WTF? Chris Mattews calls USMA the "enemy camp"? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cmac2012 · #1 12-04-2009, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat the mistakes of history.

I didn't say no vets were spit on. The urban myth is the notion that support of that sort of thing was widespread. Jzjzjzjz said that such things were condoned by the demon "media."

There is a possible lesson in the rude treatment endured by some returning vets from Vietnam. Not every mission our president sends soldiers to perform will be unfailingly moral and glorious just because the red, white, and blue is waved at regular intervals. Wholesale deployment of deadly force, widespread killing, the poisoning of land, etc. are modes of behavior fraught with peril.

There are no guarantees in life. One must be one's own navigator.

MS Fowler · #2 12-04-2009, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

I didn't say no vets were spit on. The urban myth is the notion that support of that sort of thing was widespread. Jzjzjzjz said that such things were condoned by the demon "media."

There is a possible lesson in the rude treatment endured by some returning vets from Vietnam. Not every mission our president sends soldiers to perform will be unfailingly moral and glorious just because the red, white, and blue is waved at regular intervals. Wholesale deployment of deadly force, widespread killing, the poisoning of land, etc. are modes of behavior fraught with peril.

There are no guarantees in life. One must be one's own navigator.

As I remember it, the press seemed to enjoy reporting on the spitting incidents. As a result of the coverage, the incidents increased in severity and number.

cmac2012 · #3 12-04-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MS Fowler

As I remember it, the press seemed to enjoy reporting on the spitting incidents. As a result of the coverage, the incidents increased in severity and number.

Several people have searched media archives and have failed to find a single incident of spitting on vets being reported in the press. I never saw a story about it. Just word of mouth, continuing rumors, etc.

There are obnoxious people in the world, newsflash. I never so much as insulted a vet in or out of uniform but I also believed the war was insanely stupid as did my father who had been a sergeant Major in the Pacific theater in WW2. He said he would help me stay out of it if that was my choice and it was. Didn't need his help as it turned out but his support was certainly welcome. My draft # was 12 in 1972 and I ended up working as a conscientious objector at a Salvation Army youth club.

My angry man pal Chris Bellicose seems to think it funny that the experience would have had an effect on my life. This should be a surprise? Military service is a major coming of age ritual in the US, something I looked forward to and then when it came my time, the war from hell beckoned. Of course it was a signature event in my life.

Swift boaters and our Jzjzjzjzjz buddy clearly had a large part of their world view shaped by Vietnam but apparently that is good and proper. Those of us who declined to participate in pointless mass murder are, of course, merely losers.