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45 Years ago today, many Veterans Against the Vietnam War marched in The Protest Against the Vietnam War Parade in Washington DC. I am proud to say I was one of those Veterans.
I don't hold any disdain towards those who saw the war firsthand and protested against it afterwards. I don't hold any towards those who didn't see it firsthand and protested it.
I was in OEF and OIF, and I can certainly say I didn't believe we were there for benign reasons, whatsoever. But, I signed the dotted line saying I'd do it, so I did.
My problem with the current day incarnation - IVAW - isn't what they're about, but you take a case like Jesse Macbeth, and he somehow passed whatever vetting process was done by a group of people who were supposed to be vets and were supposed to be able to see a fraud for what they were, and it makes me a bit skeptical about that organization.
But I don't blame anyone whose been there and came to the conclusion that we shouldn't have been there, whether it be Iraq or Vietnam. I'm not oblivious to what that war did to my uncle, and how he ended up fighting in Rhodesia, then South Africa, because it left him unable to integrate back into "the world". I'm not unaware of what Iraq did to me and others I served with, and for what? And I can certainly imagine a lot of vets feel the same way in regards to the war they fought.
Stand tall, stand proud. You've more than earned that.
In 2004 when Kerry was running and his affair in the topic came up, I commented to my mother that "It's not something I would have had done, but having served, I believe he has earned the right to do so."..........and Mom agreed.
I'm amazed at the fact that our history can be so easily revised, way too many people today see the Vietnam war as a kind of justifiable action caused by the necessity of our "security interests". That a democratic nation has any other choice but to honor the differing views of it's citizenry is obvious to most, but too many of our fellow Americans seem comfortable with their follower mentality passing for patriotism.
Young men usually don't know the political motivations that serve as the prelude to war, most of those who fought in Vietnam were ignorant of the nations history, culture, politics, and theologies. They were often conscripts who fought to stay alive against the odds, they were typical American kids who stuck by their friends and often fought the commanders stupid decisions that brought unnecessary death to the enlisted troops. American hubris was at it's highest in that conflict, we should have seen the handwriting on the wall and went home.
We have no right to commit the lives of our children and grandchildren to the whims of US leadership who all too often are the partners of the moneyed interests, the only real winners in most of our wars. To the OP, thanks for your protest efforts to prevent the needless deaths of more of our children..
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