Tag Archives: Vietnam War

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Redefining ‘winning’ and ‘losing’

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It seems safe to say that Donald J. Trump has reinforced something I have believed for the past 50 years or so, which is that we have redefined winning and losing wars.

I took part briefly in the Vietnam War, which is generally considered to be a conflict that the United States lost to a determined enemy. We won virtually every major engagement on the battlefield. We inflicted far more casualties on the enemy than they inflicted on us.

But we ended the war because we ran out of patience. We ran out of time. Vietnam was fighting to preserve its existence against a foreign power. I now accept the idea that we actually lost the Vietnam War. I am no less proud that I spent some time there doing my duty as ordered by my government.

Trump launched a war with Iran a few months ago. He decided to bomb the crap out of the place. Our aviators along with those from Israel sent bombs crashing into military facilities. Trump declared the war essentially to be over a few weeks after he started it. He kinda/sorta declared victory as well.

Then we entered talks to end the war. The sides emerged with a “memorandum of understanding” that they would stop the fighting. Iran wouldn’t obtain nuclear weapons, according to the MOU. Iran also would be able to sell its oil on the open market. The United States would lift the sanctions it imposed on Iran during the Barack Obama administration.

I have to ask: Is that winning?

Trump’s strategy looks more like that of a loser than a winner.

Now we’re back to bombing Iran. The Iranians have shut down the Strait of Hormuz — again! The price of oil is inching back up. We might lose more American lives; to date, 14 Americans service personnel have died.

To make matters even more maddening to American patriots … such as me: We don’t yet have a detailed explanation from the commander in chief as to our strategy for going to war, nor do we know of an exit strategy that Trump has cooked up in his feeble brain.

military news

Recalling a national mistake

President Barack Obama occasionally would hang a medal around the neck of a warrior who fought in a long-ago-battle. And if that warrior served in Vietnam during the war that ravaged that nation, he would remind Americans of the mistake many of them made when those warriors came home.

The nation has grown up since those days. Now we honor the men and women who fight our battles. We tell them we love them and we’re proud of their service. During the Vietnam War era, it wasn’t that way … at all! The individuals who came home were treated with varying degrees of hostility or — in my case — with profound disinterest. Therein lies the mistake we made. Gladly, we have rebuilt our national conscience and are welcoming home our warriors with ceremonies, with viral videos of their reunification with loved ones.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Americans had to taste the bitter pill of defeat. We didn’t lose fights on the battlefield. We lost the war at home. We ran out of patience. The Vietnamese proved the fallacy of walking onto another man’s turf and expecting to score an easy, quick victory over a people that had fought for decades for their homeland. They were battle-hardened. They knew about suffering in ways we only could imagine.

The result was the young Americans who went to war because their government ordered them, or who volunteered for the service, were treated disgracefully. They took the blame for policy decisions they merely were following. The public that blamed them had no clue about the wrong they were perpetrating.

That’s all changed. The Persian Gulf War of 1990-91 brought that shame to a screeching halt with parades honoring the personnel who took care of business on the battlefield. Who led the cheers? The Vietnam War veterans! In communities all across the nation, Vietnam vets took up the organizing baton and staged parades to honor their battlefield descendants.

That’s how a nation grows up.

crime news, political news

RFK: a serious political hero

At 1:44 a.m., on June 6, 1968, a team of medical doctors gave up trying to save the life of a politician who suffered from a gunshot wound to his head. They declared this man dead.

Shortly after that declaration, Frank Mankiewicz stood before reporters and said, “Robert Francis Kennedy died today … he was 42 years of age.”

Mankiewicz served as RFK’s press secretary. He took no questions. He just walked away from the microphones and then let the political world try to make sense of the tragedy that befell arguably the nation’s premier political family.

