DISQUS

EEllis · 5 months ago

"They have no planes, no napalm, no white phosphorus, no cluster bombs, no block busters, no artillery, nothing."

Where did you get that crap? These NVA troops were well funded, equiped and trained by comunest countries. Primaraly the Soviet Union but also China. North Vietman had Mig-21's and between their planes and the soviet air defence systems shot down over 1000 US planes. Selective mimory is sad. No matter how wrong you may think the US was please remember that in this, and other conflicts, however hard we pushed there was always somebody on the other side pushing just as hard. Vietnam was never a "popular" insurection or revolution. It was bought and paid for by the Soviet Union. The only reason we were there is because of that fact.

eagleeyedick · 5 months ago

Why are the Vietnamese troops always the bad guys? It's their country. They have no planes, no napalm, no white phosphorus, no cluster bombs, no block busters, no artillery, nothing. Three and a a half million were slaughtered by us. They are the heroes. We are the invaders, the occupiers, the poisoning of the country for eternity. Why isn't the truth told. Our troops had no business there.

tidbits · 5 months ago

dr. e - When I first saw the headline of your piece, I reacted with disdain. After reading the article, I decided to step outside for some fresh air. Walking to the door, I noticed there were tears in my eyes.

GeorgeSorwell · 5 months ago

Thank you.

spirasol · 5 months ago

Wow, Homerun Dr. E! Target decimated! you are really out there now! Thank you for saying it clear and plain and real. I remember Michael Moore went to congress to ask the hawks how many of their children were serving. Needless to say they all ran for the hills. I saw the documentary about Macnamara some years ago and it was unforgiving as it should have been. Your article is nearly like a book and cover a lot of ground so it is difficult to comment on one aspect.

War is a bit like having a baby but in the disastrously opposite way: you can read the books, talk to friends, perhaps even pretend you get it, but the event itself is so over the top, so overwhelming at least for some.

Jacks story is deeply moving on a personal level. My brother is/was a Marine, (in his mind he'll always be) served in Vietnam and was physically and psychologically wounded. He was a "point man" -- the guy who goes first out into the bush..........A part of him never came home. Three years in he took off his uniform and refuse to wear it so with less than 7 months to go, he was dishonorably discharged and within the first year out his wound hemorrhaged and the Marines refused to pay a dime. He has had a passel of lawyers over the years. All start enthusiastically but that energy dries up when nothing happens. Recently he had a meeting off-the-record (arranged by war buddy) with a military psychiatrist who told him he had PTSD but said that there was no help for Vietnam vets. Suffice to say that the amount of Vietnam vets who took their own lives after the war is and continues to be staggering. .

Oh, my role during the war, which at the time I thought it took a lot of courage as I had to become 4F. At the time there was a whole underground support network of Doctors, psychiatrists among others willing to write the necessary paperwork, but you had to go down their on the bus to personally demonstrate your unworthiness to serve. It set me back for years.

Sadness and anger intermingling wrapping itself up into a brittle cord......

archangel · 5 months ago

eagleeyedick, read the first para.