Before I start bitching…I want to wish all a Happy Thanksgiving……enjoy family, food and fun…..
Yesterday, I was watching MSNBC at an ungodly early hour and they had the dude from Time previewing the next issue…..about the things over the last decade, 2000-2010, and the military came up and the war in Vietnam was used as a comparison….this is when Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street journal made a statement that I had to devote a post to….she said that “Americans for the most part were supportive of the soldiers that fought in the Vietnam War…..” She was waxing arrogantly poetic….
As a vet from that war I tell her she is dead WRONG! When I returned I was NOT treated with respect nor support….I was seen as some leper to be ignored and pushed into the shadows….People in the “heartland” did NOT support the soldiers, they did support the military….NOT the same thing! They supported the government in its endless battles with Godless Communism….but as far as the poor bastards, like me, that actually did the fighting….NO one gave a shit! Communism must be defeated at any cost! And we WERE that price!
The media made the soldier, especially the ones protesting for the end of the war, as the enemy from within……and since most people got their information from the 6 o’clock news…..we, the vets of Vietnam, especially those of us that fought for an end of the war, became the enemy…..
Ms, Noonan shows the same lack of memory on what actually was happening in those days…they prefer to pretend it was all different some how and try to re-write the history of those days and make it like Americans are ALWAYS appreciative of their soldiers…..that is NOT the case!
The truth is that the American people owe the vets of Vietnam more than they could ever repay….and this lame attempt to do so is nothing but a slap in the face to all those people that were treated like sh*t by their country and that includes the national media……
When I hear these self-adsorbed, arrogant people who should be searching for the truth, tell out right lies…I feel compelled to say….BULLSH*T!
Yeah… I guess I understand your point of view. Of course, if the US had WON the wa in Vietnam, it might have added a whole different aspect to the public reaction.
In the UK, I get the feeling that public reaction to both Iraq and Afghanistan is somewhat the other way round – people support the military and more specifically he soldiers who are simply doing their job (often, in most people’s eyes, incredibly well since they are probably underfunded and badly or wrongly equipped), but a large number do NOT support the government in taking the action in the first place and never did.
That said, my personal view is that maybe we should have and maybe we shouldn’t, but the sad truth is that, if you’re attacked or even seriously threatened and there is a known attacker or entity that offers protection and support to your attacker, then you should ALWAYS fight fire with absolute bloody mayhem in return because, as the world SHOULD have learned from Hilter and WW2, appeasement and being Mr. Nice Guy NEVER works and ALWAYS costs more money and lives in the longer term! A sad part of the human condition, but invariably true nevertheless. Equally, natural allies should ALWAYS support each other even if they do not entirely agree on everything – e.g. Sparta and Athens in 400 and something BC – what an opportunity THEY missed!
It is that way now in the Us, but it has NOT always been so…especially to the retuning Viet vets….right now about 60% of the homeless people in the US are Viet vets….NO one gave a shit before and now they want to make things better….too late….they missed a good opportunity….
BTW, Happy T’giving…I know you guys do not celebrate it….but wanted to wish you a good day….I may be a bit busy with the meal thingy and not on too much…..
Thanks, same to you and yeah, I kind of guessed you’d be tied up today – if you’re lucky that is 😆 😈
Long day and today is Black Friday…where every whacko and his brother is out shopping and stuff….We Americans are a strange lot…..