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Started By
Message
re: Question for those who served in Vietnam
Posted on 5/20/25 at 9:58 am to alphaandomega
Posted on 5/20/25 at 9:58 am to alphaandomega
The Vietnam War was far from “unwinnable”. That is a myth perpetrated by some with a heavy dose of political correctness. The US won nearly every major engagement with the North and Vietcong including TET. What gave it the illusion of being “unwinnable” were the idiotic parameters placed on the military by politicians like not bombing the North for long periods of time or not sending troops above the border. Even with those idiotic parameters the Vietcong was essentially wiped out as a fighting force after TET. My uncle on my dad’s side served two tours, dad was drafted but not much action, and my uncle on my mom’s side was on a swift boat and died from cancer in the early 90’s. Vietnam veterans went through essentially Hell for a country that was a woefully governed and the government that sent them handcuffed them at nearly every turn. But, politicians learned absolutely nothing from Vietnam and continues to make the same mistakes today
1
Posted on 5/20/25 at 9:59 am to TN Tygah
My dad was more upset about little girls up the street asking what he did in the war because they wanted to know they didn’t live near a baby killer.
FTR, he was a guard at the largest ammo dump in the world at that time, which was in Vietnam.
He didn’t speak about his service for decades between that kind of shite and the Hollywood procedurals like Streets Of San Francisco making all vets into homeless psychos.
FTR, he was a guard at the largest ammo dump in the world at that time, which was in Vietnam.
He didn’t speak about his service for decades between that kind of shite and the Hollywood procedurals like Streets Of San Francisco making all vets into homeless psychos.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:06 am to Yellow Truck
quote:
Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara should have both been stood against a wall and shot.
Let me expound on this point.
Johnson and McNamara were picking targets from the Oval Office. They were risking lives, and many were shot down, to bomb a few 55 gallon drums of fuel in the jungle. All while fully loaded tankers were sitting in Haiphong Harbor.
Haiphong Harbor was targeted with some bombing and mines. However, it should have been completely destroyed. It was a primary entry point for war supplies and received almost 85% of North Vietnam's imports.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:13 am to Yellow Truck
quote:
Haiphong Harbor
Was deliberately not totally destroyed as a military maritime target because to do so was thought by the US Grand Strategists to be a major escalation in the war that would have brought China into the war as an active military ally of North Vietnam.
So, instead, the US Grand Strategists decided to let the Grunts continue to bleed out on the battlefields of Vietnam, without any regard whatsoever for the real-life consequences of this cowardly Strategy to spend who knows how much blood and treasure pursuing a strategy that deliberately did not seek an end to the war by the most expeditious means possible.
That's a War Crime, IMHO.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:16 am to TN Tygah
I enlisted in the "ALL VOLUNTEER" army and did basic at Ft. Polk, Louisiana two weeks after graduating high school in 1974. I was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.
Vietnam was winding down and troops were being brought home. I had the honor of serving along side many "heroes" that did go through the hell of Vietnam.
I've heard, first hand, how bad things were for our soldiers there. But, what saddens me till today, is the fact that they came home to be shamed by young idiots who would rather get high and protest. These "heroes" were not brought back in groups with parades, tv coverage and pats on the backs...they came home one at a time and had to endure an ungrateful majority. The only love they got was from direct family members!
I've seen soldiers wear wigs and western boots to hide the fact that they were indeed soldiers, so they wouldn't be subject to ridicule from the locals. This was carryover from the negative rhetoric that real fighting men were subject to, all because of Vietnam!
If you see an older veteran, proudly wearing his Vietnam Veteran cap, give him a warm handshake and a firm, "thank you for your service". Believe me, it means a lot to them.
Vietnam was winding down and troops were being brought home. I had the honor of serving along side many "heroes" that did go through the hell of Vietnam.
I've heard, first hand, how bad things were for our soldiers there. But, what saddens me till today, is the fact that they came home to be shamed by young idiots who would rather get high and protest. These "heroes" were not brought back in groups with parades, tv coverage and pats on the backs...they came home one at a time and had to endure an ungrateful majority. The only love they got was from direct family members!