Kennedy sought the presidency in 1968. He declared his candidacy in the same room his brother, John F. Kennedy, declared his own candidacy in 1960. We know what happened to JFK in November 1963 and many of RFK’s entourage feared the same thing could happen to the brother who guided JFK’s campaign to victory, served honorably as U.S. attorney general and then got elected senator from New York.

RFK was my first political hero. I miss him to this day. He’d be 101 years of age had he not been gunned down.

We cannot assess what kind of president RFK would make. He promised to end the Vietnam War. He vowed to work diligently to stem the deep racial divide in America. He wanted to improve health care. And yes, I believe he is spinning in his Arlington National Cemetery grave at the piece-by-piece dismantling of the nation’s health care system by his own son, RFK Jr. … in service to Donald Trump as secretary of health and human services.

I do believe that RFK’s victory in the 1968 California primary he was celebrating the night he was shot to death would have propelled him to victory at the Chicago Democratic convention and would have enabled him to defeat Richard Nixon in the race for the White House.

But the lunatic gunman who ambushed RFK in the hotel kitchen had other ideas. The pistol he used to kill RFK likely changed te course of U.S. history. He likely will live out his miserable life in the California prison system.

The rest of us who came of age politically in the turbulent 1960s will continue to mourn the passing of a 42-year-old politician who grew into the stature he claimed.

military news

Today we honor our heroes

I consider myself to be one of the luckiest men on Earth, given that I graduated from high school during the height of a bloody war in a faraway land … and lived to talk about it and to build a wonderful life with my family.

Memorial Day is upon us. We will remember those who fell on the field of battle while serving the nation they all loved. We’ll fire up the grills in the yard, play with our children and grandchildren. Some of us might even take a moment to remember outwardly the individuals who deserve our eternal gratitude.

My graduation class included 300 or so young men and women. We received our diplomas during the Summer of Love … which was 1967. The Vietnam War was killing a lot of young Americans at that time. Many of us got our notification that our country needed our service. I was one of them. I reported for induction in August 1968. I finished my basic training and my advanced individual training (as an Army OV-1 Mohawk airplane mechanic), and then I was en route to DaNang, South Vietnam.

One little note before I move on. I was one of those who many referred to as a REMF. The first two letters of the acronym stand for “rear echelon.” I’ll leave the second set of letters for you to figure out. The bad guys would shell us occasionally with mortars and even rockets. My REMF designation, though, did not insulate me from the tragedy of war. I did lose someone I knew to that killing quagmire. He served on an Army UH-1 Huey helicopter crew. When they went into battle, he strapped himself into an M-60 machine gun.

In the summer of 1969, Joe De La Torre scrambled for a flight to take troops to a landing zone. The LZ happened to be “hot” that day. The enemy waited for our ships to arrive. They unloaded all their firepower on our guys. De La Torre died in the firefight.

He became a name inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which opened in 1982. I’ve seen it twice on the DC Mall. De La Torre is one of 58,000-plus names we remember, along with all those who died in all the fights for our freedom we honor today.

As for my Summer of Love graduating class, here’s another stroke of luck. To my knowledge, we didn’t lose anyone from the Parkrose (Ore.) High Class of 1967 to that war. Many of my friends got the call, as I did. They were Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen. My best high school friend served with the Coast Guard and he, too, ended up patrolling the coast of Vietnam. They all came home … and for that I always will be grateful.

Let’s all take time today between bites of brisket and swigs of cold beverage to honor the sacrifice that enables us to enjoy the fruits of our lives.

military news, national news

Stop this ego project!

This item popped up on my Facebook feed this afternoon, and I want to share it with you.

Donald Trump is planning to build a 250-foot golden monument to himself right in front of Arlington National Cemetery, blocking the poignant view from the Lincoln Memorial to the graves of our fallen. After dodging the draft five times, he now wants to force our honored dead into his own shadow. Veterans are already suing to stop this vanity project, and we need your help to back them up.

It came from a group called VoteVets, and they have been pillorying Trump whenever the spirit has moved them. I presume they moved frequently to remind us of Trump’s shameful history with regard to war and peace.

