Posted on 08/15/2009 7:34:58 PM PDT by RobinMasters
In his recent appearance on the Roger Hedgecock Show, Richard Botkin, author of "Ride the Thunder," shares the heroic and largely untold story of how South Vietnamese warriors and their American counterparts almost won the Vietnam War.
Hedgecock's nationally syndicated daily radio show can be heard in 75+ markets and on XM Satellite. His show streams live on WND from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern.
Marine Capt. Botkin toured battlefields in Vietnam and has chronicled the Vietnamese military organization called TQLC, whose members, with their American advisers, "fought, bled, endured and triumphed against communism."
Botkin's book tells a new Vietnam history with a unique twist – a happy and inspiring ending. It has been an instant hit with booksellers and reviewers, Vietnam vets and the South Vietnamese community in the U.S.
In his interview with Hedgecock, Botkin said his goal in writing the book was to "honor and affirm the warrior" with a story about brave men facing tough times and overcoming in the face of extreme adversity.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
Calling it a night. Will check back in the AM.
Since I am a USAF Colonel’s daughter, here is one of my favorite videos.
A tribute to the USAF:
http://www.media-magik.com/usaf.html
What is his view of "Thud Ridge" by Col. Jack Broughton? I think that book gave an excellent picture of the absurd restrictions under which the F-105s had to operate.
Thanks. Broughton also wrote a followup twenty years later titled “Going Downtown.” It’s worth reading as well.
The U.S. and the SVN were winning the VN war. The Democrat Congress lost it all when they chose to eliminate funding for continued supplies of ammo, etc. to the SVN AFTER they forced the withdrawal of U.S. force. We would have won it much earlier if the left had not forced an end to the bombing of the North.
“..am I right ?”
It was a larger war than just the Tet offensive but we did put a major hurt on them. The biggest blow of the Tet Offensive was Uncle Walter convincing the hippies and their lefty mommies that the U.S. had lost the Tet effort although we had a decisive win. Walter Cronkite did a complete spin job to the detriment of the U.S. troops.
I’ve never been able to find proof that Giap said that. I’d still like to find out if that came out of an interview with him. I didn’t find it in the book he wrote.
Hey, Doc! How are ya? This is an encouraging thread... Guess I’ll hafta find that book! But when I left, according to Uncle Wally, we had lost the year before!
I don’t know if he said it or not, but it’s nonetheless true. Linebacker II hurt the commies, badly. It was a full-on, World War II scale saturation attack, and even though the first part of the campaign was poorly planned, resulting in lost aircraft and needless death, the campaign as a whole was a body blow to North Vietnam. By the time the last raid occurred (99 B-52s, plus a large number of tactical aircraft), Hanoi was on the ropes. We had leveled pretty much every logistical and industrial site in North Vietnam, including electric power stations, POL and petroleum storage, marshaling yards, freight terminals, warehouses, munitions dumps, dockyards, and so forth. A week or two more bombing at that level would have finished off the commies.
My wife and I know people from South Vietnam who now live in our community. These are people who survived horrible carnage in refugee camps. They experienced hardship very few of us born in this country are capable of imagining. The friends we know who made it here from South Vietnam are some of the hardest working most patriotic conservative Americans we know.
We have another friend who was my hang glider instructor; he was a Green Beret and was deployed as an adviser early in the war. He told me of the tremendous courage and heroism of the young Vietnamese men that he trained and helped lead in battle. These were amazing stories. I will be looking for Richard Botkin’s book.
But Giap was a ruthless and brilliant General, and he would have been well aware that the reporting of the American media and the American domestic dissent it stoked was having an impact on American political decisions concerning the war, thus aiding his efforts.
With that in mind, even if Giap never uttered those exact words, or ever wrote them down somewhere, he would certainly see the truth in them, even if his own code of honor made it impossible for him to admit it.
I grew up watching the Vietnam War on the 7:00 pm News, with Cronkite and the like.
Our men didn't nearly win the war, they DID their part, but the politicians and the MSM undermined them and stole victory from their grasps.
The Politicians and the MSM of that era have the blood of Americas finest sons on their hands.
May they both suffer their portion of the fires of hell.
Unfortunately Obama still may do so.
AS we used to say : "It don't mean nuthin".
Words I live by...
We were paid to stop the communist aggression, which we did. Some paying the ultimate price...
Now they want us to lay down, do nothing, and allow that same communist organization to destroy Our Nation!
They have no idea what "Payback" truly means if they continue down this path of destruction...
I think there’s a possibility it came from an interview with Giap. There was one writer for whom I tried to find contact info. Never was able to find it.
thank you for your service. I will never forget what you and men such as yourself did for this country.
There are ALWAYS Rules of Engagement. Sometimes they are real simple (and I like simple), such as “Go there. Kill everything that moves. Do not use nukes. Come home.” Other times (like Vietnam), we have a braying jackass like LBJ who must PERSONALLY approve each day’s bombing lists and get LOTS of our brothers killed for no good reason!!!
DC Wright
USMC Phu Bai, 1969
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.