[backtothestreets]

The reference to Goldwater was a knee jerk response I felt as I wrote and remembered family, friends and veterans. Few returned unscathed.

Many high school friends were killed and wounded in one of the first parachute jumps in Viet Nam. A brother-in-law suffered a severe breakdown after his tour was extended a third time on the front lines, and when the fourth opportunity arose, the helicopter sent to retrieve him was blown up by enemy fire. Even before I enlisted, I'd visit Oak Knoll Naval Hospital to befriend and comfort injured sailors. Too many were mere shells. Their minds were too distant to reach. They were in an agony no one could relieve.

For far too many, their injury was not suffered in Viet Nam, but upon returning to the states and being treated as vermin. The government cut their veterans benefits, and many segments of society treated them as outcasts. Some employers refused to higher these veterans that had served their country honorably.

When Eisenhower became President he delivered a message to our adversaries that was very similar to what Goldwater proposed some ten years later. Basically the message was the Korean War would end. It would be their choice to see it ended by negotiation, or by nuclear weapons. His strategy saved thousands of American lives and brought most of our troops home.

In restrospect, we should have used every weapon at our disposal before exposing our troops to the enemy.

[backtothestreets]

Some employers refused to higher hire these veterans that had served their country honorably.

[maica]

I agree with you, and I was a strong Goldwater supporter! The way Johnson and McNamara and Westmoreland ran the war was despicable.

I just meant your message would pass muster for publication if the ref to Goldwater were removed.