[Chainmail]

Well, if it were my dad, I would definitely take his word over anybody else - including little old me.

I know that Marines never abandon their own - at least we try our best not to.

But the civilian world is different. If some guy or gal gets locked up in a foreign jail, sometimes the State Department gets involved and differing amounts of pressure to release them goes into effect. Drug-related crimes and crimes of violence get less help and political/false charges and prisoners with excellent contacts get maybe more help.

With military prisoners, it's also a mixed bag, depending on how capable our enemies are and how much we're willing to commit.

I am sure that you are aware that during WWII Prisoners of War and civilian detainees were held by the Germans and the Japanese through the whole war in most cases. I had cousins held in San Mateo camp in Manila for 3 1/2 years, the parents died early from the effects of malnutrition.

Korea was a crappy place to be taken prisoner with the extra treat of relentless "brainwashing" thrown in, a communist specialty.

Vietnam captured thousands of airmen, Marines, soldiers, sailors and even a few civilians. Most were kept in very bad conditions, tortured, and held until the end of the war. Some were captured by the enemy in the field, like my best friend Jim McMurdo who was taken alive when his CAP was overrun. He was taken from village to village, beaten in front of everyone, and then at the end of the week executed. We didn't find him in time.

We had all sorts of kidnapped Americans in Lebanon and of course, the 50 plus captured in Iran at our embassy. We planned all sorts of special operations to rescue them, but the one attempt failed badly and, in the end, we had to finally wait until our enemies were ready to release them. The equation we use is, how many lives of our military folks are we willing to sacrifice to save the captured folks. It's a cold-blooded trade and one that assumes that our military men and women's lives are worth less than the prisoners.

We have all sorts of American held all over the place and some of them have no one to speak for them or help them - and yes, they are rotting where they are.

[null and void]

Then there are the ones Songbird refused to allow to be returned, or even be searched for, well after the fall of Saigon.

I think we all suspect the reason...

[null and void]

We never forget our brothers in arms.

There’s a very old Egyptian proverb - ‘to speak of the dead is to bring them to life’, here’s to you, Jim McMurdo!

[GOPJ]

Most were kept in very bad conditions, tortured, and held until the end of the war. Some were captured by the enemy in the field, like my best friend Jim McMurdo who was taken alive when his CAP was overrun. He was taken from village to village, beaten in front of everyone, and then at the end of the week executed. We didn't find him in time.

That's a rough memory to live with - prayers of you and for McMurdo's family and loved ones.

[MinorityRepublican]

Thank you for your service. We can never repay your debt.

Hopefully, we've learned from our past experiences. I think Trump got it right. Hopefully, other Presidents in the future will follow his lead.