A COMBAT VIETNAM VETERAN HISTORIAL VIEW.
A COMBAT VIETNAM VETERAN VIEW.
I saw and heard the voice of the far left in the ’60s. And like millions of others, I watched the Democrat Party make a left turn after the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963. And remember reading what JFK said at his inauguration on January 20, 1961 “Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we will pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” The protest against the American soldiers in Vietnam and the silence from the academia and the news media about the brutal and deadly history caused by the failed philosophy of Marxism. I was one of the millions who served in Vietnam, and on this day, October 24, 2018, I just read an article from the New York Times by James Wright dated April 11, 2017. I have never read a more accurate account of the Vietnam soldier than the following “Those born after the boomers may find it quaint to read about a president asking citizens to sacrifice, to “pay any price.” Nonetheless, their parents or grandparents, the baby boomers, will most likely remember a brief shining moment of energized promise and unfulfilled dreams. It was the echo of that call, just a few years later, that motivated hundreds of thousands of young men to enlist for Vietnam, for the chance to ensure “the success of liberty” — and many others back home, at least at the outset, to support the fighting.
The boomers quickly turned against the war. Many did, but many also served.
8,744,000 GIs were on active duty during the war (Aug 5, 1964-March 28, 1973).
2,709,918 Americans served in Vietnam, representing 9.7% of their generation.
The men and women in Vietnam were not defined by peace symbols and love beads, although some displayed them. They were not a band of rebellious “fraggers” assassinating their officers or marauding killers piling up body counts of the innocent in a haze of marijuana smoke. They were not a group of mutinous draftees, although many were drafted, and if they did not begin their tour disillusioned by their war, they most likely concluded it with that view. Because they discovered the US was not seeking a military victory, their mission was to contain the spread of communism.
The profile of those who served was more complicated than their stereotype — the men and women in Vietnam were not defined by peace symbols and love beads, although some displayed them. They were not a band of rebellious “fraggers” assassinating their officers or marauding killers piling up body counts of the innocent in a haze of marijuana smoke. They were not a group of mutinous draftees, although many were drafted, and if they did not begin their tour disillusioned by their war, they most likely concluded it with that view.
They were soldiers and marines, sailors and airmen, doctors and nurses who learned about survival, protecting buddies, about cruel death. They witnessed the suffering of the Vietnamese, and they served even when an ending to their war and clear meaning for it seemed increasingly elusive. Their favorite song was the Animals’ recording of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” But when they did get out, their homecoming was often difficult and lonely. The impact of their indifferent, if not hostile, reception was all the greater because they had assumed the responsibility of citizenship they understood was theirs.
The baby boomer generation grew up in the world of the 1950s, a world of “duck and cover” drills in schools in preparation for a nuclear attack, reminders of the threat posed by Soviet and Chinese Communism, of the fear of the near-inevitability of war, and of their obligation to serve in this war. It was a time of fear but also an era of national confidence and of individual commitment. These children of World War II veterans learned their responsibility to serve when called — or to volunteer before being called. ” To read the book from which this long quote came, click this link below.
Generation and Its War
I have a question for Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (22-37 years old). Have you ever heard about Pol Pot? And the genocide that took place in Cambodia. Mass death is certainly no stranger to the bloody history of communism; even today, a terrible famine stalks North Korea to remind us of the lethal nature of Marxism. However, Pol Pot has earned a special place in the history of Marxian Communism as his Khmer Rouge earned the unique distinction of being the one Communist movement in history to attempt the full and consistent implementation of the ideas of Karl Marx. Let me clarify that not all Democrats are communists because Democrats still embrace too much freedom and capitalism for the Communist tastes. But it is evident in the rise of popularity of socialism. The traditional Democrats need to decide if they will embrace the new alt-left gaining ground in the DNC or return to the political philosophy of Truman and John F. Kennedy, who stood against the red tide of Marxism. This movement toward Marxism can be verified by the actions of CPUSA. The following book is a must-read If you don’t realize that communism is an ideology that promotes itself as a way to utopia.
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