I've recently spent some time with a guy who came home from Vietnam after having served three tours, received the Bronze and Silver Stars, a Medal of Commendation and sundry military mentions, who told me for the first time, "I couldn't tell anybody where I was. I had to hide it."
The War
I've known this person all my life, so I was very interested because he never had spoken of these degrading details. This guy was in the middle of the Tet Offensive, along with other grunt bodies. He's one of the people who was spit on when he came home to America.
Can you imagine spitting on a stranger simply because he wears a uniform? Imagine the kind of mind behind that utterly indefensible behavior. Imagine their absolute cowardice. They can say they're heroic till the cows come home simply because they "spoke out." Uh huh.
Don't believe what antiwar people say about their activities not affecting our people overseas. It's likely a troublesome irritant at first--part of the irony of democracy that you can vocalize hate speech against the very people (volunteers!) who are serving in your name.
Even the most professional soldier must tire of the nearly endless questions regarding the war's legitimacy, direction and progress. It has to be among the most frustrating aspects of adapting to an inhospitable and innately dangerous theater of war. Suddenly everyone's been to war college and knows everything there is to know about warfare. Everyone's a critic.
Who Are These People?
The people who want America to fail in the war on terror are the individuals who sold us down the river in the 60s and 70s in Vietnam. You know their names. They are the same, immature, narcissistic individuals who insisted their protests didn't contribute to placing our soldiers in harm's way. The only difference now is they're old and grey, like me.
The younger ones? Who cares? What possible addition can they give to this erroneous argument about the legitimacy of the war on terror? They're within that circle of self-centered folks having learned at their elders' knees that "...war is bad, the U.S. is bad, Republicans are bad. Now, where did I put that latte?"
Never Again
After talking with this Vietnam veteran I realize I must--no--I will stand up to the antiwar rhetoric. Never again should we allow the antiwar's shallow and craven voices to kill our spirit and cause Americans to lose hope and courage. Their calls for withdrawal only is amplified by the persistence of a mass media that has shown its collective irresponsible behavior for decades. If Americans give in, I fear the worst for all of us.
There is great power in reminding one another of the terrible consequences if we do not succeed in winning in Iraq. Iraq is simply a piece of the war on terror. We need to remember that. Since 9/11 the question has always been thus: if not now, when; if not there, where? Those are our choices given the enemy's ability to kamakazi their way across our borders.
Something tells me Iraq is a cakewalk compared to what's next if we allow ourselves to fail there.
Thanks for the read.
Open Call to Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard:
If any of you have a story to tell, please write me. I'll try to include as many as I can.
Our sponsor: http://www.frontstreetgallery.net
The War
I've known this person all my life, so I was very interested because he never had spoken of these degrading details. This guy was in the middle of the Tet Offensive, along with other grunt bodies. He's one of the people who was spit on when he came home to America.
Can you imagine spitting on a stranger simply because he wears a uniform? Imagine the kind of mind behind that utterly indefensible behavior. Imagine their absolute cowardice. They can say they're heroic till the cows come home simply because they "spoke out." Uh huh.
Don't believe what antiwar people say about their activities not affecting our people overseas. It's likely a troublesome irritant at first--part of the irony of democracy that you can vocalize hate speech against the very people (volunteers!) who are serving in your name.
Even the most professional soldier must tire of the nearly endless questions regarding the war's legitimacy, direction and progress. It has to be among the most frustrating aspects of adapting to an inhospitable and innately dangerous theater of war. Suddenly everyone's been to war college and knows everything there is to know about warfare. Everyone's a critic.
Who Are These People?
The people who want America to fail in the war on terror are the individuals who sold us down the river in the 60s and 70s in Vietnam. You know their names. They are the same, immature, narcissistic individuals who insisted their protests didn't contribute to placing our soldiers in harm's way. The only difference now is they're old and grey, like me.
The younger ones? Who cares? What possible addition can they give to this erroneous argument about the legitimacy of the war on terror? They're within that circle of self-centered folks having learned at their elders' knees that "...war is bad, the U.S. is bad, Republicans are bad. Now, where did I put that latte?"
Never Again
After talking with this Vietnam veteran I realize I must--no--I will stand up to the antiwar rhetoric. Never again should we allow the antiwar's shallow and craven voices to kill our spirit and cause Americans to lose hope and courage. Their calls for withdrawal only is amplified by the persistence of a mass media that has shown its collective irresponsible behavior for decades. If Americans give in, I fear the worst for all of us.
There is great power in reminding one another of the terrible consequences if we do not succeed in winning in Iraq. Iraq is simply a piece of the war on terror. We need to remember that. Since 9/11 the question has always been thus: if not now, when; if not there, where? Those are our choices given the enemy's ability to kamakazi their way across our borders.
Something tells me Iraq is a cakewalk compared to what's next if we allow ourselves to fail there.
Thanks for the read.
Open Call to Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard:
If any of you have a story to tell, please write me. I'll try to include as many as I can.
Our sponsor: http://www.frontstreetgallery.net
