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You are welcome. Pass them on to the next generation.
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You are welcome. Pass them on to the next generation.Bill, Thank you and your generation, and God for giving me the values that I hold dear.
Thanks for sharing your story. I confess I never did understand the Vietnam Conflict and why those who responded to the call did not receive benefits as we did. Your service was admirable and I extend my gratitude.In my second year at the UofI I certainly did not want to go to Vietnam. What's more knowing the mess their political system was in (Diem brothers) it was even harder to understand how we (USA) could support such a totalitarian government. Several friends had left for Canada rather than face the draft. I can't say that we (my family) were particularly religious or patriotic though 3 uncles had served in WWII (2 Marines 1 Navy) and 2 had been KIA. Dad was 4F due to injuries he received in High school.
I opposed the war unilaterally and had been in several anti-war protests. As a result my local Draft board revoked my 2-S deferral and the "Greetings" letter arrived. It was a turning point in my life and I often wonder today about the "Path not taken".
In the end I felt that I did owe my country something for all it had given me and right or wrong it was my duty to serve when called. I felt that I could be in the military but no one could make be kill another human being. With my college background (Pre-Med) I was easily accepted into Medic training and was going to be "One of the Good Guys" (I was young what can I say).
The realities of Vietnam hit me very hard and the character of the Montagnard people and the Nungs struck a deep chord in me. It was "Dances with Wolves" for me. The atrocities perpetrated by the NVA and VC on these people, which I witnessed first hand, changed me and my outlook forever and I began to feel really good about my service. Then I returned to the World.
My bitterness today is NOT about the war per se but about the WAY in which it was waged and our treatment by the country we served.
I was spit on and called filthy names, there were zero GI benefits, the Legion and VFW turned us away as "we hadn't been in a REAL war" and they didn't want any "crazy Vietnam druggies" in their organization, the girl I was engaged to wanted nothing to do with a "Baby-killer" and that even affected my own mother. I hid my military service for 40 years.
I was discharged in 73, with a partial disability, I had no trouble getting my benefits, or job training with VA help after discharge.
Though later I was downgraded out of that partial disability.
Though I did try just hanging around the local VFW, the mostly WW2 vets didn't take to Vietnam vets very well. It was like it was my personal fault that the war turned out less than a win. So no VFW or American Legion for me.
I did lose some friends, and a girl friend, especially when I went into the Army after serving 4 years in the USAF, people didn't understand, or agree with my reasons for entering back into the thick of it. The girl wanted to get married now, and didn't want to waste her best years on someone likely to come back home in a box. Army Helicopter pilots or crew were well known to have high casualty rates.
As for getting spit on, never happened to me, or anyone I knew. If it had, i'd probably ( all 160 lbs of me ) beat em to a mush.
Glad things are going well for you! Thanks for serving.I was discharged in Florida in '74, and when dealing with the VA there and later in NYC, I got some of that "We WON our war, buzz off" treatment, but after I was fired from Eastern because of my service connected ailment, I wound up dealing with VA in Vermont, Maine, and upstate New York, and got nothing but respect and great service. I think if you stay away from large concentrations of retirees, you'll do a lot better. I hear Iraq and Afghanistan vets are having a hard time in other parts of the country. Doesn't seem to be the case here.
Cheers,
Wes
There was a line of about 100 or so protesters forming a double line that we had to walk through to get through the terminal. Several of the ones doing the spitting were actually young girls. At 6'4" and 200lbs I probably could have taken them...you know another crazy druggie Vietnam vet. Cops at the terminal stood by and did or said nothing. People at the airport turned their backs and even pulled their kids away. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy insideIf it had, i'd probably ( all 160 lbs of me ) beat em to a mush.
An Iffy question. MacArthur wanted to use Nukes in Korea! Vietnam both militarily and politically is/was the textbook definition of Cluster Fork.requirement that winning wars is the business of the military
"Your Majesty, if we send enough troops to the colonies, the rebels will give up and peace will reign."The premise being that if we could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese.
Unfortunately not to date. As citizens we are pressured daily to make decisions on issues, when in my opinion, we should be concentrating on quality of leadership. There was a time, prior to social media, when that was the case. I was elected to the city council of a suburban Kansas City, Missouri city. The first few months in office I knocked on doors to get opinions on issues. I discovered there were as many for as against. I adopted the approach I was elected to use my judgement on behalf of all. From that time on I was free of pressure and could be more effective in my decisions. I received more support from those in my Ward. Even the Kansas City Star, not supportive of my political party, offered their support if I would run for mayor."Your Majesty, if we send enough troops to the colonies, the rebels will give up and peace will reign."
"Mein Fuhrer, if we drop enough bombs on them, the English will have no choice but to give up."
"Mr. President, if we and our British allies bomb them day and night for a year, we'll deprive the Nazis of the will and the means to fight and save our troops from high casualties on the ground."
Mr. President, to heck with with this half-assed limited war! Nuke those North Koreans into the stone age!"
Do we as a species ever learn?
Cheers,
Wes
"Oh, but we can't have a bunch of tinpot Colonels and Brigadiers with no grasp of the big picture running around making critical decisions without any direction from the Pentagon, can we? Of course not!"Lets concentrate on quality of leadership and turn them loose to administer on our behalf.
I agree. But what if they were informed and in step with quality leadership from the Pentagon?"Oh, buy we can't have a bunch of tinpot Colonels and Brigadiers with no grasp of the big picture running around making critical decisions without any direction from the Pentagon, can we? Of course not!"
Cheers,
Wes
quality leadership from the Pentagon?
Wait, I thought there was restrictions on the use of jungle-warfare, and the body-count metric was McNamara's doing?General Westmoreland had complete freedom of action in deciding how to prosecute the war within South Vietnam. He decided to conduct of a war of attrition, using search and destroy tactics, in which the measure of merit was body count.
That didn't happen -- hell Operation Phoenix didn't even succeed in doing that (though it did wear them down enormously).The premise being that if we could kill enough of the enemy, they would lose heart and cease their aggression against the South Vietnamese.
It's amazing nobody did that. We did have counter-insurgency knowledge availableWestmoreland ignored two other crucial aspects of the war, improvement of South Vietnam's armed forces and pacification.
The most effective situation would have been to remove the enemy infrastructure so they cannot carry this out. One way would be to better train the South Vietnamese, so they could either rub them out, turn people and use that to collect information; then use that to hunt down the key players and supporters.The real war in South Vietnam was at the hamlet and village level, where the covert enemy infrastructure was working through coercion and terror totally dominating the rural populace.
I never knew thatLyndon Johnson had no understanding of military affairs whatever
How did he get to where he was?General Earle Wheeler was essentially a staff officer with virtually no troop leading experience