VIETNAM VETERANS
Updated 3-14-07
I don't have to tell you that Vietnam Veterans were done a great injustice when they returned home. Despite the historically provable necessity of that conflict, errors were made on HOW to conduct the war that made the whole thing unpopular. Sound familiar? Sadly, the Veterans of the Vietnam Conflict were foolishly blamed for the high level blunders of the war effort that had nothing to do with them at all.
At the end of the day, soldiers fight not for politics,
but for the sake of their brothers on their right and left in the foxhole.
Most of us now realize all of this, of course, and as a country we would love to see every effort made to rehabilitate our approach to Vietnam Veterans.
To that end, let me add this:
Vietnam Veterans Have Seen Every Attempt to Undermine Their Purpose: A soldier fights best when armed with what is called a "moral authority." That is, when you know you are fighting for what is right ... or at least necessary. World War II Veterans had the clearest moral authority of that century - when compared with their Nazi counterparts. But the Vietnam Veterans do as well, and that's something we don't hear enough in our media or from "20/20 hindsight" historians.
Vietnam Was a Murkier Conflict, with vagaries that many people could not, do not, or will not grasp. Perhaps this is because it was so outrageously evident in WWII who the bad guys and the good guys were. I mean, the players on both sides of WWII were larger-than-life epic figures who practically wore white hats and black hats for the general public to easily reference. By contrast, we as a nation couldn't so easily see what was so dire about the threat posed by a very different antagonist - Communism - and what made that threat worth the sacrifice of our Veterans of the day. But the threat was real, and it did need to be checked. Communism was on the march at that time, and just because that threat eventually collapsed under the weight of its own folly, we should not retroactively underestimate that threat, and discount the need we had at that time to check it where we could.
Political Understanding is a Rare and Elusive Thing: Communism was a threat to freedom just as much as Hitler ever was - but that was not clear to everyone at the time or even now, because most people lack political analytical ability. In fact, the more you know about politics the more confused you are likely to become (I include myself in that). But, despite what people seem to think, political opinions are not somehow innately valid. Like anything else, it takes an education on the subject to (better) understand. I don't necessarily mean that this education should come from schools either. Life teaches more to someone paying attention than all the schooling in the world, and some of the most foolish opinions I have ever heard n politics were from academics.
A Different Take on the Vietnam War: When viewed as a battle in the larger (eventually Cold) War against Communism, it could easily be said that the Vietnam War was not the utter failure it is touted to be. We did eventually defeat Communism, and we needed to win for the sake of freedom. If you do not believe that, then consider the lives of people who have suffered under Communism. It always becomes brutal. It has to. Why? Click here.
Pop Culture Explanation: The best explanation I have seen from pop culture on the Vietnam War is in a movie from that time: "The Green Berets." More than just a John Wayne macho flick...it tackles the question of why we went - and from a soldier's perspective. You'll also learn a lot about the true mission of the US Army Special Forces. Rent or buy it sometime to see what I mean. If you pay close attention, you'll likely see many parallels between the theme of that movie and what we are seeing now in The Global War on Terror....because human nature is relatively unchanging.
To Every Vietnam Veteran: Salute