 |
SwiftVets.com
Service to Country
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
john h
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Little Rock
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:01 pm Post subject: Re: Thanks For Your Help |
 |
|
| USAF-67-72 wrote: | | VietVet wrote: | This site has led me to read Kerry's speech and the Winter Soldier testimony.
One last question. Why is it honorable to get in the National Guard ahead of thousands on the waiting list; have taxpayers spent the equivalent of $5.5 million to train you to fly; and then leave the service to work on political campaigns but it is dishonorable to serve, win medals and fight to end the needless killing in a war that politicians had already decided wasn't going to be won? |
1) TV discussion by TANG officers about the forged memos reveals that Bush did not springboard ahead of anybody -- the queue for pilots was very short indeed. The plane he was trained on, however, was obsolescent -- a NORAD interceptor. (I controlled F102's, which were described to me by their pilots as having "the glide ratio of a brick.")
2) You're right about the politicians: It was LBJ's war, not the military's war. A noble cause, with an absurd execution. I've heard more than a few comments to the effect that the war had all but been won militarily (which VC generals have apparently confirmed), but was lost diplomatically ... in no small measure thanks to Jhengis Jhan and his V.V.A.W. liars' brigade giving the North Vietnamese the light that they needed at the end of the tunnel. |
I was never in the Guard but served two voulantary toors in Vietnam. I see the need to train pilots at great expense and serve in the Guard on a part time basis. When a war starts you have trained pilots ready to go and do not have to go through a 18 month training process to produce a pilot. Many of these Guard pilots are airline pilots with thousands of hours of experience and are trained and ready to go. Many are in Iraq as I type. The Guard is an important part of our national defense system.
_________________
Air Force Pilot |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
john h
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 8
Location: Little Rock
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject: Re: Veterans Unite |
|
|
| Navy_Navy_Navy wrote: | | VietVet wrote: | | It is interesting how all the GUARANTEES to Veterans and active duty military and their families are fast becoming negotiable budget items. |
Sorry, but no President can do anything about the "negotiable" aspect.
The fact is, spending on the VA has gone up 41% in the first three years of Bush's tenure, more than twice as much as in the EIGHT years previous.
Second, only Congress can move Veterans spending from its current budget position in discretionary spending to a new position as an entitlement program.
Anyone know offhand, what John Kerry's position on this question was, last? How about his votes for increases in military and veterans pay and allowances?  |
One would have just fallen off the turnip truck not to understand John Kerry's motives in his speeches before Congressional Committes when he came home from Vietnam. It was plain and pure political. It was popular to be anti Vietnam War at that time. It would help him in his clear political ambitions. Unfortunately for him he could not forsee how his words could come back to haunt him in 2004. What goes around comes around.
_________________
Air Force Pilot |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
BigAl533
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 16 Sep 2004
Posts: 44
Location: Hudson, MI
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 3:43 am Post subject: Re: Thanks For Your Help |
|
|
| VietVet wrote: | | Quote: | | It seems clear that Nixon was slowly removing us from Vietnam. There had been over 500,000 when I served and the number was down to 250,000 at the time of his testimony. It seems very clear that we were leaving. If that was the case why should more soldiers die for a "lost cause". |
|
We were leaving because theDem-controlled Congress cut the budget, not because Nixon was pulling us out. After Congress prevented new deployments and then slashed the budget (thanks to Kerry's testimony), Nixon's hands were tied. After the '72 election, when Nixon knew his political career was over anyway, he did what Johnson should have done, i.e. hit them with everything he could.
Johnson could have won the war if he had hit them in 65. Don't believe it? How fast did the USAF bring the North to its knees in 72? ELEVEN DAYS.
My cousin did not die for a lost cause, nor did anyone else. He died because of President Johnson, an indecisive and incompetent Commander-In-Chief.
Kerry seems to me to be cut from the same cloth as Johnson.
_________________
Hawks ruled the night - Hanoi was left defenseless..
Big Al |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Rich
Ensign
Joined: 12 Sep 2004
Posts: 71
|
| Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Those boys in Vietnam got stabbed in the back from the flagburning crowd, and by that redneck LBJ who thought he was playing some board game and knew more about war then Generals. In many ways Vietnam was very much a conventional war and weve fought wars in such terrain before and pulverized the enemy. Johnsons refusal to allow the USAF and USN to blockade and pursue a full air campaign is inexusable.
But the real problem about "historical perspectives" of the Vietnam War is that very few people actually read balanced history about it. Instead they go to see some ex-flagburners 122 min fantasy and come walking out of the theatre "instant experts".
Ask any college brat nowadays about "Vietnam" or "Korea" and the'll say , "huh?" ,"what?", "their not drafting me, I'll run to Canada".............................Rich
_________________
"Freedom" is never "free" |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
