For or against?

[Stick]

Simple pole to those that are old enough to have been around at the time.

[BLUEHAWK]

Age 17, volunteer, 1963... FOR it


Age 21, vet, 1967... AGIN' it

[39mto39g]

The pole is not so simple. Personally I think most people that went there would answer a #3 in your pole, I don't give a shit about VN.

Ron

I never have figured out weather we-as a country-were right to be fighting there.I was very much against ME fighting there.I had more important things to do(drinkin an chasein women).Now that I've pretty well got that taken care of I'm ready to go.

[Bill Farnie]

For me the VN War wasn't even on my mind until I was drafted. I was having to much fun on the block.

Do I think we should have been involved? I guess so. We were a member of SEATO and had treaty obligations to fulfill.

Was I for the war? Who in their right mind is "for" war.

As soldiers, we were told to fight and we did and with honor but to me it had nothing to do with stopping communism and everything to do with staying alive and keeping your brothers alive.

[Andy]

I was for the war, RA, asked to go to Vietnam, asked to stay. However, by mid or late ?69 (I?m a little slow), it became clear Nixon had no idea of winning. Thus we were just bargaining chips in his plan to make nice with the USSR and buddy up with Chairman Mao. Americans getting killed everyday so Nixon could come out looking good on the world stage, no. Turned against the war once I knew there was no intent to win.

Stay healthy,
Andy

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Me, too. I was for and against.

[VIETNAM 1968]

Vietnam was the major reason I enlisted in the Air Force. I knew that the Draft was only weeks away, and I knew that some form of Vietnam Service was going to be mandatory. If I was going to serve in Vietnam, I wanted to be relatively comfortable while doing so. I had no desire to sleep in water filled Foxholes, and eat C-Rations most of the time.

When I went to Vietnam I was a twenty year old kid, who believed that it was the United States' obligation, and responsibility, to convert all Third World Countries to the wounder of Democracy and Capitalism. In addition, I REALLY BELIEVED that our Government DEFINITELY WANTED TO WIN THE WAR THAT THEY HAD COMMITTED OUR LIVES TO FIGHTING.

As my Tour of Duty in Vietnam went on however, and I saw that the average Vietnamese really DID NOT CARE WHETHER THEY LIVED UNDER A DEMOCRATIC OR COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT, and THAT OUR OWN GOVERNMENT REALLY HAD NO DEFINITE PLAN OR DESIRE TO DEFEAT THE COMMUNISTS; I then started to question WHY THE HELL WE WERE FIGHTING AND DYING THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

Now at the ripe old age of fifty-six years, and I know just what the outcome of those fifteen years of America's involvement in Vietnam produced; An eventual military pull out, without accomplishing anything more then propping up a series of UNPOPULAR Vietnamese Governments; and that the Vietnamese Military really could not fight their own war!! I am convinced that we sacrificed 58,100+ AMERICAN LIVES FOR NOTHING. The final outcome was just the same as if the United States HAD NEVER BECOME INVOLVED IN VIETNAM IN THE FIRST PLACE!!

Did the United States presence in Vietnam have any effect on the ultimate outcome of the Vietnamese struggle against Communism? DEFINATELY, because OUR PRESENCE JUST PROLONGED THE INEVITABLE OUTCOME and CONTRIBUTED TO UNNECESSARY CASUALTIES FOR BOTH THE UNITED STATES AND VIETNAM!! For these reasons, I am now DEFINITELY AGAINST our country's decision to BECOME MIRED DOWN IN VIETNAM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

To all of my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I again state:


WELCOME HOME


VIETNAM 1968

[splummer]

Like Bill F I was having a lot of fun on the block or I would have joined. When I got drafted and sent to Vietnam I was happy to go thinking we were going to help those people and of course our Government was never wrong. [A big adventure I thought] I changed my mind after about a month. It didn't seem to me like the Vietnamise wanted us there. If there would have been an intent to win I would have stayed in favor of the war.

[Desdichado]

I wouldn't say I was "for" it, but I wasn't against it either. I assumed we were doing the right thing. To this day, with hindsight and a hell of a lot more information than I had then, I still don't know.