Less than 55 yrs old----You do not know!!!!

[spacewarp]

I'm 34. I know. My uncle did three tours in 'Nam. Took 3 units over. Never lost a single man. And they did front line combat. My uncle came back after the first tour to a hero's welcome as rightly deserved. He said he could handle the death and destruction. The second tour, he went over, and at one point, during a rough fight, he ended up pulling the trigger on an enemy at nearly point blank range and had the guy die on top of him. He said occasionally, he had a memory of that show up, but for the most part, his only haunting part of that was that he occasionally dreamed that it was him instead of the bad guy. His third tour, John Kerry got up and lied before Congress. When he returned, he was spit on. He was called a baby killer. When that happened, and Kerry's betrayal of the soldiers over there, he snapped. He woke up at nights screaming "WE DIDN'T DO IT!" I talked to him at one point. He picked up a paper and was reading some stuff and slammed down the paper and started cursing. I didn't know what happened. He was cursing about "that S.O.B. should have been SHOT, not elected." He ran to his room and pulled out his gun collection and started talking about going to Washington. I didn't know who he was talking about. I was scared. His wife calmed him down and he sat me down and talked to me about John Kerry. Told me about the betrayal. How we should all know that Kerry was the monster, not them.

My uncle died 10 years ago of many complications. But, for the most part, I will always blame John Kerry and the "anti-war" (read anti-freedom/anti-US) protestors. Had these traitors not done what they did, my uncle would have come home from the Marines whole. Instead, he came home and sunk into a deep depression. Employers wouldn't hire his buddies, and he stayed in as a DI at Paris Island so that he could have a job. Sometimes he had to stay on base because the protestors were so virulent.

Can someone tell me WHY that traitor believes that he could possibly be the commander-in-chief. He deserves the firing squad for what he did to my uncle and every other soldier out there. Not President.

Paul

[zook]

I'm 50 and I lived through it, remember it vividly.

[JIM O]

Guess what, while I was in Vietnam and my brothers and sisters were in Jr. High and elementary school, the actions of these people were likely much more severe at the time to my siblings than to me.

The same would apply to many others that didn't have a brother that they loved in Vietnam and were not sure on a day to day basis if he was still alive while wondering how many of their friends thought their big brother was a murderer as Kerry and his friends told them.

[spacewarp]

I think it was 75.

[Dead Dog]

I'm 33, and I sure don't know exactly, but I have a pretty good idea. I would recommend the documnetory "The Long Way Home Project" to anyone that thinks the anti-war protestors had a moral leg to stand on, and that the war was "un-winable".

[MasonGal]

I just turned 47 this past Sunday - and I graduated high school in 1975.

I can vaguely remember some of the anti-war protests on TV, etc.

My dear grandfather - who died 5 years ago at age 92, was police chief of our town for more than 25 years. I can remember him putting names of the Vietnam soldiers up on our town's board - right on Main STreet. I sort of remember him going with some folks to the houses of family members who had to be told about their loved ones - injured or killed. (I think my memory is correct about that one.)

[Publius6961]

You're right.
History started when I was born. I remember watching congress on CSPAN when I was two.

The government schools taught me both sides of ever issue, and by the time I was 17 I knew it all.

How am I doing so far... ?

[radiohead]

I respectfully suggest you are mistaken. I am 51 and the widow of a Nam vet. I know exactly the "havoc and death caused by the two Hanois."

Second, my 27 yr old son, who was a Southeast Asian Studies major focusing on VietNam and who speaks Vietnamese, is also well aware of this history.

If my husband was still alive, he would have been in your 55 year old target group. However, one can learn from one's elders, as have I, as has our son.

I spent 20 minutes on the phone yesterday explaining the situation to my 35 year old half sister; another person under 55 who understands (at least a little).

Some younger people may not have the visceral reaction you and I have, but they can certainly understand the situation and why Kerry is bad for the country.

