"Anti-war generation watches its children go to war"
I'm sick of my generation being called the "Anti-War" generation. The morons who entertained the news cameras way back then were few and far between, but they got all the publicity. Millions of my generation were clean cut, had jobs, got drafted, never took drugs, cut our hair, washed, went to church, and raised our children to be moral contributing members of our country. A few thousand scum-bags got all the press. I'm tired of it. My generation was NOT anti-war; we were very patriotic.
Like one of our local Clevealnd news dudes (Gib Shanley) used to say immediately after the anchors and anchorettes gushed and gooed over the "ten thousand" protester who might have shown up at some pot-smoking anti-war demo, "Yes, but over 170 million Americans DID NOT protest."
RE: My generation was NOT anti-war; we were very patriotic.
With all due respect, percentage wise, the Baby Boomers had an unbelievably large faction of neer do wells. Perhaps not where you grew up, but in the same areas that are "blue" voting areas today, it was like a nightmare. I was barely old enough to understand what all the "big kids" were up to at the time, but the whole thing was quite wierd to me. Sorry if this offends you, but that's how I saw it.
Calling them the "Anti War Generation" is pretty disingenuous and agenda-motivated: the name should not frame the minority.
I agree. These people who call a whole generation good or bad have the intellect of Robert Byrd's white-hooded morons. There are good and bad in every generation and if one begins to believe that a whole generation is bad, there is little doubt which side of their own generation they belong.
Muleteam1
Well, I know that my parents at least were not anti-war. My dad became draft-eligible in 1969 but had a college deferment. By the time he graduated, the war was mostly over. That doesn't mean he was a draft dodger or in any way anti-military...one brother-in-law was an Army doctor in the Vietnam era and my mother's brothers were both Marines who served in Vietnam (multiple tours).
He has said that in retrospect he wishes he had done a hitch in the service since it seemed to be a defining experience for so many of his peers. At the time, he had the chance to go to college and took it. He and my mother finished school, got jobs, raised two kids, and did a damned good job. They weren't involved in any of the hippie or anti-war crap.
My father was bursting with pride a few months ago as he watched his only son, my brother, graduate from Coast Guard boot camp and go into active duty service.