"Have we forgot the anger in the eyes?"

[MORTARDUDE]

I notice there are no dates, times, witnesses, name of operation or any other facts. I also cannot find, on the internet, anything about his play, "Penang". These are the kind of folks that give all Vietnam veterans a bad name. As stated many times, read "Stolen Valor". He should have a whole chapter.

Larry

[onesix]

The operation was conducted in November 1967 along the Bassac River in the Mekong Delta. It was a full daylight operation conducted to destroy bamboo huts which were concealing Viet Cong bunkers. These bunkers were used to command detonate the mines the VC had placed in the river. It was conducted because Mine Squadron 11 (later Mine Division 112) was having problems in clearing the river (30-60 feet deep) of the command detonated mines with its MSBs and MSMs.

[BLUEHAWK]

Anecdotal evidence aside, it happens in every war... every single one, anywhere, at any time.

Thusfar there is little justifiable comparison between Vietnam and Iraq, thusfar. We're early into it fellas...

So long as civilians make themselves or are accidentally part of the enemy camp, and so long as "collateral damage" remains an officially acceptable unavoidable consequence of warfare... nothing will change, no matter which side one takes.

We americans learned this personally on 9/11, most recently. The enemy knows they cannot beat our fighters face-to-face... so it's gonna try to defeat our entire nation in two ways:
- Death by a Thousand Cuts
- Disabling our economy by making us overspend.

On the first method, we are a resilient people who can tolerate great suffering to protect our own freedoms and families. If my reading of american military history is accurate, anyone who attacks us ends up with a casualty list far in excess of our losses.

On the second, it is almost certain that they will either prevail or cause a damage which will require a couple of generations to eradicate.

And in the end, there is a world of difference between politicians deciding military priorities and a single soldier being shot at 2000 miles from home.

It has ever been thus.

[MORTARDUDE]

Thanks onesix..

if he was going to lay it all out like that, he should have included your info.

Larry