I've always had a problem with that phrase especially in light of the book Deliction of Duty by H. R. McMaster. After Tet '68 which "America's Most Trusted Newsman" declared a loss for America, the citizens lost their will to carry on. In 1968 Nixon ran on getting out of Vietnam and supposedly had a plan for doing so. Nixon did extract us from Vietnam masterfully especially when you consider what a recent candidate for the presidency was doing at the same time. The Nixon led retreat got over 500,000 troops out and recovered most of POWs well before Siagons fall. That is not mismanagement in my view.
While the media likes to show pictures of the helicopter on top of the CIA building in Siagon or the one being pushed into the sea off the carrier. That occurred after Nixon had been chased from office and the RATs had gone back on the word of the US to provide air support if the NVA brought tanks into the south.
>>>While the media likes to show pictures of the helicopter on top of the CIA building in Siagon or the one being pushed into the sea off the carrier. That occurred after Nixon had been chased from office and the RATs had gone back on the word of the US to provide air support if the NVA brought tanks into the south.
This is why stories like yours, Aloha's and all other Vets need to be posted.
How many Vet websites have been up in small corners of the Net telling their story and have never gotten coverage? One of the reason's the Swifties got their message out is because of the message boards which was picked up by bloggers.
Because of their messages, I started making 'research threads' from the information I found on those Vet's sites that were out there for years. It was merely copying, pasting, and sourcing it back to them. But it made some news outlets cover the information. And it was my crash course on Vietnam.
"The Nixon led retreat... recovered most of POWs well before Siagons [sic] fall."