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Lessons of Viet Nam--everyone should watch the PBS series--
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:55 pm
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:55 pm
The Viet Nam War in US terms was big government at it's extreme.
It was horrible. It was political. It went on and on because we were lead by politicians whose entire agenda was political---much like today.
LBJ expanded that war unbelievably because he lacked the courage to call it what he knew it to be---a lost cause, an unwindable quagmire. We sided with a corrupt leader (leaders actually) that had no public support and we were basically fighting everybody in the country except the elites around those corrupt leaders. We sent 50,000 boys to their death and damn near ripped our country apart.
If TD existed in 1968 almost all the posters here would probably have been supporters of the war. In the South we thought those "hippies" that were marching were traitors--un-American.
The hippies were right.
Our family changed our mind about the war when my youngest uncle went there in 68. He came back forever changed. He was drafted out of a poor Mississippi community and thrust into the worst part of the war. He will not talk about it even today. We were all for the war until he came home from the war. We realized something wasn't right about the war. We wanted it over. I knew I was going to vote republican in 76 simply because Nixon had stopped the draft.
It is dangerous to war all the time--dangerous for the republic. It is dangerous to give the military undue influence in our government. VietNam proved that.
Let's start demanding the end to our involvement in these regional wars. Let's quit being the world's policemen. Let's raise at least one generation that does not go to war.
It was horrible. It was political. It went on and on because we were lead by politicians whose entire agenda was political---much like today.
LBJ expanded that war unbelievably because he lacked the courage to call it what he knew it to be---a lost cause, an unwindable quagmire. We sided with a corrupt leader (leaders actually) that had no public support and we were basically fighting everybody in the country except the elites around those corrupt leaders. We sent 50,000 boys to their death and damn near ripped our country apart.
If TD existed in 1968 almost all the posters here would probably have been supporters of the war. In the South we thought those "hippies" that were marching were traitors--un-American.
The hippies were right.
Our family changed our mind about the war when my youngest uncle went there in 68. He came back forever changed. He was drafted out of a poor Mississippi community and thrust into the worst part of the war. He will not talk about it even today. We were all for the war until he came home from the war. We realized something wasn't right about the war. We wanted it over. I knew I was going to vote republican in 76 simply because Nixon had stopped the draft.
It is dangerous to war all the time--dangerous for the republic. It is dangerous to give the military undue influence in our government. VietNam proved that.
Let's start demanding the end to our involvement in these regional wars. Let's quit being the world's policemen. Let's raise at least one generation that does not go to war.
This post was edited on 9/25/17 at 8:57 pm
25
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:56 pm to I B Freeman
Incredible series
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:57 pm to I B Freeman
quote:1. Do not give the communists tax credits
Lessons of Viet Nam
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:58 pm to I B Freeman
quote:
In the South we thought those "hippies" that were marching were traitors--un-American.
No, they were un-American in the way they treated returning Marines, soldiers, airmen, and Naval personnel.
quote:
He came back forever changed.
War changes everybody involved, it's not exclusive to the Vietnam War.
This post was edited on 9/25/17 at 9:01 pm
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:59 pm to I B Freeman
Thanks to PBS we still have quality programming on TV. Public money well spent. 
Posted on 9/25/17 at 8:59 pm to Bunyan
It brings back a lot of memories about the times for me.
I remember telling my son when he was in high school that he was lucky he could talk about going to college after high school because when I started high school we used to preference our thoughts about the future after high school with "when I get through with the army....". We sort of assumed we would be drafted.
I remember telling my son when he was in high school that he was lucky he could talk about going to college after high school because when I started high school we used to preference our thoughts about the future after high school with "when I get through with the army....". We sort of assumed we would be drafted.
This post was edited on 9/25/17 at 9:07 pm
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:00 pm to I B Freeman
I think we should go back into Vietnam just to piss you off. But just for the pho.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:00 pm to Big12fan
quote:
Thanks to PBS we still have quality programming on TV. Public money well spent
Well any number of networks could have aired that series.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:01 pm to I B Freeman
For me it's really my first time really learning about the war (only 21). Very informative
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:01 pm to I B Freeman
quote:OMG you reproduced???
I remember telling my son
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:01 pm to I B Freeman
The IC and deep state is much more dangerous than the military
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:04 pm to TigerFanInSouthland
quote:
No, they were un-American in the way they treated returning Marines, soldiers, airmen, and Naval personnel
There was some of that BUT nothing like thousands that simply protested the war. A lot of the protestors had brothers in the war.
The returning vets didn't get the reception they deserved from any of us. We didn't have any parades or special services for returning vet in our town. The country was tired of the war.
I know two families in the little community we lived in that lost sons. I don't care what anybody says the poor and the rural communities gave more than their share to that damn war.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:04 pm to Strannix
That's true . And I didn't know that just one year ago . What a year it has been.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:06 pm to Bunyan
quote:Yes it is
Incredible series
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:08 pm to TigerFanInSouthland
Now, I will grant that we went into the war on bad intelligence, much like the Iraq War. But, if we really wanted to win that war, again, much like the Iraq War, we could've and would've unequivocally.
The best way to do war is end it quickly, we fricked around and fricked around for years over there, if you want to do war, you need to make it as quick and as violent as possible.
We ended up leaving in disgrace and in turn fricked the South Vietnamese and left them to their fate.
The best way to do war is end it quickly, we fricked around and fricked around for years over there, if you want to do war, you need to make it as quick and as violent as possible.
We ended up leaving in disgrace and in turn fricked the South Vietnamese and left them to their fate.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:12 pm to TigerFanInSouthland
There was no "good" government to support. The people of South VietNam didn't trust their own leaders. They were not going to fight to keep those people in power and that is why the Viet Cong were always a force in the war.
We couldn't have won because the people were not with us. The people in Iraq were not and are still not with us.
We never lost a battle in Viet Nam and inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties on the enemy but we never would have "won". It would still be civil war today had somehow the leaders at the time in the South had managed to fend off the North. A terror war.
We couldn't have won because the people were not with us. The people in Iraq were not and are still not with us.
We never lost a battle in Viet Nam and inflicted hundreds of thousands of casualties on the enemy but we never would have "won". It would still be civil war today had somehow the leaders at the time in the South had managed to fend off the North. A terror war.
This post was edited on 9/25/17 at 9:15 pm
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:12 pm to I B Freeman
My biggest takeaway from the Vietnam War is that the American public should never reflexively believe its government when it comes to issues of war and foreign policy. The political establishment in D.C. see war as a political game, while the average working stiff is the one who fights and dies for said lies.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:12 pm to I B Freeman
quote:
I don't care what anybody says the poor and the rural communities gave more than their share to that damn war.
That's rather disingenuous if you ask me. I think Boston had the most Marines involved in the Vietnam War per capita of any city in the US. The draft doesn't discriminate to rural parts of the US.
Posted on 9/25/17 at 9:16 pm to SCLibertarian
That is exactly right.
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