I found that I loved it, and I would do it all over again if I could.

Did it never cross your mind that your Country was and is the Bully?

 

[John Edgar Slow Horses]

So the genocidal illegal war didn't outrage you.

She apologized over twenty five years ago.

 

[The Irish Ram]

She, somewhere around the turn of the century, repudiated what she said and apologized.

This should not be a thing now.

She was trying to stop the death of her career. She was and always will be a traitor to her country...

 

[Deadstick]

She was trying to stop the death of her career. She was and always will be a traitor to her country...

At the time she called out her Country's mass bombing of civilians how is that being a traitor? the real traitors were the fascist war mongers in Washington who not only devastated a Country they got thousands of their own young men killed for profit.

 

[Thunk]

So the genocidal illegal war didn't outrage you.

Did I say that?

 

[1srelluc]

She apologized a long time ago.

Piss on her "apology".....They better bury her in an unmarked grave because what people will leave on it won't pass for flowers.

 

[the watcher]

The war is over...and has been for a long time.

That one is, and here we are again. War is the US governments way of teaching geography. We invaded Panama in 1989 to shut Noriega up who was Bush's money laundering buddy, and now look at us in Ukraine. We didn't learn a damned thing then either. By he way, we are looking at taking back the Canal Zone again. Players gotta play.