I don’t know where this moron’s ego limits can be found. He slaps his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is building a ballroom where the East Wing of the White House stood for centuries.

Now this. The draft dodger in chief wants to desecrate Arlington National Cemetery with his towering gold image. Good grief! The men and women who are buried at Arlington would spin in their resting places.

Let us recall briefly how Trump has denigrated those who have been wounded in battle, how he refuses to be photographed in their presence. Or how he refused to visit the American military cemetery in Normandy, France, because the rain would have messed up his weirdly coiffed hair. He also declared that those of us who served in Vietnam were “stupid” to do so.

For this clown to erect a statue at Arlington insults the memory of those who had the courage to fight for the nation that Trump seeks to mold into something the heroes wouldn’t recognize.

national news, national security

Who’s the hero and who’s the fraud?

Let’s see … Donald Trump laid out his boorish qualities after Robert Mueller died today at age 81.

Mueller was the former FBI director who served as special counsel tasked with examining whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, which Trump won by a whisker.

Trump responded to Mueller’s death by declaring on social media, “Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”

Let’s take a brief look at the men’s history, shall we?

Young Donald Trump couldn’t be bothered with serving his country during the Vietnam War. He found a doctor who could tell the draft board that Donald suffered from bone spurs in his feet. He didn’t serve during the war. Trump went on to inherit a bunch of cash from his father to start his own real estate business and pursued a career in self-enrichment prior to his election in 2016 as POTUS.

Young Bob Mueller heard that his best friend and roommate had died in battle in the Vietnam War. Mueller then enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in combat during his entire tour in ‘Nam. He received a Purple Heart for battlefield injuries and was cited for valor throughout his career in the USMC.

Mueller came home, graduated from law school and then was appointed FBI director by President Bush right after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington, D.C. Mueller turned the FBI into a terrorist-hunting organization and helped lead the war against international terrorism.

I am compelled to ask: Who between these men is the patriot and who is the patsy? Who has contributed to this nation’s greatness and who is leading it into oblivion?

Donald Trump has said he’s glad Mueller’s life has ended? What a disgrace!

military news

I’m older, but still confused

There once was a time when I was full of piss and vinegar, and when the United States of America was involved in a faraway war that seemed to have no end in sight.

You know what? I wanted to get into that fight if only to understand why we were fighting it and learn a lesson or two about life in real time. I got my wish and in the spring of 1969 I shipped out to Vietnam. I returned later still confused about what the hell we were doing there.

Bombs were falling and men were dying when I arrived. It all was happening when I returned home.

I’m an old man now. Too old to fight. We’re involved in yet another war, this time with Iran. Donald Trump decided to send in the bombers and, along with Israel, decided to inflict maximum damage to Iranian military command and control.

I am still confused. More so than before. I keep waiting for the POTUS to talk to me and to the nation. He is putting men and women in harm’s way. Some of theÃ¥m have died and the commander in chief has yet to acknowledge openly their deaths. He’s talked about the heavy damage U.S. and Israeli forces are inflicting. He says Iranian air defense is gone, along with its offensive capabilities; he says Iranian leadership in a state of chaos.

But … we have no stated exit strategy. No stated goal. No mention of regime change. Or a change in government. Capt. Bone Spurs declares we could be in this fight for a while.

Why? To what end?

Talk to us, Mr. POTUS. I’ll beseech you once more to simply tell us the truth behind why you have committed our young warriors to a war without an apparent end in sight.

national news

Interesting times? Ya think?

Can it be that we all are living in an era that is producing a political climate none of us ever saw coming? I believe that is the case.

Ponder for just a moment a short series of events:

We elected an an individual to the presidency with zero public service experience and whose notoriety was forged on a reality TV show in which he fired make-believe businesspeople.

