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In country R& R
Well, boys I finally got my incountry R&R--35 years late.
I'm sitting in an Internet cafe in QuiNhon on a warm Saturday night. There's at least 20 Vietnamese sitting at 20 computers next to me--these are real slow old 486s so I couldn't read responses to my last posts. The streets are packed with happy young people all chattering, cruising around on their Hondas. One of the differences is that theyre all mobile --cars but mostly motorcycles--it seems there are at least 3 for everyone in this country. All the house have electricity and TV antennas--there's video stores all over We never knew these people, they are completely different than we thought. I can't believ how much has changed. First of all this is not like a communist country at all--these people are the worlds most ardent capitalists. Everybody is selling something to someone else. You can't believe how stuffed all the stores are with consumer goods, the kids are all walking around with brand name stuff--everybody can have anything they want--everything. This will be the next Asian Powerhouse country, like Taiwan and Korea were. You know for sure that communism will end within our life times these people have the internet, fax, TV, cable and satellite, tons of people with cell phones--its what brought down the USSR. These people are so friendly and intersted in us it's completely mindblowing. People come up to us all the time saying HelloHello What you name where you from. When we say America they smile and want to talk about it to practice there English. Don't think these are commies trying to get intelligence out of us--first of all, anybody who thinks they can get significant intell out of me and Tom and our old ladies are definitely pissing up the wrong flagpole--hell they didn't tell us nothing worth knowing when we were here the last time.They are just friendly people--there seems to be no ulterior motive, just friendliness and curiosity. The vibe is completely different, a different world. This is what I came to see, one of the things. Theyre also a very moral people, we were the ones who made them into whores and laundry people--they are NOT that way naturally, I will swear. The girls are chaste, the men polite. Without our influence they have managed to put together a really bustling, dynamic country--paste that in your hat all who wish them ill. get off it!!! its the 21st century and we're old fogies and they are the future--and it looks like a good future for them, better than what we ever offered them One of the points of my life has been testing my cool in a variety of intriguing and stimulating situations and I guess I wanted to see how it was this time. I walked the streets of Pleiku last night by myself, like I used to do but completely unarmed--OK Vietnam--you want a piece of me?? Come and get it!! (its why I was taking boxing lessons). The only danger is that which I carry in my heart, there was nothing but good vibes. Pleiku is a marvelous town, bustling, alive, thriving, like every place here the War is over for everybody except those still carrying it in their hearts. almost everybody we meet is way younger than us and they could care less about Khe Sanh and tet offensive, it just is not there for them, like the Somme and Vimy Ridge were so not there for us, just meaningless history. They want to live their own lives and so they are; and they sure won't ask our permission.God bless these people, this may have been the biggest comeback in the 20th century. and we sure didn't help them out any after the way we trashed their country. We went from HCM City to Buon Ma Thuot to Pleiku to Kontum, then here to QuiNhon, down through Mang Yang Pass, past Anh Khe. I really could see the place where they fired us up getting off the chopper on the shortest patroll I was ever on. There is virtually no sign left of the war, no craters, no Agent Orange spots. We couldn't find anything left of the old first cav base in Anh Khe. The helicopter base I used to stay in in Ban Me Thuot is now a water slide park They are making this into the next Riviera of the Nam to match Nha Trang where we go to next for a few days. We're staying in a 3 star hotel on a great sandy beach--$45 for a top floor room with every luxury--cable tv, an airconditioner in every room with remote comtrol. Sodas are 30 cents, beers 50 cents. We had killer dinner--$12 for all 4 of us. Tommorrow we go to Nha Trang for some more beach time--we're not going north--too much hassle--I'll save it for the next time I come and there will be a next time--I want to show my son. This really is one of the better vacation spots--better than Cancun for instance and frindlier people not trying to gouge you. It's late and I'm signing off--I'm glad I came.really glad that I came again. Here's the good news in case you never got it:The war is over--you can go home now James
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When you can't think what to do, throw a grenade |
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#2
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super.. super post James...but..
no history is "meaningless" ( I know what you meant.. )...if it becomes such...as the man said... we are doomed to endlessly repeat it.. but then... isn't that what happened all over the 20th century from WW1 to WW2 and from Dien Bien Phu to Khe Sanh....
I really liked the last line... Here's the good news in case you never got it:The war is over--you can go home now. Thanks, Larry
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#3
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I'm glad to hear that the Vietnamese people are enjoying life again. They deserve it.
The Old Sarge
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Freedom is never free. It requires payment ... frequently in blood. |
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BTW, James ... any sign of the old "trans-pacific cable" facility? lol That's the AF comm building where the cable used to come in. I used to do some work there from time to time while stationed at PhuCat ... just up the road from Qui Nhon.
The Old Sarge
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Freedom is never free. It requires payment ... frequently in blood. |
#5
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I have a family in my neighborhood from Vietnam that have come dear to my heart over the last year. They have family stillin Vietnam and go home to visit at least once a year. They see whatJames is seeing but there is another view that a tourist is not likely to see. What they tell me and the reports of the human rights violations coming out of Vietnam tell me that there is still an iron fist in that velvet glove.
In regard to Agent Orange yes the vegetation has covered overthe devastation.However, there is an impact study ongoing between our two countries that gives indication that Vietnam and her people will not be free of these toxins for years to come. I have no doubt thatJames isseeing joy, laughter andgreat energyfrom the young people he is meeting. Most of the people I have known from Vietnam have been young students. They seem always to have a smile for you. Very very polite and yes moral people with a deep faith in the Father.God Bless them they are a proud and independent people. Entrepreneurs to the core. Now if they can remove the socialist andbullies inpositions of power that can't tolerateanything but the tightest control of politcaland religious thought and get on with what works. Democracy. And lest we forget....
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Thomas Jefferson, Kentucky Resolutions of 1798: "In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." |
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James You bring big smiles to my face, If anyone deserves a UP Lifting vacation and burying the past it is you dear friend. I suggest when you get down to china beach You and tom hold a viking funeral and send all your night mears and goasts . on a finale journey out to sea. James I haven't seen you this up since we first met over three years ago. If it helps heal you and gives you peace. by god the VA should make two weeks incountry part of ptsd treatment. Bless You and Tom and come home safe my friend
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May you be in Heaven 3 days before the Devil knows your dead |
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