I've seen soldiers wear wigs and western boots to hide the fact that they were indeed soldiers, so they wouldn't be subject to ridicule from the locals. This was carryover from the negative rhetoric that real fighting men were subject to, all because of Vietnam!
If you see an older veteran, proudly wearing his Vietnam Veteran cap, give him a warm handshake and a firm, "thank you for your service". Believe me, it means a lot to them.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:16 am to TN Tygah
There’s nothing useless about killing millions of communists in my opinion.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:22 am to TN Tygah
I am 75 and fought in Vietnam as a Marine 0311 “grunt” with Kilo 3/9. I was twice wounded near Khe Sanh and The Rockplie near the DMZ in 1969.
Lost some good friends and saw several others choppered out with wounds and never saw them again.
To this day I still struggle with whether the war was worth it. Very few wars, if ever there has been one, are worth it. Killing and dying in war is actual horror and terror personified.
I saw no value. It must be avoided at all cost. But if it has to be fought, fight it at its most ruthless level and be done with it. Don’t handcuff your troops a la Vietnam and subsequent wars.
I haven’t the time nor the energy any more to debate reasons, motives, strategies, etc. I leave that to the new set of pompous fools of today.
I must say, however, that the lives and limbs we gave in Vietnam have led to more efficient wars with fewer American lives lost.
(Yall want to talk about useless wars, look at the one that little piano-dick-playing a-hole is dragging out against the Russians. The casualties in that useless war is nearing WWI proportions.)
Lost some good friends and saw several others choppered out with wounds and never saw them again.
To this day I still struggle with whether the war was worth it. Very few wars, if ever there has been one, are worth it. Killing and dying in war is actual horror and terror personified.
I saw no value. It must be avoided at all cost. But if it has to be fought, fight it at its most ruthless level and be done with it. Don’t handcuff your troops a la Vietnam and subsequent wars.
I haven’t the time nor the energy any more to debate reasons, motives, strategies, etc. I leave that to the new set of pompous fools of today.
I must say, however, that the lives and limbs we gave in Vietnam have led to more efficient wars with fewer American lives lost.
(Yall want to talk about useless wars, look at the one that little piano-dick-playing a-hole is dragging out against the Russians. The casualties in that useless war is nearing WWI proportions.)
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:29 am to TN Tygah
questions like "was this a useless war" are literally impossible to answer because it's not a yes or no question, not to mention that "useless" is subjective and will mean different things to everyone. trying to dumb such a complex issue down to a binary like that is a exercise in futility.
This post was edited on 5/20/25 at 10:33 am
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:31 am to Rip Torn
quote:
The Vietnam War was far from “unwinnable”. That is a myth perpetrated by some with a heavy dose of political correctness. The US won nearly every major engagement with the North and Vietcong including TET. What gave it the illusion of being “unwinnable” were the idiotic parameters placed on the military by politicians like not bombing the North for long periods of time or not sending troops above the border. Even with those idiotic parameters the Vietcong was essentially wiped out as a fighting force after TET. My uncle on my dad’s side served two tours, dad was drafted but not much action, and my uncle on my mom’s side was on a swift boat and died from cancer in the early 90’s. Vietnam veterans went through essentially Hell for a country that was a woefully governed and the government that sent them handcuffed them at nearly every turn. But, politicians learned absolutely nothing from Vietnam and continues to make the same mistakes today
this is 100% correct and everyone should read this post a few times. despite ALL THAT, victory was within our grasp. certainly not "unwinnable"
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:41 am to Gus007
quote:
When Japan attacked, we immediately entered the war in Europe. ???
What were we doing? Protecting the Soviet Union?
Japan and Germany had a treaty. When Japan attacked us, we declared war on Japan. When we declared war on Japan, Germany declared war on us.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:48 am to RolltidePA
quote:
Funny thing is that I've had conversations with them and the parallels between their experience in Viet Nam and mine in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pretty much came to the same conclusion about both. It did wonders for the MIC, at the expense of a lot of young men.
That's not surprising, seeing as both sets of wars were built around enriching the MIC players and nation-building, or at least attempting to do so. Soldiers were simply disposable commodities for the politicians and the Zionists who pushed those two wars to happen. Almost nothing that was done back then was in the US's interests, and it was purely a disgusting act of a few elites and Zionists wanting to control more.
