Free Republic

Most of the interviewees talk in the lugubrious tones of the defeated. We all know the story ends badly. But when it’s over, we aren’t told why we lost. The music is more memorable than the pictures, and the pictures are more compelling than the narration. We are deluged by sights and sounds but not enlightened as to cause and effect. The film casts the antiwar movement in a moderately favorable light. Are the protesters the real heroes here? What about the valiant US soldiers, 75 percent of whom were volunteers?

President Trump will award the Medal of Honor to Ret. Army Capt. Gary M. Rose, a Vietnam War veteran, for risking his life as a medic to provide emergency treatment to his fellow troops. Rose, who lives in Huntsville, Ala., is expected to receive the nation's highest military honor on Oct. 23, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. Rose was awarded the nation’s second highest medal for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross, in 1971. Members of the military and Congress have lobbied for years for him to receive the Medal of Honor, according to Stars and Stripes...

Leftist slant but informative. We had our opportunities with Ho Chi Min but it would have meant quitting on the French. Russian/Chinese expansion as well as the development of nuclear weapons may have handcuffed us. Dividing the country was was made to look like Korea redux-probably true. A complete misunderstanding of what's going on in other cultures. 57k lost lives later we haven't learned our lesson in the mid-east. Ken Burns gave us the 'well intended' bone.

Looking for opinions on the new documentary on the Vietnam War that aired on PBS this evening. Accurate?

Many Americans’ moral vanity is expressed nowadays in their rage to disparage. They are incapable of measured judgments about past politics — about flawed historical figures who were forced by cascading circumstances to make difficult decisions on the basis of imperfect information. So, the nation now needs an example of how to calmly assess episodes fraught with passion and sorrow. An example arrives Sunday night. For ten nights on PBS, Ken Burns’s and Lynn Novick’s The Vietnam War, ten years in the making and 18 hours in length, tells the story of a war “begun in good faith by decent...

As U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War escalated after the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, U.S. Army general William Westmoreland knew he would be simultaneously fighting two different types of enemies on the ground — the main battle force of the North Vietnamese Army and the guerilla insurgency of the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Westmoreland, who served as commander of Military Assistance Command Vietnam in the early years of the war, considered the North Vietnamese Army the greater threat. However, he could not ignore the Viet Cong, a versatile and resilient fighting force guided by...

Has India Secretly Supplied Vietnam with 6,000-pound Supersonic Missiles? Vietnamese state media claim Hanoi and New Delhi not only agreed on a deal to send BrahMos supersonic projectiles to Hanoi, but also say the weapons have been delivered. India’s Ministry of External Relations, though, denies such a deal exists. When asked specifically about the acquisition of the BrahMos, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Thi Thu Hang said on August 18 “the procurement of defense equipment by Vietnam is consistent with the policy of peace and self-defense and is the normal practice in self-defense.” India’s External Relations Ministry said reports of BrahMos...

Historically speaking has any Empire won a war of counter insurgency? I'm hearing this talk about Afghanistan, and do not know the answer? I think the odds are not good when you think of the American Revolution, Vietnam, Kashmir, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.. and an added bonus the "rules of engagement". For the record, I am very strong President Trump supporter. Love the guy and will support him 100%. Just looking for good answers. Thanks!

Vietnam vet Ed Hill earned the Bronze Star but never received it. Now after all this time, Hill received the medal he so rightly deserved.

India’s sale to Vietnam of a short-range, supersonic anti-ship missile has opened a new conflict in an already tense situation with China, an analyst said. Vietnam will receive the BrahMos which is considered one of the most effective and lethal anti-ship missiles in the world, with speeds reaching Mach 2.8 to 3.0. “About half of China’s worldwide arms exports go to one country — Pakistan, for the primary reason of ‘containing India,’ ” said Hoover Institution Fellow and Geostrategy-Direct correspondent Maochun Miles Yu in a Facebook post. “Now India is playing the same game by arming one of China’s arch...

Vietnam has won the promise of a visit from a U.S. aircraft carrier and deeper defense cooperation from the United States.. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich in Washington on Tuesday that a strong defense relationship was based on common interests that included freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. A Vietnam flag flies as U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (L) hosts an honor cordon for Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich (R) at the Pentagon...

