What a wall-eyed pile of communist sheep dung! There is exactly NO diference in the sacrifice made by troops in WWII and in wars since or before then and only a major sleeze would suggest otherwise. The soldier fights when and where directed by military commanders under direction of a government elected by the American People. If Vietnam or other wars wasn't as warm and fuzzy enough to suite your taste you should take it up with the American People and the government they elected instead of the poor saps who just tried to do their duty.
When I joined the Marine Corps in 1956 I firmly believed government would not deploy me except if necessary for direct
defense of the Nation. At that time I was sufficiently impressionable to believe the "police action" in Korea had been unavoidably necessary. I also believed that "communism" was a real threat to America. Needless to mention, at that time neither I nor the vast majority of other ordinary Americans had the slightest idea of what communism is or why it should be considered a threat to us.
I was separated from the Corps in 1960 and by the time Vietnam heated up my inactive reserve obligation was completed and they couldn't touch me -- for which I considered myself very myself lucky. Because by then I was becoming educated and learning to exercise abstract reasoning, which is something you need to do.
My first cousin, Thomas, wasn't so lucky. He was drafted, sent to Vietnam and killed five weeks after arriving there. I wish I could say his life was sacrificed in defense of America but as (I think) we both know, that isn't true. The fact is Tommy's life, along with the other 58,000 lives lost in Vietnam was
wasted. There was no good reason for him, or you, or any other American soldier or Marine to be sent to Vietnam. And if you don't believe that I suggest you educate yourself by reading Robert MacNamara's book,
The Fog of War, in which he attempts to justify his incompetent, egotistical actions as Secretary of Defense while admitting the whole thing was a big mistake!
A "mistake."
I wonder if you've read Ron Kovic's book,
Born on The Fourth of July, or at least seen the movie. Kovic was a Marine who was paralyzed in Vietnam and he doesn't share your sense of Gung-Ho idealism. Instead, he tells it like it is -- and in doing so he makes the very important point that
Americans should not tolerate the kind of deception (Tonkin Gulf) that led to our involvement in an unnecessary military engagement. And if there were more Ron Kovics and fewer chest-pounding GI-Joes like you it is unlikely that Bush could have gotten away with his "weapons of mass destruction" bullshit that added 5,800 more of our sons and brothers lives to the waste.
The fact that there was kill-or-be-killed fighting going on in Vietnam and that you were involved in it is no reason for me or any other American to thank you for it. Because to do so would indirectly be thanking self-serving politicians like MacNamara for committing you to it. Instead of boasting about being in that fight and expecting to be celebrated for it you should be raising hell about it and telling your fellow citizens why there should have been investigations and prosecutions instead of celebrations.
If you were drafted to Vietnam you were screwed. You weren't as lucky as I was and for that you have my sincere sympathy. But if you, like Ron Kovic, enlisted to go to Vietnam, you, like Ron Kovic, were misled into screwing yourself. You still have my sympathy but let's stop trying to make a silver purse out of a sow's ear. You were placed in harm's way by an incompetent government and the
only Americans who benefited from your ordeal are the profiteers, the Military Industrial Complex.
The difference between WW-II and Vietnam is the U.S. was attacked by the Japanese Empire, which, along with its ally, the Third Reich of Germany, were committed to invading and occupying or destroying us in WW-II. My father and his two brothers, along with millions of other Americans, put their lives on the line to defend this Country against those two very powerful, capable, and menacing military forces. But North Vietnam did absolutely nothing to us, nor was North Vietnam capable of harming us in any way. We invaded them with absolutely no provocation. In fact, according to the very author of that costly debacle,
it was a "mistake."
So, once again, it is a damn shame that you, and others like you, were exposed to that "mistake." But I strongly suggest you make an effort to educate yourself about the facts concerning the Vietnam debacle and try to convince others why it would be a good idea to prosecute self-serving sonsabitches like George W. Bush for deliberately involving this Nation in unnecessary military engagements.
I will sincerely thank you for doing that!