I feel for the soldiers because they thought they were serving their people. Instead, they were mercenaries, making it more unsafe for Americans to line the pockets of disgusting excuses for human beings.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 10:55 am to MDB
quote:
…a Marine… near the DMZ…1969
Same area of operations. Northern Quang Tri province…Con Thien, Cam Lo, Rockpile, Dong Ha. 1969. US Army infantry 11B20, 5th Infantry Div.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 11:27 am to beachdude
I was based mostly out of Vandegrift Combat Base (Stud). Ran ops north of Rockpile, west of Cam Lo, south to Da Krong Valley, Khe Sanh, Laos, etc.
Odd thing is now I live in eastern Baton Rouge off O’Neal Lane and none of the places I mentioned were further than Tiger Stadium or Juban Lane. That’s how compact of an area we operated in. We crossed a lot of Army paths, mostly the Americal.
(And Tiger Stadium at 12 miles was our max distance.)
Odd thing is now I live in eastern Baton Rouge off O’Neal Lane and none of the places I mentioned were further than Tiger Stadium or Juban Lane. That’s how compact of an area we operated in. We crossed a lot of Army paths, mostly the Americal.
(And Tiger Stadium at 12 miles was our max distance.)
Posted on 5/20/25 at 11:38 am to TN Tygah
I chatted with some Vietnam vets who were drafted and didn't want to go. None of them thought about how right or wrong the war was. They just wanted to lay low, stay out of danger and then go home as soon as possible.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 11:59 am to Yellow Truck
quote:Truth.
Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara should have both been stood against a wall and shot.
I was drafted but sent to the cold war. Army infantry. Almost everyone I served with was Army Infantry and had served in Vietnam. They were serving out the rest of their 2 years with us.
Kids! Just like 18-22 year olds of today we knew the war wasn't being fought correctly. There is nothing a bunch of grunts can do to have an effect on the war so everyone did their job as ordered and tried to enjoy life the rest of the time.
As far as we knew we were fighting against communism, a fight worth having.
Time! Time allows for hindsight. Hindsight gives us information. Information reforms opinions. A lot of what I have read in this thread is exactly that, hindsight opinions.
In the end our guys didn't lose. The president, a greatest generation product for those that like to play blame the group game, just threw in the towel. He just threw away/wasted over 58k (depending on source) American service men and women deaths. Civilian and other countries is much higher.
I've always lived and worked amongst veterans. Up until recently. Only one left in my area and he is a crazy Army scout with 3 deployments to ME. Come veterans day people will thank me for my service, something that didn't happen for about 30 years. Once again I'll smile and show appreciation for the recognition. Fact is I don't like that day. With hindsight I see waste from the leaders we trusted. I see the same thing going on today and I hurt inside. My heart literally hurts.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 12:11 pm to TN Tygah
quote:Someone will have to give me an explanation of what "useless war" is before I can judge that.
People often call Vietnam a useless war,
quote:I think you can guess but it will be a bit different from one to another.
but I wondered how Vietnam veterans feel hearing that.
Maybe wonder how they felt back then.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 12:20 pm to Yellow Truck
quote:
Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara should have both been stood against a wall and shot.
Should have been dug up and shot again for their turning their backs on the crew of the USS Liberty.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 12:24 pm to Sam Quint
We were saddled with an "ally" that didn't really want to fight.
A study done in one ARVN unit's area showed that in over 5,000 patrols in this time period, only 17 made contact.
They knew where the VC were. They just didn't want to engage.
A study done in one ARVN unit's area showed that in over 5,000 patrols in this time period, only 17 made contact.
They knew where the VC were. They just didn't want to engage.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 12:26 pm to HeadCall
quote:
There’s nothing useless about killing millions of communists in my opinion.
Who were the millions of Communists killed? Soldiers aren't Communists.
They have to obey their Commander.
The known Communists were Jane Fonda, her Dad, and hundreds of other Hollywood citizens. In addition ,the many US College Professors.
Posted on 5/20/25 at 12:26 pm to salty1
quote:
salty1
Semper Fi
87-93 Logistics
This post was edited on 5/20/25 at 12:27 pm
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