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2023-03-30 -Short Attention Span Theater-

[Hot Air] Today marks the 50th anniversary of the day the last American soldier left Vietnam, following the signing of the Paris Peace Accords two months earlier.

Fifty years.

58,220 Americans died in that war. More, actually. Those are the military casualties alone, according to the National Archives. Many others died as well in the cause of freedom.

I was born in 1964 and watched footage from the war on the nightly news as I grew up. At the time, the footage was on film and actually developed in Japan and then flown to the United States, but much of it wound up on television.

That made Vietnam the first "television war," where the carnage was often brought into Americans’ living rooms. As a kid, it was weird, because there wasn’t a time during my childhood when the war wasn’t part of the background of daily life. I was 11 when the war finally ended with the surrender of the Vietnamese government. I remember the helicopter evacuations well.

By the time I understood what was going on the anti-war movement was in full swing. I remember Kent State, vaguely, and my parents gave me a book about it (a picture book, believe it or not) at some point. At the time I bought the propaganda that Nixon and the military were on the wrong side, although I never thought of our soldiers as the bad guys as so many did.

But over the years I saw things very differently. The killing fields of Cambodia, which so many blamed on the U.S., proved to me that communism was evil. The Vietnamese refugees who had been betrayed not once but twice were a constant reminder of communism’s evil.

Even as a teen, I began to understand that there are things more evil than war, and my experiences over the years proved that to be true. I developed an abiding hatred for communism, and a deep suspicion of the anti-military sentiment I saw all around me. I am not a militarist, but I believe in defending the West.

In graduate school, I studied the war and came to the conclusion that Lyndon Johnson both started the real war for Americans (we had dipped our toe in years before, but weren’t deeply engaged until Johnson dove in) and lost it through grotesque mismanagement. Nixon promised to "Vietnamise" the war by handing over the ground fighting to Vietnamese troops and eventually succeeded in fulfilling that promise.

It was an imperfect solution, but Johnson’s fecklessness had ensured victory would be impossible. Americans had turned against the war.

At the time he was going for a Korean-type stalemate, and likely would have achieved that but for Watergate. The fall of Saigon and the fall of Nixon were largely contemporaneous. Ford tried to salvage the South by restarting the bombing of the North as we had promised should the fighting break out again, but Congress forbade it.

Congress drove a stake through the South’s heart, but Johnson’s fecklessness lost the war years before.

I bring up this history (or my version of it) in order to make a point: American soldiers were betrayed by their government. They were betrayed by Johnson and by Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense at the time. They sent soldiers—most of whom were draftees—into a war zone with no strategy to win the war, demanded they do so with bad tactics and bad leadership, and never properly defended the troops against their domestic critics.

Teenagers risked their lives to come home to cries of "baby killer." They were vilified, abandoned by their leadership, and in the shame of losing the war were forgotten by the country. They never were properly honored.

American citizens could and should have done better, but our leaders should have backed up the troops. They failed to do so.
Photo is of COL Hal Moore commander of the Gary Owen Bde during the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, LZ X-Ray. 14 Nov 1965.

Posted by Besoeker 2023-03-30 05:26|| || Front Page|| [21 views ] Top

#1 I hasd the honor of spending about three hours on a hilltop with LTG Moore, then 6th Army Commander. It was Fort Hunter-Liggett and he took time to mentor 6 young armor and infantry Captains on terrain and war-fighting skills. I'll never forget his relaxed, calm demeanor, and how he simplified the way terrain would influence combat flow, stressing that in main force engagements, consider the terrain and how it would direct flooding, because that is how inevitably it will channelize main efforts.

Posted by NoMoreBS 2023-03-30 14:22|| 2023-03-30 14:22|| Front Page Top

#2 There will not be an honest history of the Vietnam War written until the last baby boomer is dead.

The Army did reject me, so I didn't serve. But I do appreciate the freedoms I have and thank those of you who did fight to preserve them.

Posted by Neville Tingle6353 2023-03-30 15:16|| 2023-03-30 15:16|| Front Page Top

#3 Hail to all Vietnam vets. I could've volunteered to go but I didn't. My draft lottery number was 212 but if I'd been drafted I would've gone willingly.

Posted by jpal 2023-03-30 17:30|| 2023-03-30 17:30|| Front Page Top

#4 Every day I see and talk to these fellows and say glad to see your back. Learned that from a Army Combat Medic. He had to treat the prostitutes so they hoped to have fewer infections among the troops. They would say they were clean and would provide food and other things in appreciation. Navy medic fellow corrected me but I forget his title. 70's now. I still see WW11 and Korean Vets but with each year fewer. My contact in Vietnam married a Vietnamese woman and lives there now. He was in security in his time there. The Vietnamese prefer Americans over Chinese. I introduced him to Rantburg and he might have been on. Maybe I shouldn't tell this but his handle on Facebook is Steve Trang. Then another one told me of being on guard duty with another. The other smoked some Cambodian Red. They passed the joint back and forth but near dusk his friend got shot by a sniper because of the red glow. Seems your supposed to cover lit end with your other hand to block red glow. Never smoked after that day being the survivor.

Posted by Dale 2023-03-30 17:42|| 2023-03-30 17:42|| Front Page Top

#5 Amen to these patriots that were mistreated in their service on coming back and should be honored.

Cool story, Dale

Posted by Frank G 2023-03-30 20:10|| 2023-03-30 20:10|| Front Page Top

#6 I was stationed at NAS Mirimar during the war. Our guys were told not to wear uniforms off base if they were going to town.
On the aircraft carrier, USS Coral Sea, as we were leaving San Francisco and crossing under the Golden Gate Bridge, gallons of red paint were poured on us from the bridge.
Have never forgotten that.

Posted by Jise Elmeang4932 2023-03-30 22:04|| 2023-03-30 22:04|| Front Page Top

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17:21 USN, Ret.
17:15 swksvolFF
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