Living History

[Packo]

John,

You were not wrong. The North, (as always ), invaded the South. Had we done nothing, does anyone believe they would have really stopped there? Just like Korea, the Communists were always testing our resolve. They never cared about civilian casualties. They didn't care about their own casualties, i.e. Moslems today. As long as they had our air...the South Vietnamese kept the NVA from taking over. Only after we said tuff beans now, did the North have the balls to commit their whole force to taking the South. I would like to know what the difference was between the South Vietnamese wanting to live free, and the French, British, or anyone else in Euope wanting to live free. Why was it always ok to defend Euopeans when it was always a problem to defend Asians? Does anyone remember SEATO? We had a treaty and an obligation. Just because Johnson and McNamarah didn't have the balls to blow the North Vietnamese away doesn't mean we didn't have a moral obligation to help them. I know all the arguments about how corrupt the Vietnamese Government was....but were they any more corrupt then the French, Germans, English, etc. etc.? Had the Soviets attacked Europe would not our obligation to NATO been a moral obligation to us to defend the corrupt French, who pulled out of NATO, former Nazi's, and the English who have been colonialist for centuries? We owned the Phillipenes, the Dutch the East Indies, the French Indo-China, the British Singapore and Hong Kong, and when the Japanese did the same thing to help their Island Nation get the natural resources they needed to survive their ever expanding population and industry, we embargoed them, forcing them into war. I'm not defending the Japs, but what I'm saying is that it irks me when the inuendo is that we fought for nothing when what we did was fight for basically the same thing every other soldier in this country in modern times have fought for. (Actually we all fought for each other like Ron says, but I mean the ideal.) All of us made a choice to fight there. We could have gone to Canada or jail. Our pampered generation decided that "unless we're being attacked, or "how many Vietnamese fought in our civil war", kind of bull shit, that they would pick and chose when and where to fight. Thank God there were men like us that fought. We showed our own generation of pussies that we had the guts to stand for our beliefs. (All I hear today from our generation is how "they supported us". Liars! When they were getting laid being anti-Vietnam Vet, they were "cool".) Now, a new generation does the same thing, and my generation, that's now in charge, says the same old shit they did in the 60's and 70's. The difference is, we've been attacked and they are still afraid to stand up and call a spade a spade or a terrorist a terrorist. They call them freedom fighters, "insugents", and militants.

John, we are men of honor and we honor our honored dead. They died for us and each other, and yes, and ideal. That, to me, is the altimate sacrifice.

"Honor and Courage" (8th Cav)

Pack

[Keith_Hixson]

Well said,

Keith

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Amen to Tom. John, the pain we feel is the price we willingly paid. It makes life suck many times but then I go back and think if it was worth it. The answer is always yes. I think it also taught us the true value of friendship. I'm proud to have you and Sid as my friends.

[Robert Ryan]

We band of brothers all feel same but express it differntly sometimes.