[marron]

ping

My apologies in advance.

[VaBthang4]

If you could please...

Provide a brief summary of your point.

[4mycountry]

You've been working on this for a while. A loooong while.

Summary would be nice.

[Publius]

Bravo! Well written.

[Sans-Culotte]

Excellent post. A weighty tome, to be sure, but well worth the reading.

[pabianice]

I suspect the closest your friend ever got to Viet Nam was watching "Full Metal Jacket" at his local movie theater. Anyone who claims to have been in the service -- let alone Viet Nam -- and cannot provide any verifiable details is most likely full of crap. Ask for some verifiable details; then let us know what he says.

[onedoug]

"We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances." --Jeremiah Denton

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This is a vanity?

No way. It is polished professional work, tight as a drum, a clarion call.

You put up the source link of this piece this minute!

[StonyBurk]

Good read-- the ending is so Lincolnesque.The whole country
changed while I was in service. Got kicked out of a church
back when the dog and pony show of the Clinton Impeachment
was being played to the delight of the threepiece suits of
FoggyBottom. Wore an inverted flag then. The oung assistant Pastor --who neve reven served in the Military and didn't know flag regulations-nor my intent tried saying I was
disrespecting every one who had ever served our country by
that act. Oh well-- DOn't mean nothin'

[El Gran Salseron]

Terrific job! This writing should get the post of the month award or whatever they call it!

[MHGinTN]

"... if you hold fast to your principles even in the midst of a fight, you will change reality. Walls will come down, empires will fall ..." Thank you; I need that reminder occasionally, in the midst of doldrums.

[Semper]

When I started reading, I was struck by the following:

Forty years have passed since his time there and he is still haunted by what he did and saw, and the feeling that it was all for nothing ...

My immediate response was to say that it WAS for something. It was to oppose the spread of communism, it was to honor our protection commitment to SEATO (the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) of which both the U.S. and South Vietnam were members. It was part of a larger battle against communism which eventually we won - even though we did not conduct and conclude the effort in Vietnam as we should have.

And then I continued to read and low and behold you said essentially the same thing - only much more eloquently.

I experienced the Vietnam conflict first hand - three times - near the beginning, the middle and the end. At first we were very successful with small units protecting the countryside from the Vietcong terrorists. Then it became more conventional and the costs started to rise. Then it became prolonged and we eventually had to leave with the job not done. I will always remember the statement from General Giap, commander of the communist North Vietnam forces saying that he could never have won without the help of the protesters back in the United States. That was not the only reason for our failure, of course, but it certainly gave help and comfort to our enemy.

Anyway, great article. Thanks.

[PA Engineer]

Excellent.

[MHGinTN]

Don't know if you've seen this, John, but it's worth a pause to read.

[demlosers]

Great essay!

[archy]

He saw the war both from the above-ground military perspective and from the slightly clandestine side when he was “loaned” over to Air America, hauling mysterious cargos to and from nameless airstrips in areas we never admitted to.

Rice.

[Of course, sometimes it WAS *hot rice....*]

-archy-/-

[Wicket]

Wonderful essay.

I get a little cranky with the "but where are the WMD's" folks. Clearly Hussein had used them on his own people and would gladly use them on us given a chance. And the elimination of rape rooms/woodchippers and other endearing habits of the Hussein family by themselves make this a worthy effort.

Thank God we have a President who understands that doing the right thing costs us - sometimes in the lives of good, honorable men and women - but the cost is worth it.

[Khurkris]

Good article. With some judicious editing it could be 2 well focused and easier to read articles. Good luck with submissions.

Well done.

[okie01]

Standing O

[lodwick]

Perfectly stated - fuck the naysayers...give'm cartoons next time.

Maybe then, they'll understand.