President Donald Trump on Monday unleashed a hostile tweet storm on Sen. Richard Blumenthal, making a number of claims against the Connecticut Democrat, including that he had lied about serving in Vietnam. Trump's Twitter fusillade was apparently set off by Blumenthal's appearance on CNN earlier Monday in which he spoke about the investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged ties to Russia. "I think is very important to protect and safeguard the independence and integrity of that investigation," Blumenthal said. Later Monday, Trump suggested Blumenthal take a long vacation in Vietnam "so he can at say he was there."

An Army medic who "ran into danger" to save wounded soldiers during a Vietnam War battle despite his own serious wounds on Monday became the first Medal of Honor recipient under President Donald Trump, 48 years after the selfless acts of bravery for which James McCloughan is now nationally recognized. McCloughan mouthed "thank you" as Trump placed the distinctive blue ribbon holding the medal around the neck of the former Army private first class. As the president and commander in chief shook McCloughan's hand, Trump said "very proud of you" and then pulled the former soldier into an embrace. "I...

The China-Vietnam relationship might be less complicated than Washington would wish, despite BeijingÂ’s recent threat to use force against Hanoi to stop drilling in the South China Sea. Interestingly, there was nothing in the 31 May joint statement issued by President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that would commit the US to assisting Hanoi in its current dealings with Chinese threats. Those in Washington who see Vietnam as a potential ally against China have quite possibly ignored the powerful and corrupting influence of cross-border trade between China and Vietnam. While attending IMDEX in Singapore in May, a...

His North Vietnamese captors told him he’d never go home. They beat and tortured him to no end, but the Navy flyer’s patriotism manifested itself in historic defiance, refusing to do the easy thing for his own reward. He would not accept freedom before other prisoners who’d been there longer than he: It wasn’t the right thing to do, he thought. Instead, he gave the enemy hell. Now he has brain cancer. And he’s 80 years old. It’s the appropriate time to loudly honor this war hero for his toughness and resolve in combat and captivity, but subsequently during his...

Ronald L. Ridgeway was “killed” in Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1968. The 18-year-old Marine Corps private first class fell with a bullet to the shoulder during a savage firefight with the enemy outside Khe Sanh. Dozens of Marines, from what came to be called “the ghost patrol,” perished there. At first, Ridgeway was listed as missing in action. Back home in Texas, his old school, Sam Houston High, made an announcement over the intercom. But his mother, Mildred, had a letter from his commanding officer saying there was little hope. And that August, she received a “deeply regret” telegram from...

Vietnam blogger 'Mother Mushroom' jailed for 10 years [AFP] AFPJune 29, 2017 Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (L), also known as "Mother Mushroom", stands trial at a courthouse in the central city of Nha Trang on June 29 Vietnamese blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh (L), also known as "Mother Mushroom", stands trial at a courthouse in the central city of Nha Trang on June 29 (AFP Photo/STR) A prominent Vietnamese blogger known as 'Mother Mushroom' was jailed for 10 years on Thursday, her lawyer said, during a brief trial rights groups decried as "outrageous". Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, whose...

Democrat super-lobbyist Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a six-month period last year to represent Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, seeking to end one of the Obama administration’s economic sanctions against that country, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned. Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, is listed as a key lobbyist on behalf of Sberbank, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. His firm received more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it coming from foreign governments, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

President Donald Trump will award his first Medal of Honor as president to James McCloughan of the US Army for “conspicuous gallantry during the Vietnam War.” In a ceremony planned for July 31, McCloughan will receive the honor for actions he took over the course of 48 hours in close-combat fighting against enemy forces in Vietnam in 1969. McCloughan, who was 23 at the time, was serving as a private first class combat medic after being drafted. He voluntarily risked his life on nine separate occasions to rescue wounded and disoriented comrades. He suffered wounds from shrapnel and small arms...

The guns 'special' rounds were quiet but lacked stopping power Since World War II, America's elite forces have used quiet firearms for missions where it pays to be silent. Sound suppressors—commonly referred known as silencers—remain in service today. What many don't know is that U.S. commandos once carried revolvers with special cartridges designed to muffle gunshots. In the 1960s, the AAI Corporation developed the cartridges for the U.S. Army's and Navy's rifles, pistols and shotguns. The U.S. Army Special Forces and Rangers tested the unique ammunition in Vietnam. While they offered many advantages, AAI's products failed to win any widespread...