This individual has insulted a Vietnam War hero, a Gold Star family, a reporter with a physical challenge, and all the men and women who have chosen to wear the uniform of the nation’s military.

He lost an election, declared it — without an ounce of proof — to be a fraud, then instigated an insurrection against the very government he once swore to protect and defend.

He ran a third time for the White House vowing to be the “retribution” of those who cling to his cockeyed views. And he has delivered mightily on that promise.

Donald Trump then vowed to purge the nation of undocumented immigrants and deployed a poorly trained, heavily armed, masked-up army of agents who have killed American citizens on the street, arrested thousands of others wrongly.

What has all of this produced? Chaos, misery, grief, anxiety, heartbreak … and any other sort of emotion one can define.

I am disgusted beyond all measure by what is transpiring in real time in this nation I love with all my heart.

The Chinese proverb about “living in interesting times” doesn’t come within a country mile of defining what we’re enduring these days. It’s frightening, but I’ll say it once more that we have plenty of constitutional weapons we can deploy to fight this hideous trend.

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Vets get overdue respect

High Plains Blogger has called attention over the years to my favorite veteran … that would be my Dad, a World War II Navy vet who saw his share of hell on Earth during his years fighting fascists.

I occasionally speak a bit about my own military experience, which pales in comparison to what Dad endured.

Today, I want to discuss the growing up of the nation, which this week celebrates the millions of men and women who have served in the military. It took a war that we didn’t win on the battlefield for Americans to stoop to new lows in the way it treated its veterans. Many of my colleagues came home to actual scorn from Americans because they followed lawful orders and committed — in the uneducated eyes of their fellow citizens — crimes against humanity.

Baby killers? My ass …

This year veterans are bound to feel love and respect they were denied when we came home from the Vietnam War. I won’t dwell on what happened in the bad old days. Instead, I will call attention to the respect coming from TV commentators who, two generations ago, likely would be leading the jeers intended for the returning veterans.

Whatever. We’ve all grown up. We are more mature these days. I will accept whatever thanks that could come my way as we celebrate those who suit up to defend this nation and protect the rights we all enjoy.

military news

Museum honors men of honor

As a rule, I don’t do reviews of sites I see on this blog, but I visited an exhibit in Arlington, Texas, over the weekend that clearly deserves a mention and a few words of the highest praise I can deliver.

My brother-in-law and I toured the National Medal of Honor Museum across the way from AT&T Stadium. To say it was an experience the likes of which were new to me would do it a terrible injustice. The museum grounds are spectacular, but more importantly the stories they tell visitors are gripping beyond measure.

The museum honors all 3,600-plus recipients of the nation’s highest award for military valor. It is resplendent in pictures of the recipients, some of the pictures showing them in combat. There is a limited amount of text accompanying the photos, and if I had one criticism of the disiplay, I would prefer to read more about the events that resulted in these men being honored with the Medal of Honor.

A quote attributed to one of the recipients tells how he was honored for taking action “on the worst day of my life.” I have seen countless quotes from men who, when asked what propelled them to act with such mind-blowing valor, would say, “I just knew I was going to die so I acted to save the lives of my friends.”

The museum has a virtual reality exhibit in which visitors can sit in a UH-1 Huey helicopter simulator, don glasses and be placed in a medical evacuation mission, or “dust off” flight, to rescue personnel wounded in action in Vietnam.

I am proud to have made the acquaintance of two Medal of Honor recipients, Navy SEAL Mike Thornton and Army Ranger Bob Howard. Their exploits are the stuff of legend. And one of the recipients, Army Lt. Audie Murphy, indeed achieved legendary for his exploits in saving a French village from Nazi troops near the end of the World War II. I mention Murphy because Farmersville, where I work on occasion as a freelance reporter, honors its “favorite son” Murphy every year with a day commemorating his untold heroism.

I was thrilled to see the exhibit and to honor the men who fought so valiantly on so many battlefields to defend our democratic way of life.

Wow!