[philman_36]

You do not know the two Hanoi's if you are less than 55 years old.
That sounds almost like..."You can't talk about JFK's service if you didn't serve on his boat."
I'm under 55 and I know. Here's a little something for you to consider. There were only three channels to watch besides the UHF channels back in that day. Care to guess what us 4th-6th grade school kids got to watch during the summer months?
We may have only been 10-12 yrs old, but we knew what was going on.

[Arrowhead1952]

MORE INPUT! MORE INPUT!

[Waryone]

I'm 47 and I remember it vividly. My Marine dad did two full one year tours. The last tour he spent near Da Nang. The way he and the other vets were treated when they returned has been seared on my brain. It was more difficult for him to handle the fire storm he found raging in the states than for him to handle enemy fire.

My father was a veteran of Vietnam, World War II, and Korea. He was also a part of other minor skirmishes the Marines were sent to handle around the world. Nothing compared to the treatment he received when he came home to retire.

Although I would say that many younger people don't have a clue as to why the vets despise Kerry so much, there are quite a few of us under the age of 55 who know only too well what a traitor he is.

[SuziQ]

You do not know the two Hanoi's if you are less than 55 years old.

WRONG. I'm 51, and I know about the two Hanois! Saigon fell the year I got married! Anyone who takes the time to READ can learn about it!

[ohioconservative]

"Voters less than 55 years old have no idea of the havoc and death caused by the two Hanoi's."

I ditto the BS. I'm 29 and know more than my 60 year old neighbors will ever know about Kerry. They don't even know he was in Vietnam!

[JIM O]

He was in Vitnam?

[NeoCaveman]

MORE INPUT! MORE INPUT!

I guess I can't apparently the right to free speech only kicks in when you get your AARP card.

[backinthefold]

on standby....

 

[Americanwolf]

I take offense that you think just because I am not 55 years old or old that you think I cannot understand that discord and death caused by Fonda an Kerry. You obviously don't have a high opinion of the younger generations. I think it is pretty arrogant that you think you have a corner on the market of understanding in regards to what the horrors of war and combat produce.

1.) I severed honorably in the military for 4 years under the Clinton Administration. I have seen what the anti-war crowd has done to he military. I lived it. Try sitting off the coast of china in 1996 trying to ensure free elections in Taiwan. Being overflow daily by Chinese fighter and bombers and we were unable to put planes in the air because Clinton refused to authorize the federal budget, so the planes had no fuel to fly with.

2.) I have seen my fellow shipmates die because of lack of proper materials because of the same thing. Watch a Chief get decapitated by a catch line that broke because it had to be used past its cycle, because they refuse to release another one to the ship due to budget constraints. I have experience that too.

3.) They kids these day I think have a much better understanding of the horror of war and havoc created by decision in their country today then the youth of the past ever had. they are smarter better educated and on top of that most of age are still willing to put there life on the line.

This last part is meant as no offense to any Vietnam era vets. I appreciate all of the sacrifice that was given. It ensure that I was able to grow up in a free world. That is a debt that I can never repay, but the Vietnam era does not have the corner on suffering in this country. For 200 years plus... Americans have been sacrificing and going through the horrors of war and deceit from with and without. We are still standing we will continue to stand.

I will leave with this last comment.

Any human being that is a student of history and has a conscience can understand that pain and suffering that any country goes thru in war, and the also see that there is sedition, treason, and deceit that happens during war. That is the nature of the beast.

So it comes to the point that it happens people will do what they do. We cannot change that and I do not need someone telling me what I do and do not know. If
I have offended anyone I cannot say that I am truly sorry, except for the fact that you think you have the right to dictate to other what the should know or believed.

I love this country. I put my life on the line once to defend it, and would gladly do it again if called. We all have freedom in this country to do and say as we please. That is not just the purview of the right or the left, it is for all. So as much as I disagree with John and Jane, I would defend to the death their right to say it.

[Darksheare]

I'm only 6 and even I know the damage that odious rodent and his twin did.

[Arrowhead1952]

[FlatLandBeer]

New idea for a bumper sticker: Kerry called my daddy a War Criminal!!