H. Thomas Hayden: Vietnam Vets May Have Made the Difference (excellent read)

Military Advantage ^ | November 3, 2004 | H. Thomas Hayden

[Former Military Chick]

All will have to agree, it was close run thing. However, I will never understand how John Kerry could have confused so many people across America on his Vietnam record. Many of us who served in Vietnam remembered what John Kerry did in Vietnam when he bugged out on his shipmates after only four months in a combat zone and especially what he did when he came home and his tirades against those who served honorably.

Over 2.7 million American Armed Forces men and women served in Vietnam. This does not include the thousands of Foreign Service and volunteer agency personnel. According to a Harris Poll in 1980, 91% of Vietnam Vets were "glad they served their country," 74% "enjoyed their time in the Service," and 72% thought that they were "forced to fight a war the politicians in Washington, DC, would not let them win." Two-thirds of those who served in Vietnam were volunteers, compared to two-thirds who were drafted in World War II.

I served two years in Vietnam -- 1967-1969. I spent one and half years of this in the Mekong Delta, in the very same area of Vietnam where Kerry spent 120 days. I worked with the Swift Boats and the PBRs almost daily. Kerry's story of his total service, his alleged wounds and his questionable decorations just do not make sense. We have the Swift Boat and POW Vets and the Vietnam Vets to thank for raising the questions that many of the pro-Kerry national news media avoided. John Kerry's character was in serious doubt. He has never released all his military records and he has never fully answered the charges by the Swift Boat & POW Vets.

If Kerry personally witnessed atrocities, why did he not try to stop them or why did he not report them when he saw it -- serious dereliction of duty. Or was he just lying? How could a Navy officer get a medal for beaching his boat -- against all rules and regulations - abandon his position as skipper of the boat, chase down a wounded Viet Cong and then kill him. Killing a wounded enemy soldier who had no means to resist is against the Geneva Conventions.

Then there is Kerry's record in the Senate -- somewhat undistinguished. He says he would stand up for our Armed Forces but his record shows something very different. He has voted against almost every major defense appropriation that was before the Senate in the last ten years. Remember his great confusing statement of the Iraqi War; "I voted for the war before I voted against it." Kerry blasted the rationale for going to war in Iraq but offered no alternative on what he would have chosen. All he said was, "I would have done it different."

Now we know that the French, Germans and Russians were in cahoots with the UN on obtaining kickbacks from the sale of Iraqi oil from Saddam Hussein in the Food for Peace Program. Kerry never condemned this outrageous activity. Kerry has said he would consult with the UN before acting in some American foreign policy interest.

Before the current difficulties in Iraq, many Democrats, including John Kerry, repeatedly said that Saddam Hussein was a danger and a threat to world peace and should be removed.

Just last week I met a mother who said her son was a Marine and was in Iraq. She blamed George Bush so she was voting against Bush. It is hard to reason against the deep concerns from mothers, wives, and other relatives, but no one ever forced anybody to join the Marine Corps. A couple of recruiters were recently charged with fraud. However, anyone who has been found to be a victim of fraudulent recruiting can easily get a free ticket home.

Today there are three kinds of members of our Armed Forces. Those who are in Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, or a dozen other hot spots, those who are preparing to go or those who have already gone once or twice and will be preparing to go again.

Hats off and a salute to all the men and women in our Armed Services, the Reserves and the National Guard who serve their country and do their duty. They may not like it, but they are not getting paid to like it.

My local news paper, The Florida Times-Union, said it best: "Integrity tops intellect and steadfast courage trumps falsified bravery." The paper went on to say that Bush may not be able to articulate his vision as well as Ronal Reagan, but his deeds surpass his words.

The better of the two won.

[Former Military Chick]

Indeed an excellent read!

[Former Military Chick]

Vietnam Vets **ping**

I totally agree the right man did win.

[Khurkris]

There it is...

Next...getting Kerry out of the Senate based on info that has surfaced in his Presidential election attempt.

We owe this to a lot of people.

[coconutt2000]

If I was a liberal, I'd blame this on the martians from the future:

I think martians from the future came back and gave the SBVT the run down on how the world ended after John Kerry was elected.

They also helped formulate the strategy... by giving the SBVT the details on how Kerry's campaign would react, and how to counter act them preemptively.

;-)

just kidding

[Former Military Chick]

Oh I agree. I thought it odd when Lieberman did not give up his senate seat to run for the highest office in the land.

It made me wonder if he heart was in the race. I mean, why keep a seat for say a conciliation prize.

So, if anyone needs some elbow grease to get him out in the next election, count me in.

[familyop]

To all of you who were in Nam, welcome home, and thank you again.

[jra]

If this is written by THE Tom Hayden, then that makes a great column even more poignant.

[Rabble]

"Integrity tops intellect and steadfast courage trumps falsified bravery."

The next time the DemoncRATS decide to run a presidential candidate they should consider these words. Did they really think that they could get away with running such a Monster. Obviously they thought they could with the assistance of the MSM.

