Dangerous times ahead

I have an uncle who was a member of Vietnam Veterans Against War. He joined when he came home from 'Nam, having served two tours for Uncle Sam as a USAF spook who intercepted Chinese radio traffic from altitude.

Although I wasn't around during the Vietnam Era, my uncle has clued me in to some of the pressures that led to the march on Washington, the Kent State shootings, and the general state of civil unrest that followed in the wake of the Civil Rights movement.

In his opinion, the thing that precipitated the radicalization of young Americans, and the subsequent Establishment backlash was the return of veterans from the theater of war.

Having faced live fire and survived it, these men were not exactly like the students who protested the war peacefully. The soldiers came home and were exposed to information and ideas that they hadn't been exposed to while they served overseas. Add to this the fact that many of these returning soldiers already felt abused by the government that had conscripted them into war, and you can imagine that the minds of some of these men were fertile breeding grounds for radical ideas.

A man who has faced down armed militants, IEDs, and forced multiple deployments, and who has lost a spouse, or family members, or friends in the meantime, is not going to be very happy when he comes home to discover that his fearless leaders have ridden rough-shod over the Constitution while he was busy in a foreign land.

I guess my point is that we all have some healing to do, and we are going to have to not only make some tough choices in the days to come, but also keep our wits about us. We Americans are a very sentimental people who are easily moved to passion, and we should be very, very careful to honor our sons and daughters as they return home. One way we can honor them is to be vigilant on their behalf, and squash any person or agency that seeks to exploit their pain or disaffection for political gain. I don't care if it's a protest movement or the President, himself. At long last, we can prove our mettle by making sure that no one can exploit them anymore.

[edit on 2-7-2008 by applebiter]

Can you see this thread? I'm starting to wonder...

Originally posted by applebiter
Can you see this thread? I'm starting to wonder...

If you make too much sense you won't get many replies. Make a sensational post which everyone disagrees with and you'll get a few pages worth.

Good post btw.

I tired to start a thread about this subject a while ago. I think your uncle is absolutely right.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Some of what you say is true. Actualy what caused most of the decension within the returning military was the downright ignorance of LBJ, micro managing a conflict from Washington like it was a board game. When you send troops to fight and then short change them and let them become targets beore your allowed to protect yorself can realy piss you off. Ask a ground pounder how crazy it was to march down a trail you knew was booby trapped and setup for ambush and have to wait till your shot at or trip a bouncing betty before you can try to take out the enemy. It was being used like a pawn and then being told you where the problem and getting spit on as you got off the plane in the freeworld. A little known fact is that there where more voluteers in Viet Nam than conscripted troops in the beginning. One in three draftees saw combat. The reason for this was that suport troops who where 'connected' got the cushy jobs even if they where draftees. There where alot of us that marched in Washington that weekend. I for one was actualy on the front page of 'Parade' magazine pushing a friend of mine in a wheel chair.

Zindo