Posted on 10/26/2002 4:28:07 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
| Part III - Will the Real Vietnam Vet Stand Up? |
| B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley |
Exclusive to NewsMax.com: Excerpts from Stolen Valor: How The Vietnam Generation Was Robbed Of its Heroes And its Historyby B.G. Burkett & Glenna Whitley To order Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of its Heros and its History please Click Here
America won World War II. Vietnam was "the only war America ever lost."
In World War II, everybody pulled together. Vietnam was the class war, the war in which wet-behind-the-ears, poor, uneducated, minority men were chopped to pieces while college boys thumbed their noses at them in campus antiwar protests. Brave American soldiers in World War II bested the evil armies of Hitler and Hirohito. In Vietnam, confused, drug addicted soldiers killed women and children. World War II's veterans came home to stirring parades, ready to sire the baby boom and forge a supernation. Vietnam veterans trickled back in dishonor, fighting drug habits and inner demons. Or so say the stereotypes. Let's look behind the myths: Myth: The war in Vietnam was fought by teenagers barely old enough to shave, while World War II was fought by men. A much-repeated statistic claims that the average age of the Vietnam soldier was 19, while the average age of the World War II soldier was 26. Reality: The average age of men killed in Vietnam was 22.8 years, or almost 23 years old. While the average age of those killed was 22.8, more 20-year-olds were killed than any other age, followed by 21-year-olds, then 19-year-olds. More 52-year-olds (22) died in Vietnam than youths of 17 (12). The oldest American serviceman killed was 62. Almost 11 percent of those who died were 30 years of age or older. Myth: The war was fought predominantly by draftees. Reality: About one-third of Vietnam-era veterans entered the military through the draft, far lower than the 67 percent drafted in World War II. And once drafted, many men volunteered for the Marines, the Airborne, Special Forces, or other duty likely to send them to Vietnam. Myth: It was a class war, with the poor and lower middle class those who suffered the brunt of it. The best and the brightest didn't go. Reality: The force that fought in Vietnam was America's best educated and most egalitarian in the country's history -- and with the advent of the all-volunteer Army is likely to remain so. In World War II, only 45 percent of the troops had a high school diploma. Many were virtually illiterate. During the Vietnam War, almost 80 percent of those who served had high school diplomas, even though, at the time, only 65 percent of military age youths in the U.S. had a high school degree. Throughout the Vietnam era, the median education level of the enlisted man was about 13 years. Proportionately three times as many college graduates served in Vietnam than in World War II. A study done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 compared the socio-economics of the 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam to 58,000 randomly chosen contemporaries by rating their home-of-record according to per-capita income. They discovered that 30 percent of the KIAs came from the lowest third of the income range; but 26 percent of the combat deaths came from families earning in the highest third. This result was startling -- and far from the expectation that wealthier Americans were sheltered from the war. Myth: The war took the highest toll on minorities. Reality: About 5 percent of those who died were Hispanic and 12.5 percent were black -- making both minorities slightly under-represented in relation to their proportion of draft-age males in the national population. (This will be discussed further in a later chapter.) Myth: The soldier in Vietnam smoked pot and shot up with heroin to dull the horrors of combat. Reality: In 1967, the drug use rate of .25 per 1,000 troops in Vietnam was lower than the Army-wide rate of .30 per 1,000 troops. Except for the last couple of years of the war, drug usage among American troops in Vietnam was lower than for American troops stationed anywhere else in the world, including the United States. Even when the drug use started to rise in 1971 and 1972, almost 90 percent of the men who had ever served in Vietnam had already come and gone. America had virtually thrown in the towel; idleness and the declining troop morale led to escalating drug use that reached crisis proportions. A study after the war by the VA showed drug usage of veterans and non-veterans of the Vietnam age group was about the same. Another study, the "Vietnam-Era Research Project," concluded that drug use was more common among non-veterans than Vietnam-era veterans. Myth: American soldiers deserted rather than fight the "immoral" war. Reality: In World War II, the Army's overall desertion rate during that war was 55 percent higher than during Vietnam. Of those troops who deserted during the Vietnam era, only five percent did so while attached to units in Vietnam. Only 24 deserters attributed their action to the desire to "avoid