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Binh Pho

Having come of age during the Vietnam war, these insights are poignant reminders of the turmoil of those times. I found a great deal of comfort watching last night's PBS segment about our ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius. I am glad that our President's trip to Vietnam is bringing out these insights into the feelings and lives of the people who were there, and the people who, like Osius, deeply care for the Vietnamese. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/videos/#181402
 
If you haven't seen the PBS American Experience program, "Last Days in Vietnam", it is an award winning film that is definitely worth viewing. I purchased the DVD after seeing it on PBS. Some of the scenes show Binh Pho as a young college student when he was in the American Embassy compound during those final days.
 
My life has always been promises made, promises kept. There but for the grace of God go I. Commissioned during the cycle down so stayed here and cannot watch that kind of stuff w/o getting a little teary. Used to feel I didn't get to fulfil my duty til I saw something that said it did not matter what or where I was I had given Uncle Sam a "blank check" and just because he did not cash it made no difference . Even with all that has come to pass I feel a bit sad that any president (especially some) goes there after all that happened.
 
I was on active duty from June 1970 - June 1972. The Army decided to let me be a mathematician and I never left the states.
Ended up spending over 30 years working for DoD. Worked for civilians and military.
Most of that time spent fighting the Cold War.

In the 70s there was nearly universal respect for people in offices of responsibility from teachers to the President.
Without that respect government including the military cease to function stop doing their respective jobs and it leads to anarchy.
 
I having been one that was there in Feb1971 thru Feb1972 I often wonder about the people I was friends with during that time. The area was Cam Ranh Bay. I made no promise to any and they knew we would probably never see each other again. Yes I feel for the ones left behind that we promised, but people here put a push on the government that we had wasted enough money and people on someone else's war and it had come to be enough. Sad that it happened that way.
 
Our nation does not handle fear well Fear of world domination by communism and the domino theory got us into Vietnam.

In WW II out of fear we suspended the constitution and locked up citizens for being of Japanese decent.
History said we should lock up people of German decent because German Americans blew up Toms river in World War I.
 
Like Al, l was also in the Army in 71 and 72. I was diverted to Ft. Riley as a records specialist. I think my job there was to bury the enemy in mounds of paperwork while Al was confounding and confusing them with numbers. 🙄
 
I beat most of you there. Kenedy sent 1000 advisors to Viet Nam in the fall of '61. I flew over on a civilian aircraft, carried a diplomatic passport and did not put on my uniform untill I was in country. I was an advisor to the Vietnamese Sea Force. I was assigned 4 LSM's which survived WWII, were given to the French and then passed on to the Vietnamese. I would ride one of these ships for a week or so and then repurcate in Saigon for a few days.

One of my ships had zero english speakers aboard. I took one year of French my sophmore college year and got a D in the course. The Capt. spoke French so we communicated in very broken French and sign language. Eating out of their galley was not cruse ship fare, nor were the accomidations. I got one ship fumigated and I saw them cary off 7 bushel baskets of dead rats.
 
Thanks to those others here who served, no matter what the capacity....... The Vietnam War was initially an honorable undertaking, and unfortunately, our politics and media took any meaningful results, and honor out of it. We won our battles, but ultimately failed, because it was our inability to understand how the proper use of force isn't productive with a half-hearted effort. We failed to heed the hard learned lessons of history......but, I believe some of us are now "getting it", and aren't so blinded by social pressure. Evil is on the rise in our world, and eventually, it is very likely we will have to confront it decisively. When, where, and how that happens, is up to speculation, but if and when the time comes to act in our own defense, we must have the resolve to deal with it in the only way evil can be dealt with.

I served in Vietnam with pride and conviction that I was doing the right thing. Just short of 1,000 combat flight hours as a Crew Chief and door gunner on a UH-1C "Huey" helicopter gunship, 1968-69.

ko
 
Books that show the mistakes we made in South Vietnam:
1. Vietnam by Stanley Karnow
2. In the Ruins of Empire by Richard Spectre. Spectre's book goes back to late 1945 when the Allies were wrapping up things with Japan. Even after the surrender, there were still Japanese soldiers continuing to fight for weeks. It is too complicated to go into but the Pacific Rim was in a mess as the result of too many people and nations trying to get a foothold in the area. Consequently, there were things that resulted in the Korean War and the Vietnam War plus the Cold War. Read them for the details.
I missed that fiasco and, from what I have been told by combat veterans, I didn't miss anything. I would have been 11B40, light infantry.
odie, the military didn't help any, either. It was a time when an officer could get his ticket punched for promotion- six months as a combat leader and upward. WWII troops trained for two years before D-Day. Watch Band Of Brothers or read the book. Vietnam? Basic, AIT and over for one year. By the time a combat soldier got the experience he needed, guess what? He rotated back to the World or extended in a non-combat duty.
3. We Were Soldiers- and Young- Hal Moore (USA Retired The opening part shows what happened to the First Cav when Johnson didn't declare a state of emergency. They lost their experienced combat NCOs and officers. Consequently, the Cav went into Vietnam with inexperienced leaders and waaaay understrength.
I don't buy anything made in Vietnam.
 
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I find it ironic that the Chinese helped the Viet Cong in fighting the Americans fifty years ago and today Obama announced in Hanoi that the US is lifting the ban on arms sales to Vietnam. Why? We want them to keep the Chinese busy. Dirty international politics!
 
u have to get in line with fighting the Vietnamese...... before the us left Nam.....they fought the French....before that the Japanese......that takes you back to wwII........I am sure they fought someone before that.....Binh Pho can probably enlighten us more.......the time of the war was great stress on our nation......20% interest rates just after the war compare that with the interest rates of today........uncle sam should give our generation a break........
 
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