Vietnam...Facts vs. Fiction

Capt USNR, (Ret) Marshal Hanson

[Stashiu]

The anti-war movement has also neglected to take any responsibility for their 'friendly' casualties.... returning Nam Vets.

I have heard the same story so many times it makes me sick. It goes like this, "Well when I got back from the Nam, I learned not to talk about it. The reception was too hostile". THAT is how acute PTSD (cure-able) becomes chronic PTSD (not cure-able).

[Sergio]

Great information guys. Thanks to you both for your past service and continued courage.

Best Regards

Sergio

[smoothsailing]

Good for you! Sure sounds like they got the message!

You deserve alot of credit, but maybe your paper deserves some as well.They could have just shrugged you off, but it sounds like maybe they didn't.

[doorgunner69]

Great post.

I had a link years ago to a database of veterans, and of course lost it since. Anyone have a good link?

Remember being surprised how many McCarthy's there were with my first name. I was the only 6511 though........

August 67-May 69...Yeah, I extended.

[Sundog]

Thank you.

I served two tours of combat duty in Vietnam in the navy. On Rivermud 26B and on Budweiser, if you ever heard the call signs.

[Billthedrill]

BTT. Facts won't deter a true believer, and the antiwar types believe only what makes them comfortable. I had an exchange with one of them over the holidays in which I said that Iraq didn't sink Kerry in the last election, Vietnam did. I'd pay money to have captured the look of utter incomprehension on his face...

[sheltonmac]

You sound like a sniveling little coward who would need to be "dragged into war" no matter what the threat to America and our way of life was.

Whatever. If you want to hurl insults, be my guest. You certainly won't be the first. But if you want to make the case that America and our way of life was threatened by North Vietnam, then perhaps you should start a new thread.

But if blame for a war the U.S. partook in has to be assigned to the President who sent the troops, then you need to blame your liberal Presidents JFK and LBJ for Vietnam.

That's what I said in post #27.

[Buffalo Head]

Thanks for the excellent post. It is incredible that some people believe that we lost the VN war simply because the MSM has preached that for so long.

I have waged this battle for truth about the war, seeming alone, for decades. The initial reaction from my audiences has been, "You can't be serious!". After the facts are laid out, universally I hear, "Why didn't we know that?"

The bottom line is: Never trust a journalist to write history!!

[ArrogantBustard]

I just had to go and look it up. Virginia has a whole raft of military related vanity plates, including Viet Nam Veteran. DMV wants a "COPY OF DD214 SHOWING VETERAN FOUGHT IN THE VIETNAM CONFLICT".

[Dr. I. C. Spots]

Great post! The news media never was nor never will be the friend of veterans and the military. Let's always elect and support only those who understand the price of Freedom.

[shotgun]

I have a worthless brother in law who swears to this day that he served in country. He was in the Army Reserve unit that trained drilled instructors during that time but claims he went over there on some top secret mission for which he supposedly was awarded a Bronze Star. This guy never left Astoria, Oregon in his life and as a long shoreman refused to take other jobs out of town because he thinks he is some sort of big shot there.

[WKUHilltopper]

"THE UNITED STATES DID NOT LOSE THE WAR IN VIETNAM, THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE DID"

You're so right! I used to argue this when I was just a little kid. I was too young to go to 'Nam. But I would have and a bit ticked I couldn't. I can't tell you of all the teeth from hippies I knocked out of mouths when I was 14. But it was a few. I was 15 or 16 when they stopped sending troops there. But I've never insulted any one who served there--nor will I ever.

[RVN Airplane Driver]

Apparently you worthless lying BIL..has lot's of company. Over the years I have been amazed at some idiot trying to pass himself off as a Vietnam Vet....they always get tripped up on the lingo....usually takes about 2 minutes and you can figure out they're lying....but most will continue..just like you BIL.

[smoothsailing]

That's good news! I grew up in the Tidewater area (Princess Anne County-now Virginia Beach) and with all of the military presence there, it's good to know that the Commonwealth properly honors their own.

[dfwgator]

Vietnam Vets deserve as much credit as Ronald Reagan for ultimately helping to bring down the Berlin Wall. We showed the Soviets that they were not going to expand their influence without incurring a heavy price. Ultimately they weren't willing to do so. I shudder to think what would have happened had we not acted in Southeast Asia. Vietnam was a battle in a much larger war, and ultimately we won that war, precisely because we did what we did in Southeast Asia. Yes, South Vietnam was lost, but much more was ultimately gained.

[TheCrusader]

"But if you want to make the case that America and our way of life was threatened by North Vietnam, then perhaps you should start a new thread."

This is a stunted argument that falsely presupposes that North Vietnam was the lone Communist threat in the world. Communism was growing in the world through conquest and dictatorship at a very alarming rate. We were dealing with the U.S.S.R. in the "Cold War", the space race and the nuclear arms race. China had turned communist in 1949. Communist Cuba had Soviet nukes pointing at us from just 90 miles off our coast. Communism was taking root in South America, and there were troubling signs that Communism had begun to root itself within the United States.

In light of the above harsh realities for America at the time, stopping North Vietnam from spreading Communism to its Democratic south became an imperitive. It was the staging area in which the U.S. chose to take a military stand against the juggernaut of Communism, for the reasons I just stated, not because N. Vietnam itself was a threat. It was also a highly tactical staging area because it placed our military in the vicinity of Red China and the Soviets, which sent a clear message to these Communist giants as well. This was indeed the case, as both communist empires aided North Vietnam with weapons, ammunition, supplies, advisors, and even troops at one time. (During the war there were reports of Chinese troops in the NVA).

[WKUHilltopper]

"Over the years I have been amazed at some idiot trying to pass himself off as a Vietnam Vet...."

Yes, this is amazing. I had a guy I used to supervise back in the early 90s claiming "flash backs". I was on his case for something and he brought this out. I asked, "flash backs of what??" And he said "Vietnam". I reminded him he was about my age and I told him the only flash backs he could have was watching it on the news unless he lived in some village called Phuc U or something. I couldn't believe this guy would try to pull this one. He didn't stick around too much longer.

Amazing...the whimps out there...

[bentover]

Thank you.

God bless America.

[Finny]

Thank you. I've marked for future reference. Thanks again.

[sima_yi]

Let me offer a different perspective to people who think we "..lost the war in Vietnam."

During the late seventies, I was on a job in Indonesia. I struck up a conversation with one of the locals, and I will never forget what he said to me.

"Every night, before I go to sleep, I thank God for the Americans, because if you hadn't stopped them [the Communists] in Vietnam, we would be fighting them here today."

Now, I don't make the claim that Indonesia is the epitome of a western style democracy, but at least they have a chance, and are headed (however slowly) in the right direction.