hazardous duty." Of AWOLs, only 10 percent were related to opposition to the war. Myth: Vietnam vets have high rates of incarceration. Reality: A 1981 VA study concluded that 25 percent of those in combat during the war had ended up in prison. In the mid-1980s VietNow, one of the first Vietnam veterans' organizations to receive a VA grant for delayed stress counseling, put out a pamphlet claiming that over 70,000 Vietnam vets were behind bars, while over 200,000 were on probation, parole, or out on bail. The more mainstream Vietnam Veterans of America has claimed that 5 to 12 percent of the prison population at any given time are Vietnam vets, with up to 300,000 in the criminal justice system. All this information is based on self-reporting by prisoners. But in every major study of Vietnam veterans where the military records were pulled from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis and the veterans then located for interviews, an insignificant number have been found in prisons. Myth: Substantial numbers of Vietnam veterans are unemployed. Reality: Vietnam veterans are no more likely to be unemployed than men who did not serve in Vietnam and, in fact, have a lower unemployment rate than those who didn't serve. Figures from 1994 showed that the unemployment rate for U.S. males 18 and over was 6 percent. The unemployment rate for all male veterans was 4.9 percent. Among Vietnam-era veterans who served outside the Vietnam theater, it was 5 percent. For Vietnam veterans, the rate went down to 3.9 percent. In every category for which I could find statistics, Vietnam veterans were as successful or more successful than men their age who did not go to Vietnam. A Washington Post/ABC News survey released in April 1985, on the tenth anniversary of the fall of Saigon, reinforced the findings of the earlier Harris study. The Post/ABC survey randomly polled 811 veterans who served in Vietnam and Southeast Asia and 438 Vietnam-era veterans who served elsewhere. The poll revealed that only nine percent of Vietnam veterans had never graduated from high school compared to 23 percent of their peers. A Vietnam veteran was more likely to have gone to college than a man of his age not in the service; nearly 30 percent of Vietnam vets had some college education, versus 24 percent of the U.S. population.
That educational edge translated to employment rates similar to non-veterans of the war. In 1985, three of every four said their annual household incomes exceeded $20,000. Almost half made $30,000 or more per year. Seventy-eight percent were homeowners, paying mortgages on traditional, single-family homes -- and more likely to own a home than their peers who did not go to Vietnam. Eight of every 10 surveyed were married and 90 percent had children. Strikingly, the Washington Post survey indicated that, despite the negative attitudes of the public, Vietnam veterans had positive feelings about their experience: - Seventy-four percent said they "enjoyed their time in service." With this ammunition, I was ready to fight the image battle. But I had forgotten about "Them." Part I - Rambo and the Bogus War Heroes |
Millions of patriotic Americans would say thank you today...for your service, and for punching the SOB. Welcome home!
Today's aging "peaceniks" owe you and every Vietnam vet an apology. They are now corrupting a whole new generation, dividing our nation, and undermining our efforts in the war on terror. Stolen Valor belongs at FR where we can spread the word.
Who wanted to stand with Hillary Clinton or Noam Chomsky on 9-12-01? Our institutions are sick, but people are coming up with creative and brilliant alternatives to mainstream education, news and entertainment...and the second amendment is well defended.
Hopeless? Think of the Sons of Liberty, Gideon, the recent outcry against the attempt to strip "Under God" from the pledge, Phil Donahue's ratings......the example of the Amish...(^:
Amen.
Sure, there are always a few bad apples in the barrel. But, most of the men I knew and served with there were some of the finest, most dedicated and best people I have ever had the privilege of serving with. We worked out tails off. We fought hard when we needed to and played hard when we could. We weren't saints - we were just everyday Americans trying our best to do our jobs right and stay alive.
In our hearts and in the field we prevailed, even though we well knew at the time we were being sold out by the politicians and anti-war crowds at home. But the enemy never really beat us as hard as they tried. I also have to say, they worked and fought hard too. We didn't like them for it but grudgingly respected them for it.
The ones I distain even today are those who fought against us here and sold us out at home. So, when we get a loser like Wellstone being eulogized to high heaven for his "principled" anti-war stance, my blood boils. I honestly would rather shake the hand of the average NVA trooper than his or any of his slavering sychophants.
Dear Ann: Does that make me one of those psycho Vietnam Vets?
Today's troops will not be treated the way our Vietnam vets were treated. Today we have a voice - and e-mail.
