m10bob
Posts: 8622
Joined: 11/3/2002 From: Dismal Seepage Indiana Status: offline
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We were never defeated on the ground in any sizable battle..technology was not always on our side.(the micro-management of bird colonels flying directly over our positions and giving orders from overhead literally served to show the enemy our *exact* positions....anything by Col David Hackworth is a must read if you want to see real history from the perspective of a guy who worked up from private to "0-6",Korea to vietnam..(indeed,he was the model for the character played by brando in apocolypse now(most decorated soldier of Nam)..pentogon did and still hates his guts because he tried to show what mcnamara finally "fessed up to" in *his* book..my generation was dusted by the liars in D.C. who had contempt for the gallant grunt(officers included)..thank god we did learn from a few of our mistakes and the gulf war was fought more like mcarthur (cut 'em off,starve 'em,kill 'em),least friendly casualties in modern times....Hamburger Hill was just the opposite..civil war,(or ww one tactics,"walk into the machine guns,boys!")...the grunts in nam had espirit and pretty much knew they were "on their own"..a popular song of the 1st(air)cav in the late 60's,to the tune of "the m.t.a.".....did you ever hear the story of the cong named charlie on that tragic and fateful day,put 10 rounds in his pocket,kissed his wife goodbye,and went off to fight the u.s.a....but did he ever return? no,he never returned,and his fate is still unlearned..he's must run those trackless jungles,he's the cong who never returned.......now you folks down round AN KHE way,are'nt you glad the 1st cav came to stay? he must run those trackless jungles,the cong who shall never return.....(end)...now,history..the V.C. ceased to exist at TET 1968..the vc were the communist "south vietnamese"..the north vietnamese realized the war would be over eventually,and they needed to get rid of all those "southern" loudmouths..the north always followed their training and the principles of their trainers.(same folks who "camped out" during the warsaw ghetto uprising and could have marched into warsaw to save the ghetto-not bias,just cold hard fact..the regime at the time....)..after tet,every major "enemy unit encountered was an NVA "regular"(no foolishness here,they were "REAL" soldiers,fully equipped like an army and in some areas had TANKS)....My respect and desire to maintain the memory of my dad's generation,"THE GREATEST GENERATION",is that i have learned a single bullet is all that matters on the battlefield,and all the planes and tanks in the world,with TECHNOLOGY can only help to deliver that bullet,and that the troops of ww2 were in that conflict,unwillingly,after being forced into it,by governmental evil and madmen who would conquer th world (if they had been allowed)..thank God they were not allowed....yes,the Vietnam war Must be studied,and remembered,but not as something "glorious" nor "gallant",but as an example of how NOT to conduct wars..NO WAR CAN BE FOUGHT TO A CONCLUSION UNLESS THE COMBATANT IS *WILLING* TO WIN..the Americans were led by a regime(or series of regimes who only wanted to force the commies out by financial attrition....unfortunately,their "nuts" were never in the fire............I love my country and just do not want to see that happen again...i am a hawk with an olive branch in one hand,(like on our money)....you can have the soapbox back,sir,i'm finished......bob ;)
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