An interesting read, dispels some myths....

Statistics about the Vietnam War

Very good read with good sources.

snopes.com: The Eagle Has Landed

I wonder if he used film or a digi? Either way that is a mind blowing once in a lifetime photo to shoot.

And re-enforces others.

Or "According to speeches by Gen Westmoreland, Gen McCaffrey, and President Nixon, these are the facts of the Vietnam War..."

"Restraining the military in Vietnam in hindsight probably prevented a nuclear war with China or Russia..." Really? Nixon had to drag the Joint Chiefs kicking and screaming to use the B-52's in Linebacker II. They actually voted in secret to label it a political decision, not a military decision, because they disagreed with the president. Who was being restrained?

There are so many facts and statistics about Vietnam that on a statistical basis some of them are bound to be true. The war has been over for more than 35 years.

propaganda is always so amusing. and, being propaganda, should never be taken seriously.

just because your elders fought in vietnam doesn't mean it was a just war. sorry to disillusion you.

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"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread."

I was there in '68. A lot of it sounded right to me. And some of it made me angry.

'68 was a very bad year. Glad you came home.

I was there in '67-'68.
Quotes from Westmoreland and other general officers are mostly political posturing.
There are truths brought out, but most of them get bogged down in politics.
Some things never change.

The Civil War is over and people still argue about it. Hell, a couple of years ago I read a really good book on the Peloponnesian War, people still argue about that one.

Because of the ambiguity surrounding the Cold War there is no doubt in my mind the next 20 generations of humans, if humans there still be, will argue over the various Cold War incidents.

It's a good thing to revisit these things. It keeps us from thinking the perspectives are static. As people and cultures change, so to do the paradigmatic views of historical events.

Only a pinheaded buffoon might think that a single perspective is immutable and definitive. The rest of us recognize that history is like window glass, stable over a lifetime but flowing through time.

The most important error or non truth I spotted was in reference to Agent Orange.
The statement that our troops didnt go thru it for months after it was used is just flat wrong. Ask any 11B who was in country.

The most sickening part of Tet '68 was that we knew they were coming and did nothing to stop them. I guess the brass figured a few GI's lives were worth it to draw the NVA and VC out.

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

This:

Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972, was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.

(their fact)
No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. Recent reports in the news media that an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. "We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF," according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc's brothers were killed in this incident. They were Kim's cousins not her brothers.

Why this makes all the difference ya'all. That girl wasn't burned by US napalm from from US planes flown by Americans, she was burned by US napalm from US planes flown by Vietnamese.

I guess the war was worth it after all.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

The statistics were not surprising to me.

The one about drug use I found to be almost vindicating for Vietnam vets. Right after I got out of the Army in 1971 I got a job to see me through until the start of the semester. I had to get a physical.

The doctor found out I had just gotten out of the Army and he looked me over REALLY good for tracks. Looked everywhere. That was the impression of the day. If you've been in the Army, you must be a junkie. Quite sad.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Several of my friends went over to Vietnam while I enjoyed a caribbean cruse on Uncle Sam's dime. My friend was a fine boy when we were kids. Even as a teen people thought a lot of him. a Kind boy, ruthless athlete, and true friend.

Here's how he turned out: David Hayward, SP4, Army, Natchitoches LA, 22Mar71 04W067 - The Virtual WallŪ