Thank God for all the knowledgeable veterans who were able to spread the truth, without the help of the liberal elite. The liberals did their very best to hide all the ugly baggage sKerry brought along with him. I'm still amazed that a major political party could field such a traitor who betrayed all those in uniform at that time.

I believe sKerry would have been elected had it not been for the loyal veterans. The Truth eventually filtered out and sunk this Navy man. Without them we would probably have sKerry taking office in January. THANKS VETS. And Yes, I'm one of the loyal veterans betrayed by sKerry.

[shibumi]

Read your "about" page. "The Wind Cries Mary" was played repeatedly on the radio during my tour in VietNam...memories!

As far as my legal expertise goes (limited) I do not believe there's a statute of limitation on treason.

At the very least, a massive public info campaign is needed when he comes up for re-election. The problem is, you're dealing with just about the most liberal state in the union in Mass. Who else would have put up with Ted (hic!) Kennedy for so long?

Thanks For Your Service! Godspeed You Home!

[shibumi]

I think the reason he uses the H. Thomas is to avoid being confused with the traitor Tom Hayden.

[Former Military Chick]

The following is the profile on the military website.


H. Thomas Hayden recently concluded over 35 years of service, which included the Agency for International Development, the Marine Corps, defense industry and the Pentagon. His specialties are Intelligence, Counterinsurgency Operations, Counter-terrorism, and Joint Concepts Development and Experimentation. His Marine Corps assignments have included command of two separate battalions; AC/S G-2, 4th MARDIV & AC/S G-2 FMFEurope; Branch Head, HQMC, Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (SO/LIC); Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for SO/LIC; and, Senior Program Analysts at HQMC with the Joint Staff and DoD at the Pentagon. Overseas assignments included Vietnam, Japan & Okinawa, Europe, Central America, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Somalia, Singapore, Philippines, and Colombia. He has an MBA (Pepperdine) and an MA in International Relations (University of Southern California). He has written two books and is working on a third.

[Former Military Chick]

What a thoughtful post. I am going to cut/paste that when I send the artilce to friends and family!

[calcowgirl]

H. Thomas Hayden vs. Thomas Emmett Hayden (traitor)

[north_georgia_republican]

Maybe they will release kerrys records now and we can see that his superiors considered him a coward. I mean why hasnt he released them yet? Thats suspicious. At least the President released his.

[north_georgia_republican]

Its my opinion that if kerry had been elected he would have gutted every weapons program he could get his greedy hands on and pump the money into midnight basketball leagues for the inner city and the rest would go straight to the jesse jackson rainbow push thing.

My uncle served in vietnam for a year, and he says its just weird and suspicious that kerry won all those medals in just 4 months.

[familyop]

"What a thoughtful post. I am going to cut/paste that when I send the article to friends and family!"

Thank you. The loneliness and exhaustion of very short periods in field combat training are difficult. Worse yet, those little times away is all it takes for many soldiers to lose their wives to playing that happens back home (or even some women troops to lose their husbands back home now). I can't quite imagine the difficulties of a long hardship tour followed by the usual gestures of disrespect and backstabbing from vain, anti-defense civilians in the workplace, the media and just about any other place we see people.

Faithful Viet Nam veterans deserve more than belated respect, IMO. We are still in debt to them, just as we are to those who have subsequently done hardship tours.

[Former Military Chick]

great post!!

I to am glad that the vets had their chance to say why Kerry would not be a good choice for the country.

I think if Kerry had better answers for this he would have. But, I do think that he felt silence would work. It didn't and of course the dem talking heads continue to call the swiftees liars. ticked off for sure

[Former Military Chick]

repeat **ping** for an excellent post(s)!

[Chieftain]

Thomas Hayden... same name as Hanoi Jane's LEFTIST sweetheart, Tom Hayden. If I was him I would either sue or change my name.

Yeah, I think we made a difference, but the exit polling data don't reflect it. I think it's because the leftist media STILL won't recognize our plight. That's OK, we didn't fight the bastard Kerry for anyone's credit, we did it out of vengence...

At 8:00 PM Wednesday, Nov 3rd, 2004, I held a formal burning of discarded Kerry campaign signs as a way of signifying that his effect on my life is finished!

I placed a protest sign I had made for FReepin' him on his first visit to my hometown, Jacksonville, Florida, in May 2004. It had his face imposed on the Vietnam Memorial with his Senate testimony words on the wall, with my words underneath about how he betrayed us and smeared our reputations.

One of my sons videoed the affair for posterity, the other participated in lighting the signs. We also had a fireworks celebration of the Bush victory after the sign burning. I invited my neighbor, FReeper "Cup a Joe" a fellow veteran, to participate. His daughters also participated by reading an appeal to voters to reject Kerry on Election day. He has been a anxious about defeating Kerry as I was and he joined me as we fought to expose Kerry's FRAUD.

I also invited a couple other neighbors and their families to come watch.

When all the signs had burned and all the fireworks finished, Cup a Joe and I held our signs that we used for sign waving on election day and gave out a big "Victory Yell"!

It was a great celebration and a real cleansing of the TRAITOR Hanoi John Kerry from our lives forever!