Stolen Valor was based on years of research, polls, records - and was not an argument in support of the war (though most soldiers support the fight against Communism and believe we could have won the war), but a validation of the honor of our Vietnam Vets. The author wondered at news stories and Hollywood movies depicting Vietnam Vets as homeless, addicted, dupes (the author being a Vietnam Vet) and set out to find the truth. Hollywood, and the news media lied (surprise), and sold out one of the bravest groups of mostly volunteer men and women our country's ever known.
Charlie Rangel and the left are still playing the race, class war re. Vietnam veterans. It was a lie then, it's a lie now - and an insult to everyone who chooses to serve in the military today.
Strikingly, the Washington Post survey indicated that, despite the negative attitudes of the public, Vietnam veterans had positive feelings about their experience:
- Seventy-four percent said they "enjoyed their time in service."
- Eighty percent disagreed with the statement "the United States took unfair advantage of me."
- Fifty-six percent of Vietnam veterans said they benefited in the long run by going to Vietnam. Only 29 percent said they were set back.
- Ninety-one percent of those who served in Vietnam were "glad they served their country."
I often send this Stolen Valor series to pols and pundits with the question: Who knew? Why not!? The facts are so different than the stories we've been fed for decades. This time, when Jane Fonda speaks, our troops will hear the louder response of their grateful fellow Americans back home.
Michelle Malkin
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Dear American soldier,
You don't know me, but I know who you are and I will not forget.
You are deploying from Fort Carson and Fort Hood and Fort Bliss and Fort Stewart. You hail from Middletown and Middleboro and Greenville and Redding and Thousand Oaks and Maple Tree. You are white, black, brown, and yellow-but always Americans first.
You are with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team and the 10th Combat Support Hospital and the 571st Air Ambulance Medical Evacuation Company. You are with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 3rd Infantry Division and the "Iron Horse" 4th Infantry Division. You are Black Knights with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment. You are engineers, drivers and medics in the 13th Corps Support Command.
Your motto is "We Will," "Steadfast and Loyal," "Swift and Deadly," "Always Prepared," "First to Fight," and "No Task Too Tough."
You will be joined overseas by thousands of sailors and Marines on the USS Boxer and USS Bonhomme Richard and USS Cleveland and USS Dubuque and USS Anchorage and USS Comstock and USS Pearl Harbor. You will get support in the Gulf from an airborne infantry brigade, a squadron of F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters, and two squadrons of F-16CJ radar-jamming fighters.
You have friends on the USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf, and the USS Harry S Truman in the Mediterranean Sea, and the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln stationed at Perth, Australia, and the USNS Yano en route to the Red Sea, and the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson on its way to a training mission in the Pacific.
You have classmates and colleagues and cousins who died at the Pentagon and in the Twin Towers on September 11. You have buddies who took bullets over the past year in Afghanistan and Kuwait and the Philippines during Operation Enduring Freedom. You have uncles and brothers and fathers and grandfathers who sacrificed their lives in past wars.
Their deaths haunt you. Their heroism inspires you. Their footsteps beckon and you cannot resist.
You have wives who are tough as nails and husbands who are enormously proud. You have toddlers who know the colors of the American flag and grade-schoolers who have memorized Army verses like these:
The hardest job, the dirtiest job
Since ever war began
Is picking 'em up and laying 'em down
The job of an infantryman
No mission too difficult
No sacrifice too great
Our duty to the nation
Is the first we're here to state
Our doughboys come from Brooklyn
Our gunners from Vermont
Our signals from Fort Monmouth
Our engineers DuPont
Against the foes of freedom
We fight for liberty
We make no peace with tyrants
On land or on the sea
As you pack your green Army duffel bags, press your desert camouflage fatigues, polish your boots and kiss your families goodbye, please take these words with you:
Thank you. Thank you for answering the call to arms. Thank you for being fit and young and brave and willing. Thank you for loving freedom enough to put your own life on the line to defend it.
Pay no attention to Sean Penn and Sheryl Crow and Baghdad Babs. Tune out the half-naked loonies and Flower Power leftovers. Stand tall. Fight hard. And know that there are legions of Americans who are boundlessly grateful for what you have volunteered to do.
We know who you are. We will not forget. And we will pray every day for your safe return. Hoo-ah!
(The Department of Defense's online thank you note to the men and women of the U.S. military can be signed at http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html.)
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