I can't for the life of me remember where I stole these pictures. My apologies to whoever it was from.
For those who don't know, I am a Vietnam vet. I was in country from Jan. 5, 1968 to Jan. 4, 1969, or close to it, not exactly sure on the dates. I was a Huey crewchief attached to a signal battalion. Our main mission was ferrying people and parts to wherever lz or whatever hilltop they were needed. Not the worst duty but definitely not the best either! I lucked out and came home with only a small schrapnel scar, and a bit of a drinking problem. The rumors you may have heard about soldiers getting spit on---true. Those were not the best of days.
I am writing this post to explain why we HAVE to stay in Iraq. About 3 million Americans spent a year or more in Vietnam. Over 58,000 of our friends and comrades never saw home again. Hundreds of thousands are STILL screwed up either physically or mentally or both. There are about 195,000 HOMELESS vets in America today. I believe at least half of them are Vietnam vets. These people, these sacrifices, these losses, the STILL missing in action, THEY WERE ALL FOR NOTHING!!!! We stuck our tail between our legs and we ran home!! The fucking lefties can say what they want, but that is EXACTLY what we did! John Kerry, Jane Fonda, and the SCUM TRAITORS like them can ROT IN HELL as far as I'm concerned. I will fight with my last breath to make sure this country NEVER dishonors our Heros like that again! John McCain understands. I KNOW he feels the same way I do. Clinton and Obama can go pound sand! They have absolutely no clue.
We have lost over 4000 people in Iraq now. The number will go up. Those 4000 plus people have a right to have their sacrifice honored. The best way to do that is to make sure WE WIN!! No leaving until Iraq can stand on its own two feet. Anything less and we dishonor all those who have fought and died. Another point is this, if America "cuts and runs" again, we will NEVER be taken seriously again!! If we stay and finish what we started, others will know that when the U.S. speaks, they had better listen!
If you believe this makes sense, PLEASE PLEASE pass the sentiment along. Pass this post along if you wish. I know a lot of Americans question whether we should have gone over in the first place, so do I, BUT it's what we do about it now that counts. It's all we still have control over. I am quite sure that most Americans now feel obligated to finish up what we started, I sure hope so. But that wont likely happen with either Clinton or Obama at the wheel. They just plain don't know how to drive!
13 comments:
Well said Joe, it's something too many in the west simply don't or won't get. They think this is Bush's war and the jihadists will fall in love with us if only that mean Bush would raise the white flag or B. Hussein Obama were elected.
They will still hate you and they will still try to kill you no matter how much you surrender and appease.
...if America "cuts and runs" again, we will NEVER be taken seriously again!!
The enemy has already learned from Vietnam and Somalia, 9/11 was proof that they weren't taking you seriously. But Bush changed all that and he became 'dangerously unpredictable' in their eyes. He has mellowed in the years since then though, the liberals have ensured that.
So now your enemies are a bit unsure, on the one hand they know America under a Republican is dangerous, but they know America under a Democrat is a paper tiger because well, the Democrats keep assuring them that they are!
well joe,
take my latest post and count the men who died as honored by one who was a witness. we were on the same wave length.
I find it unbelievable how many people think that these radical islamists can be rationally talked to. You may as well talk to a rock. I fear that it would take another attack like 9/11 for some of them to wake up, and many of them just never will get it. I thank God that there are still a lot like us that do.
I think that the lefties among us are in for a rude awakening. They think Iraq is the end game. It is just the beginning. The war on terror will be at least as long as the "cold war" was. We have only just begun. In this, I truely hope that I am wrong!
you could be right joe, but there is one difference. the cold war, as they call it, was just as hot as any war. the difference being that the USA and USSR were using others to fight the war for them.
this time we are dealing with the enemy directly. we are also seeing the effects of it too.
Joe,
I'm no soldier, but anyone with eyes knows what will happen if we leave Iraq too early...I'm talking about genocide, mass killings, and a refugee crisis on the scale of Eastern Congo or Rwanda. The far-left haters are so eager to talk about Vietnam and compare Iraq to it, but they seem to shy away from the debate when the subject of what happened after we "gave peace a chance" and took off. It led to reeducation camps, Pol Pot, genocide, and a human tragedy that ranks up there with the Holocaust and Stalin's Russia.
Had we fought the war united and if the so-called antiwar movement actually wanted us to succeed, we very well could have. At the end, all we could say was that we lost 58,000 men only to run away and stand back and do nothing as the region was turned into a killing field.
