Posted on 10/01/2017 6:57:15 AM PDT by rktman
Although in the decades since the Vietnam War, I had moved away from my anti-War activism, many of the old leftists from the sixties and early seventies have not changed. They are still proud of their anti-Vietnam War position.
When the Vietnam War was over, everyone was relieved it was over, but we did not anticipate the travesties imposed by the North Vietnamese that were about to happen. Nevertheless, the flag was still flying. America was still America the beautiful. But we had lost, no matter how hard we tried to put a good face on it. Those little guys in the jungle took us down.
In Burns’ series on the Vietnam War, the image of the flag remains a unifying symbol, a ray of hope. It had been there for the former captives to remind them that their country had not abandoned them. No ignoramuses with shoulder pads, millions in the bank, and mile high chips on their shoulders can change the fact that love of the flag sustained our POWs and our troops until 1973, and eventually brought them home.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Recall then-Senator John Kerry saying, “Nothing bad happened in Viet Nam after we left.”
Yeah, when I left that war was won. We were down to maybe 20 Zulus a week and the Vietnamese economy was booming.
I left there feeling that something great had been accomplished.
I have hated and despised leftards ever since the war and in a certain sense never felt this was truly my country as long as they were among us.
FLY YOUR FLAG TODAY!!!
An Open Letter to the NFL Players
On Tuesday, September 26, 2017No
http://www.thepostemail.com/2017/09/26/open-letter-nfl-players/
NRA - WE STAND FOR OUR FLAG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ-wNQIpP54
“Yeah, when I left that war was won. We were down to maybe 20 Zulus a week and the Vietnamese economy was booming.
I left there feeling that something great had been accomplished.
I have hated and despised leftards ever since the war and in a certain sense never felt this was truly my country as long as they were among us”
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My father was stationed in Saigon and Cam Rahn Bay ‘67 - ‘68
He felt the same.
In 1970 a USAID Agriculture adviser drove his GMC Jimmy from Quang Tri near the DMZ on highway I to the Ca Mau Peninsula in the far south without once taking a shot. The action around Pleiku and Kontum in I Corps was minimal. The usually active Quang Tin and Quang Ngai were quiescent as most Viet Cong had been sacrificed on Tet 68, and the NVA has scooted into Laos. Seal bases along the Mekong, especially the large one at Binh Dinh were quiet. In sum, the war was on hold as the NVA waited for us to leave. And we did. And then, repeat then, the war was lost.
By Spring of 1971 they were whipped. They wouldn’t stand and fight. The ones we captured were in pitiful physical condition and their gear was in a deplorable state.
Your comment about the USAID worker fits my recall exactly in our AO (NE of Saigon in the old War Zone D). The roads were full of cars, motos, and buses. The people were moving around freely. All of those little towns like Gia Ray were experiencing a building boom with new houses, stores, etc. Six months before you wouldn’t go outside the gates w/o full gear. By April of ‘71 I’d take a jeep out by myself with just a .45.
War can be fun when you’re kicking ass.
Stopped reading right there.
This guy is still the same old leftist asshole.
As the posts above note, by 1970 - 71, the US and South Vietnam had overwhelmed the communist North and the South was stable. With Nixon’s resignation, the leftist US press turned Watergate into a scandal. Dems in Congress were able to vote down further US support to South Vietnam. Once the North saw US aid, intelligence and air cover was pulled, the North sent its army down into the South. Game over, 50,000 G.I. lives made tragic by the Democrat surrender.
We won - the Leftist enemy sympathizers handed everything to the enemy.
BRAVO!! Thanks for telling it like it is. The anti-war goons were and still are TRAITORS! They enjoy the fruits of others’ sacrifices. We won the battles, but Politicians sold the country out!!
A very succinct summary which aligns with the way I remember it.
Just a little reminder. The 3rd Marine Division departed I Corps Vietnam in November 1969 and moved to Camp Courtney, Okinawa. It was not replaced. Some thought the move was crazy, but in 70-71 there was a very substantial reduction in fighting in the five northern provinces and that included the Arizona Territory, Hiep Duc, Quang Tri, and the always troublesome Quang Ngai. The ThirdMarDiv was in fact not needed. ThirdMarDiv intell had confirmed that thousands of Vietnamese that had left the South in 1954 had returned to II Corps. With the Tet Offensive they raised up and were then slaughtered. Another example of pacification: The Chieu Hoi leader in Quang Tin claimed in 70 that of a large book of local insurgents that had once existed in that province less than 60 were thought to be still alive. In sum the indigenous Cong were extirpated. In the end, the war in Viet Nam was won by invading NVA.
Finally, the whole business could have been ended in a week had we started to take out the Red river dikes and dams (which took centuries to build) and threatened to leave the heavily populated northern provinces under water unless the North gave up the war. In the end, we never really meant business despite the large loss of life.
As a radio intercept op I listened to us winning the war in 68 then handing it back to Ha Noi in 69. We won it again overtly in 72 and the Congress handed the whole thing to the Communists thereafter.
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