Posted on 11/10/2010 8:39:35 PM PST by Abakumov
The 50th-anniversary commemoration of the Vietnam War should be a time of reflection and redemption, when a grateful country pays a long-standing debt to veterans who nobly fought in the conflict but came home to scorn and spit. But if a Pentagon bureaucrat has his way, the Viet vets will be denied their rightful honors once again....
The proposed budget for the commemorations was $100 million, which was less than the amount spent on the World War II and Korean War commemoration efforts. For example, the 1984 commemoration of the Normandy landings alone cost $38 million....
Enter Michael L. Rhodes, director of administration and management at the Pentagon.... According to an August action memo prepared by Mr. Rhodes for Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and obtained by The Washington Times, he urged Mr. Gates to reject the proposed commemoration program and adopt instead a "targeted" $30 million program. The memo describes the new approach as "a dignified and meaningful DoD Program of national recognition [that] need not be tied to the full timeframe of U.S. military involvement" and that will "provide nation-wide participation, while utilizing the resources involved in the most effective manner."
Mr. Rhodes' plan cuts the time frame of the commemoration down to 2015-18 and inexplicably features a kickoff in his former home of Honolulu, which is not exactly a resource-effective location. Hawaii is inaccessible for most veterans and is in a time zone where most Americans could not watch the event live on television.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I don't mean to be rude, but your thanks just don't mean anything to me. I was too badly screwed as the result of Kerry-Fonda and the lies they told. Sorry.
I don't mean to be rude, but your thanks just don't mean anything to me. I was too badly screwed as the result of Kerry-Fonda and the lies they told. Sorry.
You're right. Most people have no concept of what "Veteran's Day" is about.
I see that you were Air Force. I was Navy. I got so badly screwed by the likes of John Kerry and Jane Fonda and Walter Cronkite and the lies they told, I just keep trying to forget all of this stuff. I'm not ashamed about my service, but, after enough Kerry-Fonda, I was made to feel that way.
I was in Cam Ranh Bay (the country club of Vietnam), where were you?
Tuy Hoa Air Base 31st Fighter wing. Aircrew on AC119G gunship as we volunteered to be the radio op. My day job was in the COMM/NAV shop or on the flightline. I was there 68-69.
Well said.
Well said.
I’m sorry.....
Well, it figures, cut the pay of the ones that can’t quit and go some place for a “Decent Job”. This makes me sick!
http://www.military.com/news/article/presidential-panel-freeze-military-pay.html?ESRC=eb.nl
http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/retired-pay/retired-cola
“The proposed budget for the commemorations was $100 million,”
The Turd-in-Chiefs apology tour to India costs more than that. Way, way more.
I don’t have the words to adequately describe it, but that Vietnam Memorial picture is very touching and also sobering. Thanks for posting it.
Wow, we have something in common - I was the radio operator on a Navy P-3. We ran shipping patrols off the coast in 69.
I appreciate your understanding.
CH-53 helo avionics, HMH-462, Phu Bai, 1969.
God bless you, Marine. I’m glad you made it home alive.
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