AgMedallion said:
I wonder what kind of proof Al Hubbard, cited above, provided?
[post="197961"][/post]
A DD-214, altered to reflect what he pretended to be.
Perhaps it was unwise for Kerry to open up that can of worms to begin with.
That particular can was opened back in '92, and not by Kerry. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, I guess.
Just a few thoughts on the statements you posted with some of what John Kerry said when he was in the VVAW:
I was in Vietnam for three tours with the US Marines totalling 33 months, all of it in combat units, and would have completed the full 39 months if I hadn't been evacuated to Japan due to wounds received and reassigned to the US as part of the troop withdrawls. In those 33 months saw rapes, I saw civilians shot, I most certainly saw ears taken - indeed, it was the only proof that one of our commanders would accept for kills claimed - and I fired on civilian villages when ordered to do so. I saw these things, and others, done by both sides, us and the NVA. Indeed, I saw far worse done by the NVA to their own people than anything I saw done by US forces.
All of these things were violations of the Geneva Convention regarding the conduct of military forces in war. The Geneva Convention is a laudable document, actually a series of documents, but I knew then, as I know now, that the things I saw and did were a part of war. It is a dehumanizing experience by its very nature, and quoting laws while fighting one, particularly one such as Vietnam, is ludicrous. When it comes down to a choice of 'you or them', there's no doubt that you will do anything and everything to make sure it's 'them'. When you see enough of your friends killed and maimed, you become willing to do things you would never think of doing back home in 'civilized' society. Our all-purpose catch-all saying for anything bad that happened was "F@&k it, it don't mean nothin'", and we meant it.
Looking back from middle age, I wish that I hadn't seen or done any of it, but I did. However, I'm not going to pretend now that it didn't happen or that anyone who served there and says it did is somehow slandering those who served. Those who served in Vietnam were honorable, regardless of what they may have done, particularly in light of the nature of the war in which they served. We lost over 60,000 of our finest citizens there and anyone who served there deserves our respect, regardless of whether we agree with them now or not.
When my sons were growing up and asked me about the war, I initially told them very little about what it was like. Later, when they were older and made it clear they wanted to make the Corps their careers, I told them more but made it clear how and why such things happened and that they didn't necessarily have to happen the way they did. They're both Marines, and now both combat veterans as well, and have both made it clear that they now understand what I meant. I hope they were able to learn from the things that I told them and are better Marines because of it. I do know that pretending it never happened certainly wouldn't have helped.
It's time BOTH parties put the Vietnam war to rest and time for veterans on both sides to say that we're tired of having it dredged up every four years for political purposes. While we veterans may never agree on what happened or didn't happen there, I hope that we can at least agree on that.