What absolutely disgusts me today is to see the far-left ideologues jump up and down at the news of a car bombing or suicide attack in Iraq committed by the scum that is Al-Qaeda. After all, every time that happens, it gives them a chance to yell out there favorite line..."Bush lied, people died so get the hell out".
That to me, is a tragedy in its own way.
Joe, First of all...GREAT PHOTO!!! I am passing this on to everyone in my address book and with your permission, I would like to refer to it with a backtrack in my next post.
I wasn't even alive when we started playing this BS PC war game, but I am absolutely a product of the results. I lost my biological father because of it and I gaurantee you Dad would not be having stroke after stroke were it not for his years of drinking after his time in Korea. I can't say I blame him. I too would get tired of the "take this hill, give it back" game. I have several friends from your era in Viet Nam and some from the incident in Somalia, including my firearms instructor and my 1SG's previous Sgt Mjr. They all share your opinion, as do I.
On a side note I had to deal with an Iranian doctor over the weekend, who after noting my American Flag pendant told me to shut F****** up and stop asking questions. He was stupid enough to do it in front of 3 nurses, another patient and another physician. I had him removed from my Dad's medical case and threaened to have him arrested for battery if he touched my father ever again. He has already had his hospital privileges suspended but I am still doing everything I can to get him sent back to the weapons providing, American hating sand pit that he came from. (He's here on a Visa...for now.)
If I wasn't raised right, I would have spit on HIM.
ALL of you deserve better than the treatment you recieved upon your return. (Well, Kerry is an exception, but you get my point.)
My 1SG went back to Iraq so soon for the very reason you wrote of. I believed from day one that we acted accordingly and I believe we should finish it once and for all.
I am past caring about collateral dammage and losing alies. If we are going to finish it, as we should, then we should do so decisively and permanently.
I know I can speak for my 1SG that he's getting rather tired of the desert having been there more times that I can recall since the even before the Gulf War.
I thank and bless you for your service, Sir as I do everyone who ever fought a war from someplace besides under a desk.
Angel Out
You're right Griper, this time it is "hands on"!
C.H., It sickens me to think back to the aftermath of our pullout from Vietnam. There was NOTHING honorable about it! Absolutely disgusting fits better.
Angel, you may pass anything I have here to anyone you wish. I can't remember where I stole the pictures from. The chopper came from a search in yahoo somewhere and the others came from someone elses blog but I don't know whose. I would be honored if your man and other personal from Iraq would know that there are those of us here with STRONG support for them and all they do. It would be my first trackback, I am honored!
Good for you on how you handled that asshole Iranian doctor. We can't be that short of doctors that we have to put up with that kind of crap!
Thank you Joe for your service to our country, it makes me angry when I think of how you and your comrades were treated by fellow Americans at that time. And I know today people are trying to be so careful to say "I support the troops but not the war", like what kind of BS is that? I think a unified nation against the radical jihadists would make the situation 100 times better, and not give the enemy the feeling that they can win, if we retreat. That just should not be an option.
I suppose it isn't "PC" but I am quite suspicious of doctors from the Middle East, and his remarks to you Angel only solidify my fears.
Sheesh, it makes me wonder what it will take to make people understand the danger out there, if 9-11 didn't do what the heck will??
Hey Joe I hope you dont mind but I linked to your post in the latest post on my blog.
I think you made a great point.
Well said. Being the PROUD son of a veteran of WW2, Korea, and Vietnam, I think we should do everything to win in Iraq. We did the right thing in Iraq and need to see it out to the end. If we leave, the enemy wins!!!
Beth, when I hear "I support the troops but not the war. I want to punch the guy that said it. That is bullshit, and I will NEVER be a "PC" kinda guy!!
C.H., no problem, when I put something on line, it is for everyones eyes. Spread the word as much as you like!
T.T. Sounds like you come from good stock! We can't leave Iraq until it is in a position to take full care of itself. If we EVER want to have any credability in this world, we absolutely have to prove that when we speak, the enemy HAD BETTER LISTEN.
I hope to get back to posting next weekend. Right now, I'm working 12 hours a day 7 days a week--night shift no less. Got to go get some sleep.
Joe.
AA, I thought I had responded to this post before,,,evidently, I was wrong....excellent post. I concur with all you say. however the leftards will never see what you have said. the words that you have so elequently put together concerning patriotism, etc...they do not use. They speak about caring, but it is just talk, they don't really mean it. I ramble...stay well....
I agree with this excellent post. And I cagree with all you have said here.
It's far time that we showed the enemy what we have. And that when we said "these colors don't run" we mean it.
Post a Comment